Sad, Sad Story

[crimsulent]

A couple of years ago one of my former students pulled out a gun and killed a classmate in one of his middle school classes.

I had known the kid for a couple years and was totally shocked when it happened.

It's a very complicated case. The male student that was killed was flamboyantly gay, and was wearing high heels and makeup to class. The day before the shooting he had taunted the shooter in front of the shooter's friends, saying, "I know you want me" etc

After the shooting, prosecutors discovered that the shooter had swastikas doodled on some the papers in his room. They also discovered that the family had some white-supremicist friends. Because of these facts, and the fact that the kid that got killed was gay, the DA decided to prosecute this as a Hate Crime.

The shooter, Brandon, was just a couple days older than the minimum age at which a child can be tried in adult court.

Now he's facing life in prison.

The whole story is tragic. I am sad for all parties involved.

Wikipedia has an entry on the incident, if you'd like to check it out:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.O._Green_School_shooting

[weebitty]

yes that is very sad kids don't realize the consequences of their actions. That is why so many of them are in trouble. I think parents need to raise their kids to think for themselves. If you tell a kid to do something give them a choice to do it or not and the consequences if they don't maybe then that will train them to think things through. and then follow through with the consequences. If you don't it is for nothing.

[crimsulent]

good points, wee

yeah, with drug addict parents, the kid never had a decent role model at home, no decision making skills, no idea whatsoever of the consequences of his actions

[havingfunnow]

Sad to say, but I think this is a case where extremism (the taunting) begot extremism (the shooting).

[crimsulent]

yeah, good way to put it, louis

now, a couple years down the road, details continue to emerge about the case.

evidently the taunting was ongoing, and then having it happen right in front of his peers, just before Valentine's Day, probably made Brandon really embarrassed.

from the outset i had a hunch that someone was telling the little gay kid 'you have the right to express your identity, etc.' without understanding the danger this behavior would actually put him in.

then finding out that the school had a high profile lesbian activist type administrator, you can see how (for lack of a better term) political correctness screwed this little kid. no one was allowed to say the obvious: it's not ok to come to school dressed like a woman and openly flirt with boys, that isn't what we're here for.

i certainly don't blame the victim, and i don't excuse Brandon's actions. it's a tragic case from nearly every possible point of view.

it's sad, but the adults really failed these children. in both families the kids were profoundly disconnected from their parents and weren't given adequate guidance and support. it's possible the school could have made a difference if it recognized the volatility of the situation, but it didn't