VENTURA, Calif., Feb. 16, 2008
Murdered 8th Grader Taken Off Life Support
Shooter, 14, Could Tried As An Adult For Anti-Gay Hate Crimes, Premeditated Murder
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An unidentified student stops to look at a makeshift memorial honoring fifteen-year-old Lawrence King which lies beneath the flagpole at E.O. Green School Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008 in Oxnard, Calif. King was declared brain dead Wednesday after being shot in the head in class by a fellow student on Tuesday, February 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Phil McCarten)
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Interactive Gay In The U.S.A. State-by-state laws on gay issues, the marriage debate and photo essays.
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Lawrence King, 15, was taken off life support on Thursday and his body was taken for autopsy after the organ harvesting.
Ventura County Senior Deputy Medical Examiner Armando Chavez said multiple organs were donated but he could not disclose which ones they were.
The autopsy showed King died of wounds to his head.
"Obviously the manner was homicide," Chavez said.
Prosecutors have charged a 14-year-old classmate with premeditated murder with hate-crime and firearm-use enhancements.
Brandon David McInerney, who allegedly brought a handgun to E.O. Green Junior High School on Tuesday and shot King in the head, was charged in Superior Court as an adult.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox said the murder charge carries a maximum penalty of 25 years to life, with an additional maximum of 25 years for the firearms enhancement and an added one to three years for the hate-crime enhancement.
McInerney, who was held with bail set at $770,000, made his initial court appearance Thursday, but the hearing was continued until March 21. Defense attorney Brian A. Vogel didn't return telephone messages seeking comment.
The felony complaint did not contain the reasons prosecutors filed the hate-crime enhancement, and Fox said she could not reveal them. Oxnard police spokesman David Keith said Friday the investigation was continuing and there was no information about a motive.
Several classmates have said King would wear feminine attire, making him a social outcast with other boys at the school. King sometimes came to school wearing makeup and high heels, eighth-grader Nicholas Cortez said.
King was in the county foster care system and lived at Casa Pacifica, a center for abused and neglected children, said Steve Elson, the facility's chief executive.
The Ventura County Rainbow Alliance announced plans for a vigil and march Friday night.
The crime rate typically is higher in Oxnard than in Ventura County's other nine cities.
"When you say you're from Oxnard, people always immediately think 'gangs,' " an Oxnard father told the Los Angeles Times. "But it's not all gangs and violence here. It's a friendly place and a good place for families."
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 76 CommentsPosted by gunnerv1 at 12:31 PM : Feb 18, 2008
I give you credit for admitting that your guns are not locked up. It is only common sense that the gun owners that say they have guns for protection do not lock them up (after all they can''t protect you if they are in a big safe.) I would just like to know why you (gunnervl) need the kind of guns you stated you have....seems like quite the aresenal. Why??
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from your own statement..it seems the one at fault is the ''gun owner'' which you mentioned is a ''criminal''
do you think your fellow brethren would allow you to prosecute a ''criminal'' at the full extent of the law?? I WOULD NOT BE SUPRISED IF THEY GIVE HIM A BOOK DEAL INSTEAD.
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Posted by schoollord at 04:09 PM : Feb 18, 2008
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so what do you suggest we do??
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you are making it sound like all the ''incidents'' in this country is because of a gun that was taken off from a registered gun owner..
I am not sure if you are willing to accept the fact that what you are hearing on cbs is not but a minute fraction of all violent incidents in this country.
so questionm, what do you suggest?? ban all handguns and move to your house?
like i asked before..name one location in this great wide world where it is safer OR there are no incident of gun play where GUNS ARE BANNED. (the last time you came up with some bullsh*t like "my house")
Hey Noodles,,, I said that he had it without permission. Locked, or improperly locked,,doesn''t matter. He still swiped the gun. And he was not a regestered gun owner. So your assertions ring hollow. He''s still a thief. Aka,,,a criminal!
The difference I see between the two is that Terri had made her wishes known to her husband prior to her state of vegitation that she did not want to be kept alive this way. And secondly she had no chance of ever resuming a normal life. Unlike an unborn child whose wishes were never considered...and who could have lived a normal life if given the chance.
Very good post!
