Finger Pointing Follows Slaying Suit

The families of three girls murdered in a school shooting spree in Paducah, Kentucky, continue to point fingers after accepting a $42 million settlement offer from attorneys for Michael Carneal, the teenage gunman behind the attack.

The families spoke to CBS News and appeared on the Early Show on Monday, the day the trial was to have started, to explain what they hoped to gain by pursuing the lawsuit.

"The Carneals knew there was something wrong and they didn't get help… I want to say, 'Folks, your kids can be held liable for what they do. The community will hold you liable,'" says Joe James.

"Right now, it's just a symbolic (victory) -- he's taken responsibility finally for what he did, " says Chuck Hadley.

In 1997, Carneal, who was 14, opened fire on a group of students praying at Heath High School.

Three girls -- Nicole Hadley, Jessica James, and Kayce Steger -- were killed, and five other students were injured.

Carneal pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the shootings, and was sentenced to at least 25 years in prison. He is being held at a juvenile detention center in western Kentucky.

The settlement ended another legal effort by the victims' families, who originally brought suit seeking $120 million in damages from 53 people or institutions, including Carneal and his parents, and students, school teachers and administrators.

All of the suits were dismissed except the one against Carneal.

Because of the lawsuits, the victims' families have come under fire by their community for being divisive and unforgiving.

"People here hate us. They say so many bad things. They say we're out for blood with the civil trial. They keep saying all we want is money," says Joe James.

Gwen Hadley says, "It's really hard on us to be able to receive hate mail, which we have -- telling us that we're not Christian people for having these civil suits, and it's really emotionally distressing because what we're trying to do is protect the children. We can't save our girls, but we're trying to protect their children and make sure this doesn't happen again."

She says suing Carneal's classmates who may have kept silent about his plans was not harmful because children need to know that by intervening "you're not ratting on each other, you may be saving someone's life."

Carneal's psychiatrist in the Kentucky Juvenile Justice Department has said Carneal was delusional and believed he was being stalked by aliens.

Carneal told his psychiatrist that he would sometimes walk from one piece of furniture to another so that imaginary people could not cut off his feet.

Joe James says he holds Carneal's parents as responsible for the shootings as Carneal.

"They're the ones that trained him to have the temperament that he has now," he says. "As a parent, I am responsible for my children. If my child goes to the next-door house and breaks a window, I have to make that window omplete, make it repaired, replace it. But they're saying we have a child that goes out and kills, but we're not responsible for him."

Gwen Hadley says if she had an opportunity, she would like to ask the Carneals"'What did you do to those kids, what turned him into a monster?' Michael was always craving attention and he didn't get it. I'd say, 'Why didn't you give that kid what he needed?' That was an attention-starved child. I would say, 'Where was the love, John and Ann?'"

She says entertainment companies are also partly to blame, for "desensitizing kids to a point where death has no value, no meaning."

Because Carneal, who is reportedly under suicide watch, has no money, it was unlikely the families would collect any of the $42 million settlement that was offered this week by his lawyers.

The victims' families still hope to win a judgment against the Carneal family's insurer, Kentucky Farm Bureau, which has claimed it is not liable for the younger Carneal's actions.

They also filed a federal lawsuit against the makers of video games, movies and a Web site the victims' families said were responsible for Carneal's behaviour. That action has been dismissed.