A Common Pattern Seen In School-Related Shootings
October 12th, 2007 by Joe CiccantiThe Columbine Massacre (from the Boston Globe):
The two killers had allegedly been repeatedly bullied before they shot 10 students to death and killed themselves.
Virginia Tech Massacre (from CBS news)
“Long before he snapped, Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui was picked on, pushed around and laughed at over his shyness and the strange way he talked when he was a schoolboy in the Washington suburbs, former classmates say.
Wisconsin Deputy’s Shooting Rampage (from BayouBuzz.com–Louisiana Daily News)
CRANDON, Wis. (AP)Â - A young sheriff’s deputy who opened fire on a pizza party and killed six people flew into a rage when he was rebuffed by his old girlfriend - and others called him a “worthless pig.”
One local teenager who knew the entire group of close-knit friends also said that Tyler Peterson had a history of being bullied by other students in high school.
Tragedy at a Cleveland High School (From the Associated Press)
CLEVELAND — Despite 26 security cameras, officials couldn’t say Thursday how an armed, suspended 14-year-old student was able to get into his downtown school a day earlier and shoot two students and two teachers before killing himself.
Christina Burns, who volunteered at one of the schools Asa Coon attended, said Coon both received and delivered abuse. She said that in seventh grade, he did nothing after a classmate dropped a book on Coon’s head while the teacher wasn’t looking. “That child was tormented from his classmates every single day,” she said. “Everybody’s making him out to be a devil, a demon, but nobody knows what was going on with this kid.”
Pennsylvania High School Plot (From Fox News)
PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. — A home-schooled teenager who amassed a cache of weapons, including a hand grenade, and tried to recruit another boy for a possible school attack in Pennsylvania was charged with solicitation to commit terror, authorities said Thursday. The 14-year-old, who authorities said had felt bullied, was taken into custody after police raided his home in the Philadelphia suburbs on Wednesday evening. He had talked about mounting an attack on Plymouth Whitemarsh High School similar to the 1999 massacre at Colorado’s Columbine High School, authorities said. In that incident, two disgruntled teens killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves.
“I heard they called him strange, they called him fat,” said Whitemarsh student Samir Panah, 15. “I think he just couldn’t take the pressure. A lot of kids get bullied and they try to seek revenge, kind of like the Columbine situation. If he was at school, God knows what would have happened.”
Obviously there is a pattern here. Do kids go on a rampage like this because they’re just mentally ill? It’s clear to me that how they are treated influences them to the point of setting them off. Of course there is always the other side as well. How do the bullied students act that might lead to the bullying? Still on many occasions, the bullied students can’t help the way they are. So what are schools and the government doing about this? Is enough being done? What is being done here in Delaware to prevent this kind of thing from happening here? The YMCA Resource Center and Office of Early Prevention have started a bullying prevention program. Their number is 302-571-6975. Also the Prevention of Child Abuse for Delaware has a bullying program, and that number is 1-866-925-7223. Also under House Bill 7, schools need to establish a bullying program with methods to report and prevent bullying.
October 13th, 2007 at 7:15 am
Asa Coon is not the victim here. The two students and two teachers are. This kid was one messed-up cowboy.
He comes from messed-up stock too, apparently…his 19-year-old brother, Stephen, was arrested Thursday - the day after the Success Tech (not to be confused with Sussex Tech) shooting - and charged with parole violation, theft, and another warrant. At 19, Stephen Coon has “spent two years locked up for burglary, intimidation, sale of counterfeit drugs, assault, attempted assault and weapons charges,” the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. And this morning, the PD is reporting an arrest warrant is out for Lori Looney, the boys’ mother, for obstructing justice (she apparently said Stephen wasn’t home when the police came for him Thursday).
October 13th, 2007 at 9:07 am
The other sad side to this story is this…..Where are the parents that allow their children to bully others? Is it because they work so much that children should have never been an option? Is it because the son wants to emulate his father? Is it because Hollyweird glamorizes this behavior and the actors that portray them thus become their heroes?
