Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood: Colo. Middle School Shooting Suspect Hears Voices, Used My Gun, Dad Says

By: Edecio Martinez
Topics: Daily Blotter

(AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez)

LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS/AP) Police say they don't know why suspected gunman Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood opened fire at a Littleton, Colo. middle school Tuesday injuring two students, Matt Thieu and Reagan Webber. But a Colorado televison station says the suspect was a former student at the school who had a lengthy criminal rap sheet.

(Personal Photo)

And the alleged shooter's father told KUSA-TV he believes his son has psychological problems and "hears voices."

Photo: Matt Thieu and Reagan Webber.

PICTURES: Colorado Middle School Shooting

The father, War Eagle Eastwood, told the station his son used the father's rifle to commit the shooting, and that he did so without permission. The father also said Bruco Eastwood never graduated from high school, spent the last two years trying to get his GED, and that failing the test seemed to depress him.

The station reported the 32-year-old suspect attended Deer Creek Middle School in the early 1990s.

PICTURES: Colorado Middle School Shooting

The younger Eastwood has an arrest record in Colorado dating back to 1996 for menacing, assault, domestic violence and driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

In 2005, he participated in a NASA-funded medical study in which he spent 10 days in a hospital bed so scientists could study muscle wasting, an affliction experienced by astronauts during long flights, according to a story in the Rocky Mountain News.

He told the newspaper that he had a lifelong dream of being an astronaut and described his occupation to the newspaper as horse trainer working at his father's Eagle's Nest Ranch in Hudson, Colo.

The shooting victims, students Reagan Webber and Matt Thieu, were both treated at Littleton Adventist Hospital, where a spokeswoman said Webber was treated and released to her home. Thieu was transferred to The Children's Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition late Tuesday.

Eastwood is expected to make his first court appearance Wednesday.

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PICTURES: Colorado Middle School Shooting

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by rwsmith29456 February 24, 2010 6:34 PM EST

They weren't killed? Thieu is in critical condition but there is hope. Thank goodness! Eastwood HAS to have mental problems if he can't pass the GED in two years.

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