This happened at my daughter's school!!

[Dragon Lady]

Obviously nothing was learned from Columbine. My poor daughter is still very upset and swinging from not sleeping to total exaustion. When I took her back to school I told her that she did NOT have to go, but she insisted that she wanted to be with her friends. As we drove up the lane and neared the school, I could see her starting to shake. But, she wasn't about to let some lunatic (who she knows personally) keep her from HER school. She's actually doing much better, I on the other hand am not doing so good right now. Let me tell you, there is nothing so terrifying than hearing that there was a shooting at the school and not being able to contact your child!

Here is the news story as it appeared in the Albany Times Union

A gun and dreams of dying
East Greenbush -- Cops say suspect fantasized about killing, left suicide note; mom purchased weapon a few days before

By BRENDAN LYONS, Staff writer
First published: Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Jon William Romano fantasized about killing his schoolmates long before Monday, when he strolled into Columbia High School with a new shotgun and 20 rounds of ammunition, police said Tuesday.
The lanky 16-year-old apparently planned to shoot anyone in his path, then turn the gun on himself, authorities said. The deadly plan went awry when Romano, whose mother bought him the shotgun just three days earlier, missed two intended victims.
But for the youth's lack of practice with the shotgun and the heroism of the school staffers who wrestled it away from him, the incident could have escalated into a larger tragedy, authorities said.
Before heading for the school, Romano had left a five-page suicide note at home "in a place where he knew it would be found," said law enforcement officials close to the investigation. They said the note outlined the tale of a despondent young man who withdrew from his friends, was unhappy about his relationship with his estranged father and who allegedly was ready to kill.
Some students and their parents later speculated that Romano was frustrated by a failed relationship with a girl or was angry with a difficult teacher. But investigators say no one thing set off his desperate act.
"He was just depressed, disgruntled and his life didn't have any meaning to him," a police official said.
"He had fantasies of doing this for some time," another law enforcement official added.
Romano's attorney, E. Stewart Jones of Troy, acknowledged that Romano has had emotional problems.
"Obviously, he was deeply troubled," Jones said. "This didn't happen all of a sudden. ... People seem to have overlooked the fact that he is still very young, very immature and was clearly not centered. (He) was still searching and looking at a very difficult time in his life."
Though Romano had received mental health counseling, Jones said that his mother, Lorraine Barde, should not be held accountable for buying her son the shotgun.
"This was not foreseeable to any member of his family," Jones said. "No one saw this coming. Some of his so-called friends claim that they'd had discussions with him (about the shooting), but if that in fact is so, the culpability is with them as well."
Romano's father, John L. Romano of Ballston Lake, attended his son's arraignment Monday on a charge of attempted murder. They said nothing to one another as the handcuffed teenager was led past his father in the tiny courtroom.
Romano's struggles at school were acknowledged by district officials, who said he was being tutored at home rather than attending classes. His neighbors, acquaintances and schoolmates describe him as a quiet and somewhat insecure kid with a quick temper who had withdrawn from friendships, sports and school activities in recent years.
"He was just sort of a loner," said Phillip Keegan, a Columbia senior and Romano's neighbor. "He was always a strange kid, going his own way, but he was always a nice kid."
Over the weekend, Romano and his mother drove to the Pistol Parlor gun shop in East Greenbush where she bought him a Winchester Model 1300 pump-action shotgun. Barde allegedly filled out a federal gun-purchase application indicating that the weapon was for her son, who was too young to buy it but who intended to take up hunting.
Barde also bought a carrying case and a box of 20 shells loaded with small pellets used primarily to kill squirrels and small birds.
The owner of the shop, which went out of business this week for unrelated reasons, did not respond to a request for comment.
John Morgan, resident-agent-in-charge of the Albany office of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, declined to discuss the details of the gun purchase.