When does society see bullying as a crime? When does it become too late? If more parents stepped up to the plate and took responsibility for their own children instead of leaving it to the teachers and mentors and the boys and girls club because its just easier that way and God knows our teachers are already overworked and under appreciated and cannot be in two places at once, will there ever be a student who can walk down the hallway and know that the differences we all have in common are the very things that make this, Our America, the reason we all have the freedom to walk down the hallway.
October 14th, 2007 at 4:48 am
Define bullying. Is it calling someone a name, pushing? Why can we just not accept that there are people out there that are defective? We find out about the few like this but what about the millions of kids that have problems with others, lack proper parenting and still manage to get through the day with out killing someone? We need more laws always seems to be the answer.
As a society we have perverted childred to the point that any affront to their tender psyche is not to be tollerated. We no longer teach children to suck it up and move on. The correct response is to cry and whine about everythig they do not like. We are now raising defective people that will not have a clue how to live in the real world.
October 14th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Pete…does that excuse the parents from being a parent? Because their kids have not yet come to the conclusion that its just easier to kill those that dont like my differences?
Suck it up and move on? I hope you are not in the realm of those that have power in this state! Thats why our kids are killing our kids, because no one wants to take the time and effort to find the problem and fix it instead of treating the symptom and not the cause. I feel good saying all of this because I know where my children are and what they are doing even if that makes me a “helicopter parent”, at least I know my girls are coming home tonight, without being pregnant or killing someone who thinks my daughter with epilepsy isnt cool enough to be in their crowd. And….bullying is part of my effort when mentoring the students each week. How are you handling the “defective people” who cross your path each day?
October 14th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
No…the correct response is NOT to cry and whine about everything but for parents to be parents…to raise children, not just give birth to them. And certainly not to “suck it up”. Perhaps if those parents taught, from a very early age, to respect all others and violence/bullying is NOT the way to solve a problem then we’d have much less worry over sending our kids to school…not knowing if they were going to be riding back on the school bus or do we have to go take one last look in a morgue. Responsibility…personal responsibility, instead of leaving it to govt., schools, teachers, bus drivers. When was the last time a parent, if their child came home crying because they were punished in school, asked FIRST, “What did you do to deserve it??” instead of saying “How dare he/she!”
And potnetgal…if there is anything wrong with being a “helicopter parent” just consider the source. Those who aren’t are the problem…not the schools, not the kids. Good for you.
October 14th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Did I ever say a parent is not important? But kids raised with out a two parent family still manage to get thru life somehow.
How in the name of God did we all survive before? You brushed that crap off and went on.
I am a short person. Called Peter Peter Pumkin eater, Peter rabbit. Not killed anyone yet.
We want to be so inclusive today that we tolerate everyone and then find outrage when the volcano blows.
October 14th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
And how do I deal with defective people? I get the hell away from them. I do not want them. Do not need them. and want them away as far as possible from my family.
You go ahead and take them into your fold. I have my life full of dealing with my family and I will protect my family from the defectives. I do not tolerate the politicaly correct menu of inclusiveness.
October 14th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Pete….there is a saying that goes “No man is an island” Perhaps you should however find yours and take your family there, this way, you will be only responsible for yourself and your family and we wont have to worry about your lack of empathy.
Brava Nancy….perhaps there is hope in knowing there is another parent out there with the same stance as mine and who also knows that being a parent equals responsibility and never having your head in the sand where our children are concerned.
October 16th, 2007 at 7:43 pm
We should find an island and put these defective people on it. If you all want to include dangerous people in your souroundings, have at it. People that can not handle life as it has been from the dawn of time shoud be put away. Talk about a head in the sand. When your child is blown away you will ask, why was this person allowed to be in our school, church, restaurant, population? Give me a dam break. Perhaps a group hug will solve the problem.
So tonight, go coddle your children. Tell them if anyone is mean to them, report them to the authorities. I will teach my childred to turn the other cheek and walk away. Sticks and stones.