Inside chaotic life of Ohio shooting suspect

(CBS/AP) CHARDON, Ohio — The teenager suspected in an Ohio school shooting struggled with a broken family and did poorly in school, then appeared to turn himself around once he was taken in by grandparents and began to attend an alternative school, longtime neighbors and friends said Wednesday.

To a person, they expressed disbelief at how the quiet but friendly boy could now be a suspect in a shooting that left three people dead and appears to have involved a gun that disappeared from his grandfather's barn.

"T.J. was a very fine person," Carl Henderson, a longtime neighbor of the suspect's grandparents, Thomas and Michelle Lane, said Wednesday. "Nice-looking man, very friendly, spoke to you, carried a conversation with you."

Prosecutor: Ohio shooting suspect confessed
Ohio school shooting suspect "not well"
Prosecutor: Ohio shooting not about bullying

The gun, a .22 caliber revolver, was noticed as missing after Monday's shootings and fits the description of the pistol that reportedly was used to kill three students and wound two others at Chardon High School, said Henderson, a retired police officer and former Geauga County sheriff. He said he has spoken to the grandfather, Thomas Lane, about the gun.

Ohio shooting suspect TJ Lane outside his juvenile court hearing on Feb. 28, 2012

/ The News-Herald

The suspect's grandfather believes the gun is the same, "because the gun was there the day before, in the barn," said Henderson, 74, who says he's been friends with the boy's family for nearly 50 years.

A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said the gun used in the shooting, a Ruger .22-caliber Mark III target pistol, was bought legally in August 2010 from a gun shop in Mentor, Ohio.

14 Photos

Ohio high school shooting victims

The official, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said Lane told authorities he stole gun from his uncle. It wasn't clear Wednesday whether the gun might have been the same one missing from the grandfather's barn. Henderson said he isn't aware of an uncle's involvement with the gun.

Lane, 17, admitted taking a pistol and a knife to the 1,100-student Chardon High and firing 10 shots at a group of students sitting at a cafeteria table, prosecutor David Joyce said.

A police report said 33 officers from around the area responded to what was first described as a "shooting accidental" and was over in less than a minute. Emergency crews from four fire departments also responded, according to the report obtained by the AP through a public records request.

The grandparents feel terrible about what happened and have no explanation for the teen's alleged role in the shootings, Henderson said.

Lane came from a broken family but seemed to heal over time, said Henderson, who added that the boy began living with his grandparents off and on several years ago.

TJ Lane's father, Thomas Lane, served seven months in prison in 2003 on charges of disrupting public service and felonious assault, according to state prison records. He is seen here at 2002 plea hearing on attempted murder charges.

/ Duncan Scott/ The News-Herald

Lane's father, Thomas Lane, 40, served seven months in prison in 2003 on charges of disrupting public service and felonious assault, according to state prison records. Messages were left Wednesday at numbers listed for Thomas Lane. Neighbors said he visited his son often, sometimes taking him and his sister camping or to the school to catch the bus.

Russ Miller, who also lives near the Nolans, said he has known Lane since the boy was 5 or 6 years old and the grandparents for at least 35 years. He described Lane as an "easy going" person whose grades had improved since he left Chardon High School about a year and a half ago and began attending Lake Academy, a school associated with the local career center.

"He went from flunking out from what I understand to almost a straight A student with honors and he was going to graduate a year early," Miller said.

Miller, 64, a retired sheet metal worker, said he had talked to him about joining the military, but the boy hadn't made plans.

"He was a typical 17-year-old," said Miller, a Vietnam veteran. "He didn't really know what he wanted to do in his life." He said Lane didn't smoke, drink or do drugs and was "kind of a health nut."

29 Photos

Ohio teen gunman gets life in prison

About 55 students attend Lake Academy, a 15-year-old school for students who haven't done well in traditional schools. The school, about 15 miles away from Chardon in Willoughby, has security measures including electronically controlled doors and surveillance cameras but no metal detectors. School officials declined to comment Wednesday.

• no previous page
• next

1/2

[Coastierat]

Talk about fanatics. Every time someone who should not have a gun or uses a gun for the wrong reasons comes up it's all about anti guns and taking them away. You're not going to get rid of guns in this country even if the government mandated it. Just like we cannot keep drugs from getting smuggled into this country, there are guns being smuggled in and that get into the hands of gangs and so forth. As a woman who is at home the majority of the time alone, I am a proud gun owner but I am also a responsible one. This is not about gun rights; this is about a 17 year old boy who knows the difference between right and wrong or should know the difference. He took 3 young lives. I do not care if he had a million of legit reasons to do so he made the decision to pull the trigger. Now he will sit in a prison cell for 10 years or so where he will get pampered. If people really wanted this stuff to stop then man up and stop babying everybody who commits serious crimes. Punishment should be severe and that it would scare others from doing it. Nobody does have the right to take another's life and neither did this 17 year old. People are not scared to kill each other anymore because nothing life threatening will happen to them. Our prison system and punishments in this country have become a joke. We have gotten hung up on trying to make everybody happy and everything having to be politically correct, it does not work.

[iamjustsayin]

The Headline should read, Inside the chaotic Mind of Ohio shooting suspect.

[truth_police]

Americans love guns more than they love children. Of the pro-gun lobbyists who responded here, one can NOT distinguish a significant difference between a gun, a knife and a club; another can NOT distinguish between a "troll" and a perfectly reasonable person with a legitimate, articulate anti-gun point of view; and yet another pro-gun lobbyist can NOT distinguish between the "danger posed by guns" versus the "danger posed by homicidal maniacs."

