Christopher Penley

Parents of Orlando-area teen sue sheriff's office over fatal school shooting:
The parents of Christopher Penley are suing the Seminole County Sheriff's Office in Florida.

In January of 2006 15-year-old Christopher took a pellet gun and altered it to look like a real gun. He took the gun to Milwee Middle School where he used the gun to take a classmate hostage then hold police at bay. Lt. Mike Weippert who did not know the gun was not real made the split second decision to shoot Penley. Penley died at the hospital two days later after being declared brain dead and taken off life support.

Weippert was cleared of any wrong doing and from what I've heard from people who claim to know him he was very distraught over the incident.

Penley's parents are seeking unspecified damages. I feel bad for the Penley's but as I've stated before but their son sealed his own fate by pointing a gun at police. If Christopher had not brought the gun to school and acted like it was a real firearm police would have never have been called and he's still be alive. We are all responsible for our own actions.

If I was a judge I would never let this case see a courtroom.

Slain boy's father says he plans to sue Seminole sheriff's office:
For those of you who may have forgotten, Christopher Penley was the Florida teen who was shot and killed by police for brandishing a pellet gun in a threatening matter at Milwee Middle School. At the time of the shooting police were not aware that it was a pellet gun as it was altered to look authentic. An investigation by the state ruled that the shooting was lawful.

Now Christopher Penley's father, Ralph Penley, has filed a lawsuit in hopes the SWAT officer Lt. Michael Weippert will be fired. Weippert was the officer who shot and killed Penley.

"The guy that murdered my son is still on the sheriff's department squad," Penley said, choking back tears in a telephone interview.

"We're gonna pursue this now because I've waited a long, long time," he said.

The civil lawsuit alleges that Weippert, the SWAT team member who shot Christopher Penley, violated the boy's civil and constitutional rights and acted with premeditation, Keith Parker, a private investigator for the family said last week.

"(Weippert) was not reacting to the assailant. He had already plotted out that he was going to shoot him," Parker said. "They had that bathroom surrounded. They had enough fire power to start a war. That kid wasn't going anywhere."

The family is also suing for one count of negligent retention, claiming Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger should have known that Weippert allegedly has a mental condition from past shootings and should not have been allowed to remain on the SWAT team, Parker said.

I know that grief can cloud your judgment so I'm not trying to condemn Mr. Penley but this lawsuit is clearly in the wrong. None of this would even be an issue if Christopher Penley had not brought the pellet gun to school, taken another student hostage, barricaded himself in the bathroom, then threatened police with the weapon. The only person responsible for Christopher Penley's death is Christopher Penley.

State: Shooting Of Student With Gun Was Lawful:
Some of you may remember the unfortunate death of Christopher Penley. He was the teen from Milwee Middle School in Florida who was shot by a police officer after pointing what looked like a real gun at law enforcement.

The state has ruled that the shooting by the deputy was indeed within the law.

Student Accused Of Making Bomb Threat At Milwee:
While most of the community was dealing with the unfortunate shooting of Christopher Penley, some genius thought it would be cool to call in a bomb threat to the exact same school where Christopher Penley was shot.

A 13-year-old female student of Milwee Middle School allegedly called in a bomb threat to the school's voicemail Tuesday night.

Investigators said she made the call from a pay phone at the Orange-Seminole county line at a 7-Eleven store on Lake Destiny Road. She said that the first of 10 bombs would go off at 11:30 a.m.

"During the phone call, she warned that this is not a joke, and she's absolutely correct -- this is not a joke," Eslinger said.

School officials heard the message at about 8:20 a.m. on Wednesday and called the county's bomb squad to the school. Police gave the all-clear at about 9:15 a.m., 15 minutes before classes started for the day.

Now she's being held in a juvenile detention on felony charges...

Superintendent Bill Vogel said the girl's punishment will be severe.

"It's the highest level of offense in Seminole County, and we will be recommending expulsion," Vogel said.

The sheriff said there is no question that the girl was trying to add to the unrest of recent days.

So you've been expelled and arrested all at the age of 13. As I tend to ask, was it worth it?

Some Question Whether Deputy Was Justified In Shooting:
Some people have been leaving comments on my site asking if lethal force was justified in the police shooting of Christopher Penley. Maybe this article will answer some of those questions...

Mike Weippert received the Purple Heart after he was stabbed in the line of duty and needed more than 200 stitches on his face. Ten years later, Weippert is again being attacked, this time for his use of lethal force on a 15-year-old student.

"Twenty years on sheriff's office, 17 years on SWAT. It's a difficult situation for a lot of people," said Sheriff Don Eslinger.

