Ohio school shooting suspect "not well"

CHARDON, Ohio - The 17-year-old suspect in a deadly shooting rampage at an Ohio high school appeared briefly in juvenile court as residents of the shaken community offered sympathy and support for families and friends of the three students who were killed and two who were wounded.

A prosecutor described suspect TJ Lane as "someone who's not well" and said the teen didn't know the victims but chose them randomly.

Lane admitted taking a .22-caliber pistol and a knife to the 1,100-student Chardon High School and firing 10 shots at a group of students sitting at a cafeteria table Monday morning, prosecutor David Joyce said.

Prosecutor: Ohio shooting not about bullying
Death toll in Ohio school shooting rises to 3
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Authorities offered their own condolences Tuesday and shared a nugget of welcome news, announcing that an 18-year-old girl who was hurt in the shootings had been released from the hospital and was home with family. The second injured teen remained in serious condition at a suburban Cleveland hospital.

Those trying to understand what prompted the shootings got few answers from the court hearing, which came hours after the death toll rose to three.

Lane, a thin young man described by other students as extremely quiet, spoke little in court, where a judge ordered him held for at least 15 days.

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Ohio high school shooting victims

Lane has told investigators he stole the gun he used from his uncle, who had legal ownership of the firearm, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. Sources tell CBS News there were, in fact, lots of guns around - about two dozen legally-owned weapons were discovered in FBI searches of Lane's relatives' homes.

Lane's grandfather, who has custody of the teenager, and two aunts joined him in court. The women lightly embraced the older man as the hearing began.

Prosecutors have until Thursday to bring charges and are expected to ask that Lane be tried as an adult. He will probably be charged with three counts of aggravated murder and other offenses, Joyce said.

Ohio has a death penalty, but CBS Radio News legal analyst Andrew Cohen says Lane would not be eligible for capital punishment if he were to be convicted of murder, as the Supreme Court precluded that sentencing option for people who are under 18 when they murder.

The prosecutor appeared to rule out rumors and speculation that the young gunman lashed out after being bullied or that the shooting had something to do with drug-dealing.

"This is not about bullying. This is not about drugs," Joyce said. "This is someone who's not well, and I'm sure in our court case we'll prove that to all of your desires and we'll make sure justice is done here in this county."

Joyce would not elaborate. Both sides in the case are under a gag order imposed by the judge at the prosecutor's request.

The judge also barred media outlets from taking photos of the faces of the suspect and some of his relatives. The Associated Press transmitted photos and video of Lane that were shot before the hearing. The AP and at least one other media outlet, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, plan to challenge the judge's order Wednesday.

Meanwhile, area schools offered grief counseling to students, staff and others shocked by the rampage.

"We're not just any old place, Chardon," Chardon School Superintendent Joseph Bergant II said. "This is every place. As you've seen in the past, this can happen anywhere, proof of what we had yesterday."

Authorities said Tuesday that Demetrius Hewlin, 16, and Russell King Jr., 17, had died from their injuries. Daniel Parmertor, 16, died shortly after the shooting.

In an emotional interview with CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller (Click player at left to see full interview) Parmertor's mother, father and brother said they wanted an opportunity to talk about the young shooting victim.

Danny's parents say they want their son to be remembered as "a funny, loveable kid who would help you with anything."

"He was 16 years old. He doesn't get to live his life. It was taken. He didn't do anything to anybody. He just didn't deserve it," Danny's mother Dina told CBS News.

Hewlin attended Chardon High. King and Parmertor were students at the Auburn Career Center, a vocational school, and were waiting in the Chardon High cafeteria for their daily bus when they were shot.

Lane's family is mourning "this terrible loss for their community," Lane's attorney, Robert Farinacci, said in a statement.

Fifteen-year-old Danny Komertz, who witnessed the shooting, said it appeared that the gunman singled out a group of students sitting together. He said Lane was known as an outcast who had apparently been bullied. But other students disputed that.

Farinacci told WKYC-TV that Lane "pretty much sticks to himself but does have some friends and has never been in trouble over anything that we know about."

