Youth who shot classmate felt he'd been bullied

California sheriff: Youth who shot classmate felt he'd been bullied

CNN

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(CNN) -- A 16-year-old student who blasted a California high school classroom with a shotgun Thursday was targeting two classmates because he felt he'd been bullied, the local sheriff said Thursday night.

Highly Cited:Youth fires shotgun at 2 high school students, hits one; suspect in custodyCNN International

In Depth:One student critically wounded in California school shootingChicago Tribune

Wikipedia:Taft Union High School

 

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California sheriff: Youth who shot classmate felt he'd been bullied

By Michael Martinez, CNN

updated 8:54 PM EST, Thu January 10, 2013

Student to mom: There's blood everywhere

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Teacher, school staffer "stood there face-to-face" with shotgun-wielding student
• The student, 16, shows up late to class with a 12-gauge shotgun, authorities say
• He allegedly shoots one classmate but misses his second intended target
• The two school staffers persuade assailant to drop the gun

(CNN) -- A 16-year-old student who blasted a California high school classroom with a shotgun Thursday was targeting two classmates because he felt he'd been bullied, the local sheriff said Thursday night.

One student was hit and was in critical but stable condition Thursday night, and the shooter was in custody after a teacher and the school's campus supervisor talked him into putting his shotgun down.

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said he did not know whether bullying had actually occurred between the Taft Union High School students.

"But certainly he (the shooter) believed that the two people he had targeted had bullied him," Youngblood said at an evening news conference in Taft, about 30 miles from Bakersfield.

The young shooter was still being interrogated Thursday evening, Youngblood said, adding that the youth will be charged as a juvenile with attempted murder. It will be up to prosecutors to decide whether he should be charged as an adult, the sheriff said.

The name of the student in custody was not released.

Youngblood laid out a detailed scenario of the hours before the shooting, saying the student planned the assault the night before, and took a shotgun belonging to his brother.

The student did not show up for school on time Thursday, Youngblood said, instead appearing about half through the first period of classes. He was caught on school surveillance cameras, the sheriff said, using a side entrance instead of the school's main door and "appearing nervous" as he tried to conceal the shotgun when he entered the school.

The gunman fired directly at one student, who was hit, then as students rushed to flee, the gunman fired again, Youngblood said.

"Miraculously, (the second shot) didn't injure anyone."

Youngblood credited the teacher and the campus supervisor -- a campus monitor on the school's staff -- with bravely facing off with the young gunman. Youngblood identified the teacher as Ryan Heber and the campus supervisor as Kim Lee Fields.

"They stood there face-to-face (with the gunman) not knowing whether he's going to turn that shotgun on them," Youngblood said.

The assailant's pockets were "filled" with ammunition, Youngblood said, adding that he did not have an exact account of how many shotgun cartridges were recovered.

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In addition to the wounded student, who was being treated in a Bakersfield hospital, two other students -- both girls -- suffered injuries in the confusion amid the shooting, Youngblood said. One girl apparently close to the shotgun blast was taken to a hospital with hearing damage, authorities said. The second girl received minor injuries trying to flee, authorities said.

The teacher suffered a pellet wound to the head from one of the shots fired earlier, authorities said.

Earlier Thursday, Youngblood said the teacher and campus supervisor "engaged in a conversation that talked him into putting that shotgun down ... He (the student) said, 'I wasn't aiming at you,' and said the name of the student he was aiming at."

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Added Taft Police Chief Ed Whiting, "We commend the teacher and campus supervisor for all they did to bring this to a quick resolution before anybody else was harmed."

An armed police officer is assigned to the school but he wasn't at the school at the time of the shooting because snowfall in the area prevented his arrival, authorities said.

Investigators recovered a shotgun they believe was used in the incident, said Ray Pruitt of the Kern County Sheriff's Office.