And these are the incoherent militant-right-wing fanatic gun lobbyists who "own the politicians" and who "own Congress." One can only describe this pathetic situation as "the tail that wags the dog" - "the inmates who run the asylum." If there is a learning curve for them, it is purely genetic, and it will take millions of years before those genes are purged from the gene pool.

Guns serve no purpose other than to kill, maime, injure and terrorize, That distinguishes guns from kitchen knives and baseball bats, which serve a legitimate, nonviolent purpose the vast majority of the time. How many "I thought the gun wasn't loaded" deaths must society suffer before we figure out that "guns kill" even when owned by someone who is not a homicidal killer? How many "I thought the Halloween trick-or-treater was dangerous" cold-blooded killings must we endure before we figure out gun owner mindless stupidity and bravado is rampant and insufferable? Only dangerous right-wing fanatic militants need an AK-47 in their arsenal.

We've become a country run by extremist right-wing militant fanatic nutjobs who believe they have 'power' WITH a gun in their hands. And that is precisely the decrepit, delusional mentality that should NOT be owning guns.

[Godsarmy496]

I must say we are in a different time of life, we as a people in this country has lost alot of love for one another, respect, loyalty, and values, we were a proud country in the golden years but now the spirit of evil has open the door of what we have now, we have had some challenging times between each of us as a people but we over came alot of what kept us from being Great!! we have changed values (if we didn't change it we surely didn't stop it)so much just the little stuff of just doing what's right!, but the bigger picture we yet to see, looking at the small things going on, I understand that the system will try this young man as an adult, but in a normal life he's still a child he can't join any amry, he can't buy a home, he can't leave the country by himself so if he's an adult i'm confused, it's so wrong for what he did for we should not take life because we're not the creator, but the point is we as a people don't stop to think about the spirit that's inside of mankind and what makes us turn, we leave God out of everything and question why are things happening in our life, we all have done something big or small, some cheat on wifes/husbands , some just do just the opposite of God's plan or laws, we as a people of america can work together on jobs, fish, sports, etc, but we are more separated on Sunday! (that's a thought) the most spiritual day of the week and we don't even share that joy together, we have many different cultures here but the normal from the begining we have always had a disconnection a distance between the two, we just accept anything because that's easy to do , but doing the right thing standing for righteousness, truth, honor, proud Men and Women we don't stand in high numbers, I pray peace and blessings to all of american people!!!!

[griff713]

They should just put him down like you would any other rabid animal.

[Transatlantique]

Do we ever hear about school shootings in England where they aren't allowed guns? They have to wear uniforms in England as well so that there will be no distraction from studies. America could take notes from England as well as the EU. Now go ahead and bombard my comment with responses of typical American arrogance about being "the greatest country on earth." That is obviously far from truth.

[rightontarget]

Yeah, well there was a reason that we broke away from arrogant England and I'm glad we no longer have to be a part of it. They have had riots, killings and such. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it is found out that they had their own princess (Diana) killed just to save the face of the monarchy. Wouldn't trust one as far as I could throw them.

[AnnieDanny]

Doesn't seem like his life was so "chaotic." What a dumb headline. There's nothing there that makes me think there's any excuse. He had a decent home and people who cared. Where's the chaos?

[erasmus111]

A broken family can be very disruptive and chaotic. It depends on the parents and how they deal with it. With some it's a royal battle. And you don't think having a father that's out there breaking the law wouldn't cause some problems for him. I'm not saying that any of it is an excuse for what he did, but please don't tell me that it wouldn't have been chaotic, when you have no idea.

He may have had a better life with his grandparents, but he hadn't been living with them that long. Or at least not long enough to erase any damage done by his idiotic parents.

[Transatlantique]

Different children process trauma differently based on how sensitive they are, and no two are alike.

[sepa2]

allowing this human waste normal privileges has cost three kids their lives

[Transatlantique]

No, he isn't "human waste" but more like an innocent child born into a violent boy/man hating culture which teaches narcissism and arrogance. People like you created him, and you should direct your anger toward yourself.

[jd2408]

I don't want laws taking away peoples guns but I would like to see laws making gun owners responsible for someone taking their gun and committing a crime. When you hear of so many gun crimes I bet that 95% of those gun crimes are not done by the owner of the gun. Keep your guns in a safe place where others can't get their hands on it, or at least make it hard for others to take it.

[sofarfrome]

Should you be held responsible of someone relieved you of your car and killed another in a collision?

[commenter777]

The main cause for all the school shootings is that we allow bullying. When I was in school I was the worst bully imaginable. I made many a person's life as miserable as I could and I see now that it was to make myself feel good at their expense. Too often the outcasts are kids that have been abused by priests, beaten for sport by step-fathers and abused by bullies at our public schools. Also, my teachers overlooked or added to my bullying of other students. No one deserves to be shot, but the cause of the people doing the shooting is that they have been outcasted by society thru bullying, etc. They are people that put up with other people's bs until they explode, like postal workers.

[MouseMom500]

EXACTLY RIGHT! I never bullied anyone. I never had any respect for anyone who did, I was disgusted with people like you. I come from the polar opposite view as you do, and I completely agree with you. You need to print this anywhere you can! May I copy you to fb?