Student, 13, fires assault rifle in Missouri school

[savafan]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/09/mis....ap/index.html

JOPLIN, Missouri (AP) -- Fascinated by the Columbine bloodbath, a 13-year-old boy in a dark green trench coat and mask carried an assault rifle into his school Monday, pointed it at students and fired a shot into a ceiling before the weapon jammed, authorities said. No one was hurt.

"Please don't make me do this," he was quoted as telling administrators before police arrested him and thwarted what they called a "well thought-out plan" to terrorize his school.

Police said a note in the student's backpack indicated he had planted an explosive in the school, but no bombs were found.

Lt. Geoff Jones said the boy's motives were unclear. School officials said the student had no major disciplinary problems.

The seventh-grader, whose name was not immediately released, pointed the gun at two students inside Joplin Memorial Middle School but was confronted by an administrator who tried to talk him into putting the gun down, Jones said.

The boy refused and fired a shot into the ceiling of an entryway, police said. He tried to continue firing but the rifle jammed, according to Jones. The student then left the building.

"We don't believe he was trying to fire at administrators or students," Officer Curt Farmer said.

Officers arrested the teen behind a nearby building. Police described his weapon as a Mac-90, a replica of an AK-47 assault rifle.

Superintendent Jim Simpson said police told him the boy had a fascination with the Columbine High shooting that left 15 people dead near Littleton, Colorado in 1999.

The student was wearing a trench coat -- like the student gunmen at Columbine -- and had a T-shirt over his head with eye holes cut out, Farmer said.

Farmer said that along with note indicating an explosive was placed in the school, the boy's backpack held military manuals, instructions on assembling an improvised explosive device and detailed drawings of the school.

"This was quite well thought-out," Farmer said. "He had been planning this for a long time."

Jones said the gun belonged to the boy's parents, who kept the weapon in a safe at home. The parents told police their son apparently knew the combination to the gun safe. Farmer said it is not uncommon for people in the area to own assault weapons.

The shooting happened about 10 minutes before school started.

"A lot of the kids were scared," said eighth-grader Deron Moore. "After they said on the intercom that there was someone with a gun, I kind of went into shock."

Joplin, which has about 41,000 residents, is on the Kansas state line about 140 miles south of Kansas City, Missouri.

Schools across the country have been on alert since three deadly school shootings in three states in a week. In Pennsylvania, church bells tolled Monday morning in remembrance of the five young Amish girls killed at their one-room schoolhouse one week earlier.

[WMR]

I was talking to my dad about all this crap... when he was a kid, and this is a 48 year old man, he said stuff like this NEVER happened.

Kids beating bums with baseball bats... seemingly a school shooting once a week... what is up with America's youth?

[Falls City Beer]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

I was talking to my dad about all this crap... when he was a kid, and this is a 48 year old man, he said stuff like this NEVER happened.

Kids beating bums with baseball bats... seemingly a school shooting once a week... what is up with America's youth?

Guns have proliferated enormously in the last 30 years. But that doesn't cover the entire phenomenon, of course.

[reds1869]

Originally Posted by Falls City Beer

Guns have proliferated enormously in the last 30 years. But that doesn't cover the entire phenomenon, of course.

Don't forget that 24 hour, rapid access news distorts our perception of reality. Things are indeed worse, but not as much as we like to believe. There were plenty of incidents such as these in the past, they just didn't get trumpeted across the nation 5 minutes after happening.

[GAC]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

I was talking to my dad about all this crap... when he was a kid, and this is a 48 year old man, he said stuff like this NEVER happened.

Kids beating bums with baseball bats... seemingly a school shooting once a week... what is up with America's youth?

I'm 50 years old, and while I didn't live in "Leave It To Beaver" land, and it obviously wasn't perfect, this kind of stuff didn't go on.

What stands out to me?....

Fascinated by the Columbine bloodbath

Why? How? What is going on with our youth today? If someone says it may be due to being bullied by their peers, we had bullies back then too. We just didn't decide to get an assault rifle and wipe out innocent kids who had nothing to do with it.

Every day I pick up my newspaper and read about someone abusing or murdering their children in some form or fashion, or where another sexual predator has registered.

I just read a story where a father was poisoning his two young children by putting anti-depressants and light fluid in their soup to make them sick, and so he could sue Campbell Soups.

A young girl wanted a baby, so she assaulted another girl and cut the baby out of her womb.

It goes on and on and on......

Jones said the gun belonged to the boy's parents, who kept the weapon in a safe at home. The parents told police their son apparently knew the combination to the gun safe.

What is the purpose in having the safe then?

[TeamCasey]

What was the need to own an assault rifle?

(Sorry guys, I probably just bumped this one to the peanut gallery).

[Falls City Beer]

Originally Posted by Herd Fan

Don't forget that 24 hour, rapid access news distorts our perception of reality. Things are indeed worse, but not as much as we like to believe. There were plenty of incidents such as these in the past, they just didn't get trumpeted across the nation 5 minutes after happening.

There's certainly some truth to this as well.

I think it's fun sometimes to scan old microfilm/fiche of little newspapers around the nation, prior to the conglomeration of all news sources under one giganto creature. All kinds of lurid goings-on being reported. But as you say, nothing that hits the national press.

[flyer85]

I think an issue to address is where does the anger and rage come from?

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by Falls City Beer

I think it's fun sometimes to scan old microfilm/fiche of little newspapers around the nation, prior to the conglomeration of all news sources under one giganto creature. All kinds of lurid goings-on being reported. But as you say, nothing that hits the national press.

I was doing some research for a Reds thingy and came across this incident. This is the type of thing that happened as much then as school shootings now.

Tulsa Race Riot

when he was a kid, and this is a 48 year old man, he said stuff like this NEVER happened.

That's because we had better music.

[registerthis]

Originally Posted by GAC

What is the purpose in having the safe then?

That was my first thought.

And what are the parents doing while the kid is procuring military manuals and reading up on the Columbine killings?

[Ravenlord]

Originally Posted by registerthis

And what are the parents doing while the kid is procuring military manuals. . .

as to that part, my parents were convinced i'd probably join the military when i read General Irwin Rommel's Tank Combat and his Infantry Attack manuals when i was 11 (because one of my heroes, General Patton had). i read Sun Tzu's The Art of War when i was 10, but didn't really understand it til years later.

for whatever reason, i absolutlely love military manuals, strategies, combat philosophies, and such. always have, always will. i also love games that let me use that information as well.