"There are further aspects of the acquisition of the firearm which we are confirming so we can't discuss it at this point," he said. "The firearm in question is an otherwise legal sporting shotgun used by hunters."
Law enforcement officials said they believe Romano, who is 6-foot-2, tucked the gun in its zippered case and carried it into school Monday morning, possibly shielding it under his waist-length leather jacket or stuffing it down his pants. He carried the ammunition in a backpack. After entering the school, he immediately climbed a flight of stairs and went into a second-floor restroom in the building's south tower.
Romano allegedly loaded the Winchester with five shells and used a cellphone to send a text message to a fellow student -- who was in a math class a few steps away -- telling him about the gun and warning him to get out of the school, according to police officers and students who were in the class with the boy.
When Romano walked out of restroom, 16-year-old Jeffrey Kinary of Rensselaer was the first person in his path. Kinary's father, a longtime Albany firefighter whose name is also Jeffrey, said Tuesday his son was just 10 feet from Romano.
"He stared at him and he knew," said the elder Kinary. "My son told me he had that stare. ... My son hunts, so he pretty much knows guns. He told me: 'Dad, if I ran I would've got it in the back.' "
The younger Kinary told his parents that Romano pointed the shotgun at his head, but that he ducked just as a blast of birdshot slammed into a wall above him. Some pellets tore the books he was holding.
"I'm happy my son did not catch the blast in the chest," Kinary said.
Romano then bolted through the second-floor hallway, peeking into one classroom but quickly moving on after he saw that the teacher was one he liked, officials said.
After firing a second shot that hit a wall and part of a door, Romano was tackled by Assistant Principal John Sawchuk, whose heroics are credited with preventing an untold number of deaths or injuries. As they tumbled to the ground, the gun fired a third time and special education teacher Michael Bennett, the girls varsity basketball coach, was slightly wounded in the lower leg.
Romano was held down by school officials until police arrived. Bennett was taken by ambulance to Albany Medical Center Hospital, where he was treated, then released. A grand jury is scheduled to begin reviewing the case today while Romano is being held in jail without bail on a single count of attempted second-degree murder.
Classes at Columbia started a few hours later than usual Tuesday. About 93 percent of the school's 2,000 students are on campus during a normal day, but only 75 percent were in class Tuesday, school officials said. The hangover from Monday's incident was obvious, as police officers patrolled the campus and additional hall monitors and counselors were brought in to comfort students.
Many of the students declined to talk about the shooting, but those who did appeared ready to put it behind them.
"I was so scared yesterday and I didn't want to come back today, but it's school, so you gotta come," said Andrea Tonkin, 17, a senior.
"I'm glad to be here today," said Courtney Van Dyke, 18, a senior, who was in her fourth-floor economics class on the other side of the building when Romano started shooting Monday. She said she and her classmates thought it was just a drill until they were told to gather at one side of the room.
Van Dyke said she briefly considered not coming into school Tuesday, but said she decided she would feel better if she were with friends. She said she felt safe, and that the school district's preparedness plans worked well.
"There's not much you can do when a student pulls out a 12-gauge shotgun," she said.
District Superintendent Terrance Brewer said extra counselors will remain at the school for several days, and tips have been posted on how to deal with the emotions in the wake of the incident.
"We are trying to get back to a sense of normalcy and the business of teaching and learning," Brewer said.
Columbia Principal Michael Kuzdzal welcomed his students back with a speech over the school's PA system.
"Sometimes things that occur to us have no answers," Kuzdzal said, adding that Romano's motives may never be fully understood.
"This staff and student body behaved in an exemplary manner," he said. "Whether one would call it terrorism or just a crime, it is meant to disrupt us."
But he promised that school life would proceed as normally as possible, and that Columbia would not become a high-security lockup. "We will have a good day today and will have a good day tomorrow, and the next day, and the next." writers Danielle T. Furfaro and Jordan Carleo-Evangelist contributed to this report.

