Ohio Shooting Suspect Confesses, Prosecutor Says

[alp227]

The fatal shooting rampage in a high school in this quiet suburb of Cleveland remained a puzzle on Tuesday, with prosecutors saying that a student had confessed to the killings and had told them that he did not know his victims and chose them at random.

Prosecutors said the student, T. J. Lane, 17, admitted taking a .22-caliber Ruger semiautomatic pistol to Chardon High School on Monday and firing 10 rounds at four students at a cafeteria table. He has not been formally charged, but prosecutors said it was likely that he would be tried in an adult court.

Three of the victims — Russell King Jr., Demetrius Hewlin and Daniel Parmertor — have died. Two others were wounded. One has been released from the hospital.

“This is not about bullying, this is not about drugs,” said David P. Joyce, the Geauga County prosecutor. “This was an effect of one lone gunman. He chose his victims at random.”

full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/us/ohio-school-shooting-suspect-confesses-prosecutor-says.html?pagewanted=all

[WCGreen]

1. Chardon is not really a suburb but a town caught in the Cleveland area eastward development....

It's a very pretty area, rural where there has been some specatcular crimes commited in the area over the years...

[Bohunk68]

7. I caught that too.

I was born and raised in Ashtabula and I would consider Chardon rural, and certainly not a suburb of Cleveland. Beautiful town. This is a case in which not all the information is out yet and I get the feeling that this young man may have been gay-leaning or at least his classmates assumed that and bullied him. If that is the case, and I'm not at all certain that it is, I feel a certain amount of understanding why he did what he did. Doesn't make it right, just makes for understanding.

[FedUpWithIt All]

2. We are again living very near the area where this happened and it is hard to deal with still.

Last edited Wed Feb 29, 2012, 10:57 AM - Edit history (1)

First, there is such heartbreak over the losses. I have only two degrees of separation from at least two of the deceased. I have family that lives in the village.

The local media has been very clear that this boy was really suffering.

The prosecutor says bullying wasn't an issue and that the boy doesn't know the victims BUT one of the victims was dating a girl JT had dated several years ago. A witness, who had been mildly injured while he sat at the cafeteria table JT shot at, told how he had previously been good friends with the boy, also years before. Friends claim he was quite frequently bullied and endured quite a lot at school due to his appearance and quiet manner.

JT's father had been charged with several serious crimes after many instances of abuse against women. The charges included attempted murder, felonious assault and kidnapping. The story about this kids life and the consequences, are very sad and frustrating.

Nearly every child interviewed described JT as either sweet, kind, quiet, polite, calm...

I do hope he gets a fair trial and gets help.

[calimary]

3. Damn. Just so sad. And senseless.

Damn.

"Guns don't kill people. People kill people." Yeah. People kill people with guns.

You know those laws that mandate a bar owner or party host who serves too much alcohol to a guest who then goes out and drunk-drives and kills someone - is also legally liable? I wonder if we could ever implement a law that covers those who own the gun that wasn't put away safely so the kid got hold of it and...

Then again, no guarantee such a law would even be practical or realistic, much less having ANY political chance at survival.

[ellisonz]

4. Agreed.

"I wonder if we could ever implement a law that covers those who own the gun that wasn't put away safely so the kid got hold of it and..."

27 States and D.C. have Child Access Prevention Laws (CAP) and there is some evidence that this correlates with lower rates of accidents, suicide, and violence involving youth with guns. Many of the laws are narrowly constructed, and it is only logical that if firearms were even better secured on average less of these incidents would occur. Gun control is not intended to be a panacea, but it is intended to be preventative like taking aspirin for heart disease.

[JohnnyRingo]

5. Maybe we can warn our children.

We can tell them that it may seem harmless to join the crowd in teasing the gay kid, or laughing at the nerd who pissed his pants in science lab, but ask yourself: "does his dad have an assault rifle with an extended capacity magazine?".

If so, it may not matter if "everyone else is doing it".

Stop the bullying.

On edit:
A 16 year old young man hung himself in my hometown last week because he was an outed gay. He didn't make the national news because he didn't take anyone else with him.

[Live and Learn]

6. Trying to guess what a teen is thinking,

especially without knowing what he has been going through with peers, family and sexually, is mere speculations (even for a prosecutor).

A very sad case all the way around.