I had almost forgotten about the Taber shooting. At the time, I didn’t have a website, as I had dismantled the original one in the wake of Columbine after receiving all the death threats and hate mail.
Only 8 days after Columbine, Todd Cameron Smith took a .22 caliber rifle to W.R. Myers High School in Taber, Alberta, Canada and shot and killed 17-year-old Jason Lang. Here’s a CNN article from around the time of the shooting. A judge originally ordered Smith held in closed custody for an indefinite period, so long as his time in jail didn’t exceed 10 years. However, earlier this year, he was released to a halfway house even though he still posed a threat to the public…
“The concerns remain with regard to the pleasure he derives from violence,” the Crown’s David Thompson quoted a psychiatric report as saying.
“He continues to pose a significant risk to the public.”
During the original trial, defense lawyers portrayed Smith as the victim of bullying only here’s the thing, his victim, Jason Lang, wasn’t a bully. According to Jason’s father, Rev. Dale Lang, Jason was against bullying…
“Ironically, one of the things that’s so sad is that Jason didn’t like bullying, and often tried to befriend kids who were picked on,” Mr. Lang said. “He was a good kid, and we miss him.”
Rev. Lang has even gone so far as to forgive his son’s killer and has been active in anti-bullying campaigns.
Another report says that Jason Lang did charity work in Mexico, building houses. Doesn’t sound like the bullying type to me.
So Todd Smith shot and killed someone who would have more than likely helped him, while his alleged tormentors are probably free. Thanks to the myth that started in Columbine about the Columbine shooters being bullied, shootings and shooting plots still occur to this day. Yes, bullying is a cancer in our school systems that needs to be addressed, but if Columbine, Taber, Santee, Red Lake, and Rocori didn’t stop bullying, neither will other school shootings.
As I’ve said before, these incidents have taken the focus away from bullying and put it on identifying would be shooters. So, in essence, it’s only made bullying worse. And like I’ve been saying for the past 6 years, killing someone, especially someone who had nothing to do with the bullying in the first place, is not an excuse nor a reason to kill people.
Anyway, back to the point of the article. Todd Cameron Smith has escaped from his halfway house and has vowed not to be taken alive…
Todd Cameron Smith, now 20, fled protective custody at 3:30 a.m. Monday, leaving a note in his room at the Hinks Dellcrest Centre.
It read: “I can’t be caged anymore. If they find me, they’ll have to kill me. . . . Bye. Sorry.”
The fact that this kid was given such a light sentence puzzles me. He shot and killed a random victim, and he was allowed to live in a halfway house? The kid should have been put away for life. Especially since one of the Canadian government’s own psychiatrists stated that Smith still posed a threat to the public.
I pray for his capture, and I pray that he doesn’t claim any more victims.
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