Lane did not attend Chardon High but waited there for the bus to Lake Academy, a school for students with academic or behavioral problems. Authorities would not say how and why he ended up at Lake Academy.

Student Nate Mueller said he was at the cafeteria table where the victims were shot, and a bullet grazed his ear. Mueller told The Plain Dealer that King — one of those killed — had recently started dating Lane's ex-girlfriend.

Lane "was silent the whole time," Mueller said. "That's what made it so random."

Kala Day, 18, said she rode the morning school bus with Lane and knew the victims.

"He always sat by himself and, like, looked out the window. So I sat with him a few times, because I felt bad for the kid," she said. "He didn't talk. He just stared out the window."

The shooting sent students screaming from the building in panic, and some of that chaos and fear was captured in 911 recordings released Tuesday (audio).

"We just had a shooting at our school. We need to get out of here. Oh, my god," one crying female caller told a dispatcher.

"Everyone's running away," the caller added.

Another caller, a male student, instantly identified the gunman as Thomas Lane, a student, and said he appeared to be shooting at random.

"What was his beef with these kids? Do we know?" the dispatcher asked.

"I have no idea," he said, adding: "He's very quiet and he doesn't really talk to anyone."

Frank Hall, an assistant high school football coach who has been hailed as a hero by students who say he chased the gunman out of the cafeteria, told a Cleveland TV station that he couldn't discuss what happened, but added: "I wish I could have done more."

[Danielalasady]

Hbat, repression and suppression of students:

The student uses a non-Radi violence as a means of expressing their opposition to and dissatisfaction and frustration, for example: -

1 - not to deal individually with the student, and not taking into account individual differences in the classroom.

2 - There is no estimate of the student as a human being has his respect and his being.

3 - Do not allow the student an expression of his feelings are often the teachers are humiliated and insulted if the student showed his anger.

4 - to focus on weaknesses at the student and a lot of criticism.

5 - student ridicule and disdain from his words and his ideas.

6 - lack of attention to student and indifference by which motivates him to use violence to draw attention to himself.

[cindihawk]

I am a public school teacher and have been for 27 years. There should be a Federal Law that anyone who does a school shooting should be Executed upon convictions. NO LOOPHOLES!! Death within 5 days afer conviction, No exception and no appeals process. Your children will never be safe because of these idiots. If we would carry the execution live on CNN it would have an effect. Otherwise, just as in the past there will be another shooting very soon because the idea is now out there for all the IDIOTS!!

[qmpash]

Seeing that you're a teacher goes a long way towards explaining why schools are in such a deplorable state all over the country. Your license to teach should be lifted.

[Ian_MacLeod]

Has no one checked to see if this kid was on SSRI (like Paxil) and/or gabapentin-type anticonvulsants (Neurontin)? As far as I know, in every Columbine-style killing spree, and this certainly qualifies, the kid(s) involved were on one or both or were withdrawing from them, which can take a year or more. SSRIs have been known to cause suicidal/homicidal ideation; in fact the makers knew about it from the beginning and hid the studies. They make something like $10 BILLION from just one of those! They're also based on fluoride compounds, and fluoride is a toxin that can cause nerve/brain damage. Because the pharmaceutical companies are owed by the politicians they donate money to in election years, the appointees who decide on declaring such things "safe" have been industry lobbyists for the past decade at least. The one who vets GMOs for safety was working for Monsanto and doubtless will be again. I believe the man in charge of Big Pharma's products is also a Big Pharma lobbyist.

Until we can get the industries out of the FDA and other regulatory agencies where they "regulate" themselves, this will keep happening, along with people dying from taking medicines they've been told are safe which are not.

Ian

[andie52]

He shot the boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend and that boyfriend's companions at lunch so why are school officials and the police insisting these were random killings? Chances are in such a small town he knew all of those kids. I hope they lock him up for life.

[rightontarget]

Ohio school shooting suspect "not well"
********************************************

Duh!!! Ya think??????????????? He's a mental case. Lock him up and throw away the key.