Former Marines differ on gun control

Authorities were still searching and securing the school Thursday evening. Investigators also were searching student backpacks to ensure no additional firearms were in the school, Youngblood said.

Tia Savea, who lives across the street from Taft's science building, said she saw a youth, about 15 or 16 years of age, walk by her window with a gun shortly before the shooting.

She thought the gun was a toy, she said.

The youth walked into the school, and Savea then heard two distinct shots, she said. Her son is a 10th grader at the high school, she said.

Classes are canceled for Friday, and the school is scheduled to re-open, with additional counselors, on Monday, officials said.

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy expressed sympathies to the Taft community, which is in his district.

"I am deeply saddened and troubled by news of the shooting," the Republican lawmaker said.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, said her father attended Taft Union High, which she has visited over the years.

"Today comes word of another tragic shooting at an American school," Feinstein said. "At this moment my thoughts and prayers are with the victims, and I wish them a speedy recovery.

"But how many more shootings must there be in America before we come to the realization that guns and grievances do not belong together?" Feinstein said.

Read more: Shootings at U.S. schools

end quote from:

California sheriff: Youth who shot classmate felt he'd been bullied

When I was growing up there was a saying that had been true throughout my father's and Grandfather's time as well which is: 'Don't get mad get even'. So, the way you prevented bullying was to make people scared enough of you that they wouldn't dare bully you. However, now the laws and actions prevent people from protecting themselves the way they once did to the point where people who "get even" feel they have to commit suicide afterwards. There has to be some middle ground where the victims of bullies are more protected than the bully's which is the way things are now the way present laws are enforced or should I say "not enforced". The way things are now the only way those bullied can "get justice" is to get a gun and shoot their tormentors and then commit suicide. Our legal system has become a fantasy that does not work in the real world of life. The law of the jungle is at the core of all this.  And when we deny this people die (or their lives are permanently ruined) every time.

Let me tell you a true story about my Uncle Bob. This was between 1920 to 1925 when this happened in Breckenridge, Texas. My Grandad was an Electrical Contractor but Uncle Bob was about 10 or 12 and was getting beat up every day the first week of school being one of the new kids in town. He complained about all the blood and bruises every day to his Dad. His Dad said, "You need to make them stop beating you up. Get a big stick and wait for them around the block at the corner. So, my Uncle then young got a 2by4 stud about 3 feet long and when his tormentor came around the corner to hurt him again he simply knocked the kid out by hitting him in the head with it and then the kid never bothered him again. This is just how people survived situations like this until the 1960s and 1970s. This was just life as a boy growing up in the U.S. Unless you scared people you got Bullied. Period. Though I never got physically bullied I still dealt with verbal abuse. But I made sure people knew I would seriously hurt them if they tried to hurt me. There was a sparring thing people did in 1960 to 1963 when I was in Junior High. If someone was going to call you out to fight you did a hitting sparring match first. You ritually hit each other as hard as you could in the upper arm with your middle knuckle out so it would really hurt and make  the other guy's arm purple. But you took turns doing this. And when both could take the pain without crying out there was no fight because both had proved they were men. I never had to fight because I was good at this. It only took about 3 to 4 blows each to establish you both were "men" and could take the pain like a soldier without crying or wincing. But it kept a whole lot of us out of the hospital with broken arms and legs and hands and heads from fighting. This was why it was done this way to save lives. This was a ritual that saved me from having to get really bloody many times.

Also, my father took me aside when I was 12 and said to me personally, 'Fred, you can't let people goad you into fights. You are just too big and strong and if you got angry you are just so big and strong you are going to kill the other guy. So, don't let anyone get your goat." I never forgot what my father told me because he was right. I was almost always a head taller than most guys in my class and now I'm 6 feet 4 1/2 inches tall but my wife likes to say I'm 6 foot 5 so I have sort of got used to her saying this. In boots I'm 6 foot 6 inches tall even now. Because I'm 6 feet 4 1/2 inches in my bare feet.