Like in Pakistan and Afghanistan, people can kill you in the US if you transgress Old Testament gender dictates without anyone in the media or government noticing, let alone rising up to stop it.
Like in Pakistan and Afghanistan, people can kill you in the US if you transgress Old Testament gender dictates without anyone in the media or government noticing, let alone rising up to stop it.
I should clarify that the whole finger in a bowl of chili turned out to be a hoax -- no finger was ever found in the chili, but the part about Bush wanting to keep it alive on life support when he heard the rumor, that part was true.
Posted by kailumego1 at 11:47 AM : Feb 17, 2008
Sorry Buddie,,But your theory, is off a bit.
At 14,, this kid is not able to register a gun in the state of California. So there fore, he must have taken the gun from A) his father,,or B) That''s anybody''s guess, where he got the gun.
But the only way for him to have a gun, is to take it without permission,,,which is a crime in this country, and hence,,is a criminal.
Therefore this shooting was carried out by a armed street thug! And not by a registered gun owner.
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In 1990, Terri Schiavo collapsed with a heart attack and stopped breathing.
Paramedics kept her alive with resuscitation and defibrillation until they got her to a hospital, where she was intubated, ventilated, and eventually given a tracheotomy.
She was comatose for over two months. When she came out of the coma, she remained in a persistent vegetative state for nearly 15 years.
She had suffered irreparable brain damage caused by the lack of oxygen before being intubated.
That is a long-winded way of saying; Terri Scaiavo was, essentially, brain dead.
Many judges, including the Supreme Court, in effect, agreed with that.
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You are right about one thing: I should have referred to Republicans-in-congress, instead of saying/insinuating republicans in general. For that I apologize
A friend of mine who is into sci-fi once said "It''s a good thing there aren''t phasers in real life, I''d be too tempted to use it on the average idiots I come in contact with every day."
Maybe the average American shouldn''t have guns because the average American is too ready to come to blows over silly *** like who was in line first or who grabbed the on-sale PS3, and if they have a gun on their hip they''re going to use that instead. Anything can be used as a weapon, but I can kill 15 people in a matter of seconds with a handgun. Can I get those results with anything else lying around the house? Handguns on the street have one purpose. To shoot people. That''s what they''re made for.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_McVeigh
19 of the 168 murder victims were small children.
When asked before being put to death if he was sorry...he said he would do it all again.
Now people may say Brandon David McInerney was prejudice or Homophobic....THE SAD TRUTH IS HATE IS BREEDING MORE HATE WITH MORE LIES TO SUPPORT IT.
All Mcveigh really wanted was to satisfy his craving for hate...regardless if it included 19 innocent babies, and Brandon David McInerney is no different...but sadly...people would rather twist the truth for their own agenda...making things worse.
Yes Brandon David McInerney murdered for the simple fact Lawrence King was gay...but Brandon David McInerney would have killed anyone that would allowed him to excercise his burning desire to hate...by way of any excuse...just like Tim McVeigh.
Sadly, no. Her history of bulemia lead to potassium imbalance, which lead to heart attack, which led to no oxygen in the brain, which lead to her brain dying. EEG- no activity. CAT scan- massive brain atrophy. She didn''t have "disabilities" as Bush put it, her brain was dead. There was no way she could have "come back to consciousness" since there was no consciousness left in her body.
As for the "facial movement and blinking", sorry, her random autonomic and stimulus/response functions don''t equate to consciousness, though those who see this happen would love it to be otherwise. Unless of course, you''re ready to say the body of a chicken running around the yard after having its head cut off is still alive....
"the kind of family''s dems champion"
What a fallacy...Did it ever occur to you that REALITY happens, and not every family can be a Leave it to Beaver type?
So when you say "champion" maybe you mean "shore up" since alot of intelligent people realize that in the real world, these types of famillies DO occur, and the grandfather should be commended for taking on the responsibility...not referred to as "dysfunctional."
Yea, "shore up" aka "support" because these are the types of situations kids are placed in that need the extra support/help...exactly because of things like this.
Don''t get me started on the families that the Columbine kids came from, the conservative asian guy from Virginia, or the christian guy who came from a devout christian family, and acted out because of hypocracy from Ted Haggard.
BS!
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