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Purse used to whack Florida school board gunman up for sale on eBay

By the CNN Wire Staff
Ginger Littleton used her purse in a failed attempt to subdue a gunman at a Floridal school board meeting.
Ginger Littleton used her purse in a failed attempt to subdue a gunman at a Floridal school board meeting.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • The purse used by a Florida school board member to whack a gunman is on eBay
  • After being taken down twice, the bidding is up to $10,200, a TV station official says
  • Ginger Littleton hit Clay Duke from behind, as he stood before six members with a gun
  • Duke ended up firing at several members, but was the only one to die in the incident

(CNN) -- She tried to use her purse to smack a gunman into submission. Now, the Florida school member's handbag is up on eBay -- with proceeds from its sale going toward a charity championed by the man who ended up taking down the attacker.

The high bid for Ginger Littleton's purse stood at $10,200 Monday night, according to Joe Moore of WJHG, a Panama City, Florida, television station that is helping coordinate the online auction.

Proceeds from the sale will go to Salvage Santa, a charity started by Mike Jones that restores old bicycles and toys and gives them to children in the Florida panhandle around the holidays.

Jones is the security officer who, police said, shot and wounded 56-year-old Clay Duke after he took over a Bay District School Board meeting last Tuesday, upset that the district had fired his wife. Duke later shot and killed himself.

Before that, Duke allowed Ginger Littleton -- a board member -- to leave the room, while ordering six of her colleagues to stay. But she came back, snuck up from behind Duke and swung her purse at his hand.

School officials recount shooting
RELATED TOPICS
  • Crime
  • Hostage Situations
  • Florida

The move didn't work: Duke kept control of the gun. But for whatever reason, he didn't pull the trigger, and Littleton was allowed to leave a second time.

Someone at WJHG, a CNN affiliate, contacted Littleton on Thursday proposing that she put her faux crocodile leather purse up for sale on eBay. She said it was an easy decision, especially given that it would benefit Jones' charity.

"The hero of the day was Mike Jones," Littleton said. "I thought, wow, what closure for everyone. This was a way to tie everything up."

According to Moore, Salvage Santa -- like many non-profits in a still-struggling economy -- is behind on donations this holiday season, though he hopes that will change with the auction of Littleton's purse.

EBay twice took down the item, once because it wasn't convicted that the sale's proceeds would go toward charity. It was unclear why the purse was taken down the second time. But it's back online now, said Moore.

Littleton, for one, said she won't miss her purse, especially if its sale helps a good cause.

"Well, I wasn't terribly attached to the purse," she said. "So anything I could to extend the purse to the lives of other people was a good idea."

CNN's Shawn Nottingham, Deborah Doft and Rick Martin contributed to this report.