HILLSBOROUGH - The teenager accused of holding a teacher and student hostage last spring at East Chapel Hill High School pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and other charges Monday.

William "Barrett" Foster, 17, pleaded both not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to multiple charges of second-degree kidnapping, discharging a firearm on educational property, carrying a gun on educational property and assault by pointing a weapon.

In April, Chapel Hill police say, Foster entered a classroom about the same time that student Chelsea Slegal went in to see civics teacher Lisa Kukla.

Foster has a history of mental illness, and unbeknownst to his family had stopped taking his medication a few months earlier, his father, William Z. Foster, said in October.

According to Kukla, Foster pulled a hunting knife, air pistol and shotgun out of a backpack, closed the blinds, locked the door and unplugged the phone.

Foster held the teacher and student against their will in the room for more than an hour, police say, while a soccer game and other after-school activity bustled around them.

Kukla said she and her student spoke with Foster during that time, trying to make a connection with him so he wouldn't shoot them.

After firing two shots through the window, Foster left the school and went home, police said. By that time, police had set up a perimeter to search for him, but he reached his family's nearby home before he could be arrested, and his mother then drove him to the hospital.

Neither Slegal nor Kukla was injured.

Friends and family of Slegal and Kukla attended Monday's hearing in Orange County Superior Court, as did David Thaden, East Chapel Hill High's principal.

The incident has been used to encourage improvements in school security and to advocate for tighter gun controls.

Foster is currently at Dorothea Dix hospital under $40,000 bail, though a bail hearing is expected to be scheduled in the coming weeks, Orange-Chatham District Attorney Jim Woodall said.

In October, Superior Court Judge Carl Fox denied a request by Foster's family to have their son come home for overnight visits. Fox said the visits would put the teenager too close to the school because the family lived within walking distance.

The Fosters have put their house at 104 Silver Glade Place up for sale. It was not clear Monday whether the home has been sold.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.