The decorated SWAT member, who volunteered to talk with elementary and middle schools, isn't talking. But others are wondering out loud, why not a Taser instead of a gun?

"I understand the distance wasn't conducive to the utilization of a Taser and, plus, when I guess a firearm is pointed, a Taser is not necessarily the most appropriate means to deal with that," Sheriff Eslinger said.

Now I'm not a cop but think about it. Christopher Penley brandished an authentic looking gun. Before the standoff with police he had held another student hostage. Then when confronted by police he held the gun to his own head then raised it at police like he was going to fire. The police had no way of knowing if the gun was real or not even if Christopher Penley's father did get word to them. His dad can say it's a fake but there's no real way of knowing until the weapon is in police hands. And even if the distance was conducive to using a taser if an officer used a taser on an armed subject there's no way to guarantee the suspect wouldn't pull the trigger firing wildly.

It was an unfortunate and tragic incident but I think the police did the best job they could.

In my blogging about Christopher Penley, the 8th grader from Florida who was shot by police while brandishing a pellet gun, I left out an important item. Christopher Penley's father, Ralph Penley, tried to warn police that the gun is son was carrying was fake...

Eslinger said Friday it wasn't until after the incident that authorities realized the weapon was only a pellet gun. But Nation said Saturday Ralph Penley told authorities it wasn't a real gun on a cell phone as he rushed to the school after hearing of the incident. Nation said police wouldn't let Ralph Penley inside when he arrived.

"If Christopher was alive and (Ralph Penley) was able to go into the school, he would've been able to talk him out of it," Nation said. "He did everything he could to avoid this situation."

However, Nation said he didn't know the precise timeline of events, including whether Christopher had died before Ralph Penley arrived. He said he'd be investigating the incident further.

Seminole County Sheriff's Lt. Dennis Lemma said Sunday the department had no immediate comment on Nation's statement.

However, the Orlando Sentinel reported Sunday that Eslinger said Ralph Penley wasn't told of the events until after his son was shot.

"It's a total misunderstanding," Eslinger told the newspaper.

Source.

Student carrying pellet gun shot by cops declared dead:

Christopher Penley, of Winter Springs, was officially pronounced dead at 4:57 a.m. Sunday, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said in a statement posted on their Web site.

Penley had been brain dead since about 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning, but was kept alive so his organs could be harvested, said Mark Nation, a lawyer for Penley's parents.

Student Shot By Deputies Clinically Brain Dead:

The 15-year-old boy shot by police while brandishing a pellet gun in his middle school was clinically brain dead Saturday but was being kept alive to harvest his organs, his family's attorney said.

Christopher Penley was expected to die Saturday night or Sunday, family attorney Mark Nation said.

A little more on the motive behind Christopher Penley's actions...

Friends also said Penley was suicidal - unhappy and bullied by several kids at school. He had run away from home several times, Kelly Swofford said.

"He said he had something planned," her 11-year-old son Jeffery Swofford said.

Jeffery said Penley told him at breakfast Friday morning, "I hope I die today because I don't really like my life."

My thoughts and prayers are with the Penley family at this time.

8th grade student had pellet gun, on Advanced Life Support:
It turns out that the eighth grade student that was shot by Florida law enforcement for barndishing a firearm at them was using a pellet gun...

"He was suicidal," Eslinger said Friday morning, and while deputies attempted to establish a dialog, he raised his gun to his neck and said he would kill himself or "die one way or another," Eslinger said. When the boy raised the pellet gun at one point, a deputy shot him, apparently unaware it wasn't a real gun.

Now the kid is on Advanced Life Support and might die. I hope you kids remember this if you ever think about bringing a gun, real or otherwise, to school.

Deputy Shoots Eighth-Grader:
An eighth grader from Milwee Middle School near Longwood Florida was shot by local law enforcement during a standoff at the school.

Investigators said students at Milwee Middle School on 1341 South Ronald Regan Blvd., near Longwood, Fla., noticed a Beretta gun in a backpack of a student at about 9:30 a.m. Friday.

The two students confronted the boy and a fight broke out, officers said. The two students then told a resource officer.

When the officer confronted the boy about the gun, he fled and was eventually cornered near a bathroom on campus.

"During the situation the student said he was going to kill himself or die, one way or another," Seminole County Don Eslinger said. "Deputies attempted to establish dialog. He raised a firearm and lethal force was used by the sheriff's office."

The student was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. Several reports indicated that the boy had died from his injuries but those reports were not confirmed.

According to this article the student pulled the gun in class and held another student hostage.