[artzstuf]

mental case,nut,wacko,idiot and other labels are readily used by people such as yourself who should know better but obviously don't as an adult(s). I struggle with stress,depression since 16 and now in 40's,as runs in my family(genetic,nature and nurture as can can sick raise healthy kids) although make sell jewelry and don't shoot people. Contrary to what you may think, these are isolated incidents. Most people with mental problem are not violent but passive and crime victims as are often alone,friendless as found to be odd and yes bullied as I know first hand. I can't walk down the street in my small town without a derogatory comment thrown my way by some ignorant person. Why Because I have spoken of and not tried to hide my struggles.1 in 4 people in US will have a mental ill ness in their life and 1 in 10 teens have one. It is the major illness of this time due to fractured families,drugs,crime,frenetic pace,technology,social isolation,etc. Inclusion,not segregation of disabled including mental is needed and to open a dialogue instead of this 'not in my neighborhood' attitude as I am rejected at home,was at school,job so created my own and socially. I walk with head phones to tune people out as many are rude anyway. I have pets,God and mom,an advocate and a therapist. Many do and aren't diagnosed. Infact many sick aren't diag nosed leading nutty lives. I am picked on as seeked help,take meds and am healthier than my attackers who are sick themselves. Everyone could use a program now a days if honest to handle their emotions or a self help group,book to read. Educate. Why were guns easily accessible in the home to a teen is my question. Many play video games and don't realize the consequences of their actions. Also are reactive at that age,impulsive,do without thinking through. Agree always a girl in the story,jealous guy was dating ex. He retaliated explosively yes but he is ill and needs help not death or to be locked up forever. Yes, is sad victims will never see adult hood but is sad too the life of the shooter as one doesn't become that way over night. He had alot of help along the way. No one is born evil.Also if people knew he was ill and so on,why wasn't he getting helped? Is the usual BS. I live alone and do and amuse myself with disabilities as noone cares except about selves here and own. I have the where with all to keep my health a priority but not everyone does or can and yet are thrown out like trash to fend for selves in this society,many with no help at all in the communities they live on own in and this includes our seniors.
If we judge a society by how we treat our most vulnerable citizens then we are failing miserably.
'our words either help or hurt' 'you are either part of the solution or the problem'.

[bereasonable14]

If the shooter did not get his hands on his uncle's gun (bought legally as reported by CNN) three innocent teenagers in all probability would not have died. This has nothing to do with the Second Amendment: we need enforceable laws to prevent children and unstable persons to be able to get guns. As hockeymom441 pointed out, this boy's family is responsible for allowing him easy access to guns. Please contact your elected representatives - fight the powerful NRA lobby (250 millions guns in this country so far according to the NRA).

[ReckonedTruth]

I understand in the parts of the nation(Ohio).. kids are taught how to hunt and whatnot which involve using a gun .. so if that's the situation .. why would you not LOCK up the guns.. where KIDS don't KNOW how to get at the guns without parental approval..

I wonder how this 17 year old's uncle feels at his point..since it was his gun in which his nephew used to murder three classmates..

How do you LET your 17 year old nephew get at a gun without your knowledge that's registered to you as the uncle?

Just doesn't make any sense to me..

[bileven]

Sorry, disagree... simple fact, anyone determined enough will be resourceful. To say they would have lived is arrogance. You have no idea how determined the young man was.

Keep in mind, the most notorious Serial Killers in History did not use a gun. Which probably explains why the young man also brought a knife...

Yes, I do agree, the boy should have been excluded access to firearms, and you have no idea "how" he went about stealing it. Notice, stolen, taken without permission, consent nor knowledge...

Banning guns is NOT going to fix the problem, because 90% of those committing violent acts with hand guns do not have them legally and would not be subject to controls.

Besides, ATF can't even hold onto and monitor Semi-Auto's... so any laws are only going to hurt the gal who might carry a firearm to protect her medical marijuana patch.

[hockeymom441]

I don't care how neglected, bullied, troubled or "unwell" this kid was. These are not excuses or explanations to kill other human beings.