[SEATJERKER]

......DL, Hits all to close to home in very many ways,...

...kinda numb as you, with ties to out there, and personal reasons,...

...That" been there, done that" just really pops up now, and then,...

...

[Dragon Lady]

What's the deal with his MOM buying him a weapon to "bring him out of his depression"???!!!
She says she figured he would take up hunting as a hobby! Yeah, right!
Can you say class action law suit? I'm considering it!!!

DL-

When and where I grew up firearms were considered a natural and accepted part of life.By the time I was 8-10 yr. old I had a gunrack full of guns that I had either inherited or been handed down by my older step-brothers.Wasn't unusual for grade schoolers to take an old gun to class for show-and-tell.On any given afternoon in the fall a quick glance into the parking lot at Jr. or High School would have revealed several trucks with guns prominently displayed in gun racks of boys who intended to get in a little hunting after school.To the best of my knowledge no kid anywhere in the US had EVER taken a gun to school with the intention of shooting classmates or teachers or anybody else and such was not to happen for at least a couple of decades.

I have to admit that I was a very disturbed child.Given the fact that my Mother was in and out of mental institutions from the time she was a teenager and that she had a bad habit of selecting new husbands from among the inmates of these institutions I think that perhaps this is understandable.

I began hunting at the age of 12 and found a sport that I could be good at.I had never really had a friend before but-through hunting-I made friends with other kids who hunted and eventually their families.I've got a very strong hunch that this played a pivotal role in my life.I had two step-brothers,a brother,and a half brother.I was the only boy from that family who seriously got into hunting.I am also the only one of that family who has never been in a mental institution.

It seems obvious that Ramano's Mom has made some serious miscues;but please don't be too quick to assume that encourageing him to hunt was one of them.It isn't hard to get a gun if someone really wants one.

[locksly]

I do not think hunting is the problem in this case . The problem is the miss-treatment of students by there classmates. A situation existed in the schools that was not allowed in schools in the 1950s and 1960s. The schools are so large that teachers cannt tell the students from the nonstudents. There ARE GANGS at most schools that no-one is watching. These gangs intimidate and harass other students till they explode in violence

[locksly]

I hope most of you saw the 6 oclock news thursday the 12th. the beating that the little boy went through should have been stopped by someone . I guess there are no heros at these schools now someone should have stopped this kind of gang violence. The schools now are more like a prison society than a decent place of learning.

[Dragon Lady]

I too grew up in a family of hunters. But this boy had never been around weapons before. He had been under a doctor's care and treatment for depression. I find it grossly negligent on the mother's part to think that buying this kid a weapon would be a good idea.
My daughter is friends with this boy. He was not one to be picked on by other kids. She said he was a little strange but no more than any 16 year old boy would be to a 17 year old girl. It turns out that last year he had asked a girl out in the class and she had turned him down. Kelly says that he never seemed to get over it and according to the girl (I can't use her name because it is very unique) he had told her he would get her some day.
Today, my daughter wanted nothing to do with going to school at all. She woke up depressed and started second guessing her judgment in trusting her friendship to this boy. She is afraid to make friends with anyone now and is looking carefully at her current circle of friends.
I keep trying to tell her that there was no way she could have known this would happen. Unless she starts to read minds very proficiently.

Doc, I am sorry that you had such a difficult time growing up. My wish would be that all children should be allowed a certain level of innocence until they reach adulthood. I'm a realist and I know that it is impossible, but...dammit, why not?

Back to this kid and his mother, there needs to be accountability and responsibility. He is a 16 year old minor and his mother is responsible to ensure his safety as best she can. I feel that in this instance she failed to do so.

As for gangs, we dont have that at this school. A few short miles away, yes, down in the city. But the majority of the kids at this school are from upper-middle class families and are not subjected to the same stresses and violence that goes on in the neighborhoods across the Hudson.

[1CAVCCO15MED]

About five years ago

I saw an article in the paper about a guy that had just been released from prison after serving his time. His crime was he shot up a bunch of kids at his school. The year he did it was 1946.

[SuperScout]

So far, it sounds like nobody's even attempting to take responsibility for the tragic events at your daughter's school. The first finger I'd point would be at the mom. She's either in denial about how screwed up her son is, or totally uninvolved in his life. How can a school age child leave the home with a shotgun , fer cryin' out loud, and mom not be aware of it? Prayers for healing for your daughter!

[Dragon Lady]

Well, I moved my daughter down to her dad's in backwater Delaware. The school is one where she already knows all of the kids; all 142 of them. This are much slower down there and I think a physical location change might be good to help her put this all behind her. Her step-mom is a stay-at-home with twin baby boys so she should get all the loving she can handle. It will be hard not having her at home, but right now all I want is for her sanity. I know that these things can happen anywhere and anytime, but I think that this will be the best possible thing for her right now.
Thanks to everyone for their support!

Oh and the "kid" is currently facing 75 years and 86 separate charges (two attempted murders, 1 assult with a deadly weapon, 1 discharging a deadly weapon in a school, and 82 counts of reckless endangerment for each kid he passed and each kid who was present at the time). They certainly are throwing the book at this one!