I have to admit, you hear about shootings every day, but for me, school shootings aren’t that common, so it kind of shocked me when I saw this today. I guess it’s kind of like a wake up call, and reminds us that anything could happen. Reading through the article, I expected to find that the student who had committed the crime would’ve had a little trouble before, but I found that he was a quiet kid, and hadn’t done anything before whatsoever. It just goes to show how unstable society really is, and how that normal person you know, could become a killer the next. It’s kind of scary when you really think about it, but there’s not much you can actually do, apart from lock yourself away from the rest of the world. Not that I recommend doing that, of course. Risks are everywhere, and something happens every day. For me, I think it’s how you roll with it that makes all the difference.
School Shooting in Ohio Leaves 1 Dead and 4 Wounded
Samantha Kimball consoled her younger brother Daniel after a fatal shooting at a high school in Chardon, Ohio.
By JESS BIDGOOD and SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: February 27, 2012
A teenager opened fire on a group of students in a high school cafeteria outside Cleveland around breakfast time on Monday, leaving one student dead and four others wounded, the authorities said.
The local police in Chardon, a town of 5,000, said they had apprehended a suspect on Monday afternoon, but Tim McKenna, the police chief, said they could not identify him publicly because he was a juvenile.
But the family of T. J. Lane, a sophomore who is being held as a suspect, made his identity public on Monday night when they issued a statement through a lawyer on WKYC-TV in Cleveland. In the statement, the Lane family said that they were devastated by the news and that they wanted “to extend their heartfelt and sincere condolences” to the victims and their families.
T. J. is a student at Lake Academy, an alternative high school for troubled students. “By all accounts, T. J. is a fairly quiet and a good kid,” said Robert N. Farinacci, the Lanes’ lawyer, who noted that T. J. had never been in trouble before.
Students at Chardon High School said they heard screams around 7:40 a.m., the time the authorities said the shooting took place, and described spreading panic as teachers locked down classrooms and students started sending text messages to friends. One teacher was said to have dragged a wounded student into his classroom for protection.
“I saw two girls running away screaming, and I heard an administrator come on saying we’re in lockdown,” said Brady Lawrence, 17, a senior who was in his English class, near the cafeteria, when the shooting began.
The classroom collapsed in confusion, he said in an interview, as students tried to figure out the gunman’s location. “We just didn’t know where he was,” he said. “They were saying he was loose, and we were scared.”
The authorities identified the dead student as Daniel Parmertor, a 16-year-old junior. They said two students were in critical condition, while two others appeared to be stable.
According to The Associated Press, Daniel, an aspiring computer repairman, was shot while waiting in the cafeteria for a bus for his daily 15-minute ride to a vocational center. “We are shocked by this senseless tragedy,” his family said in a statement. “Danny was a bright young boy who had a bright future ahead of him. The family is torn by this loss.”
Danny Komertz, a student, told The Associated Press that the gunman appeared to have focused on a group of students. “I looked up and this kid was pointing a gun about 10 feet away from me to a group of four kids sitting at a table,” he said.
Emotional, I have to say. As I said before, it’s not every day I hear about situations like these, and I certainly didn’t expect to read about one this soon. To read the rest of the article, look here: NY Times – School Shooting in Ohio Leaves 1 Dead and 4 Wounded
A J Holyoake 