2 dozen guns at the relatives house?!? What does the NRA say about this? I really don't think our forefathers expected us to have a militia-worth of firearms in our homes during national peacetime. Seriously - what are statistics of people who saves their lives from violent intruders vs. accidental/misuse of the guns. I think the answer is obvious. Is our society that dumb not to see that whole point of the right to bear arms is to PROTECT us, not KILL us.

[bereasonable14]

To mecanik-2009: Hunt and collect firearms all you want but keep them under lock and key.

[US-Patriot]

People throughout history have always figured out ways to kill one another, whether it be by knives, swords, axes, bombs, poison, hammers,firearms, etc. The list is almost endless. The fact the family had 2 dozen guns is irrelevant. The troubled young man used ONE gun to kill these innocent individuals. He could have used numerous other methods to kill his intended victims. Guns are not the problem. Sick people are the problem. I own dozens of firearms and they have never hurt anyone. The fact of the matter is that tens of thousands of law abiding citizens have used firearms to protect themselves and their families from sick people. What's obvious hockeymom is that guns don't kill people - people kill people.

[parrots7]

It would be very SAD if it ever comes up that the composition of the group he attacked was what sent him over the edge. Just something that keeps gnawing at me as i read anything on this, he targeted a group sitting away ??

[hockeymom441]

Sad - yes, but unless human behavior metamorphasizes... people will form clics and some will be left out; that's life. It is completely absurd and hugely insensitive to the victims' families to suggest in any way that there is some justification for murder, ever. "sent him over the edge?!?" What edge? So someone/something sent him? - is the shooter now the victim?!?... b/c your language suggests something happened TO him. I'm not debating that this kid was clearly a sociopathic sick-o, but the children at the table are not blame; how myopic to say such a ignorant thing. The absent parents and failure to provide psychiatric care are the problem. Every child faces ridicule at some point in their lives; it's part of development and life; it's not a license to kill.

[Transatlantique]

Another sadly, emotionally ignored boy left out in the back garden to deal with his own pain. Its long overdue that we focus on the emotional well being of boys.

[KnowerseekerReturns]

I agree, and it starts with *involved* daddies who love and respect Jesus. (If you love and respect Jesus, you'll love and respect yourself, and then you'll love and respect others.) From The Father to the father to the wife and children; that's how love, hope, and courage flow.

[Samlv]

'We' cannot prevent insane people from killing.

What we could do, but don't, is everything we can to make sure they cannot get to a gun.

The grandfather in this case is culpably negligent for leaving weapons just lying around.

It is strange we know more about who owns cars, and do a better job of locking them up with keys, than guns.

So, people want to say 'militia' means anyone who can fog a mirror, I want a debate about 'well-regulated' to start.

[barbaram99]

don't play the bully card...There is alot of us that were bullied years ago and never pulled this..It sounds like the boy was full of rage..So he stole the gun from a uncle when that gun should have been locked up..
Was he mad cos he did not have what his friends got..What meds did he take and why was he not watched for changes..What did he do on the family PC...play combat style games..What movies and music did he hear and watch..Where was his family..
They have children and don't want the duties of raising them..They end up in foster homes as I did..I feel for them that have lost their loved ones at the hands of that boy,,

[KnowerseekerReturns]

If I remember correctly, his mother is a drug addict, and his father is a violent criminal. He was living with his grandfather, who probably doesn't give a rat's about him. I knew another boy like that growing up, and he was a bit off in the head as well. I felt sorry for him... but I didn't trust him.

[barbaram99]

They say he is not well
He was well to plan this
He was well to grab a gun
He was well to load it
He was well to drive a car
He was well..
A sick person could not carry that out..
I am a lay person

If he was so sick should have stayed home in bed and rested..
The teen wrote his ticket..
Try him as an adult and let his peers handle him..

[displeased2]

I knew a severely depressed person. Before she found a treatment that worked, her mind really wasn't well. She made decisions and had fears that were completely illogical. Luckily her decisions and fears weren't oriented toward violence, although I did wonder if she considered suicide sometimes.

[Transatlantique]

If you are a lay person, then go and get laid. He is the product of our sick society, and the result of a culture that basically ignores the emotional well being of boys, no thanks to Gloria Allred and Oprah Winfrey.