TheTrenchcoat Chronicles

Category: School Violence

  • Michelle Dohm tries to suppress evidence

    Michelle Dohm tries to suppress evidence

    Accused teacher files motion against police:

    The last we checked in on the Michelle Dohm story, the Md. teacher accused of threatening and stalking some students, the police were searching her house for handwriting samples. Now Ms. Dohm and her attorney are trying to get evidence in that search suppressed…

    Thomas Morrow, Ms. Dohm’s attorney, said Frederick County Sheriff’s deputies and members of the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office acted unnecessarily and in bad faith by pursuing the warrant, and violated Ms. Dohm’s civil rights while executing it.

    Mr. Morrow has requested a hearing in Circuit Court.

    “I’m looking forward to see how they’re going to explain this,” he said.

    I’m looking forward to that, too. This is almost as good as Law and Order, during the Lenny Briscoe days, of course.

  • 4/27/06 From The Mail Sack

    4/27/06 From The Mail Sack

    It’s been a while since we dipped into the mail sack. All the mutants just seem to be repeating themselves, so I haven’t been inclined to respond.

    Until today, when I received an e-mail that made my jaw drop from the sheer stupidity of it. It’s from someone who calls themselves Rogue. Rogue has been previously banned for saying that they should give back a would-be school shooter’s weapons. Anyway, you’re not going to believe this one…

    Hi

    Cool page. Like what you do here. But I find you only look at the story one way. Not once have I read a comment you’ve made, about even one of these school shootings being acceptable, or needed.

    Did you use to be a police officer or something?

    I’m not even going to respond to that one. I’m just going to let it stand on its own merits, or lack thereof.

  • New Red Lake suspect in court

    New Red Lake suspect in court

    RED LAKE INCIDENT: Student appears for alleged threats:

    The suspect in the most recent threat against Red Lake High School has appeared in court…

    DULUTH – A Red Lake (Minn.) High School student being held in connection with recent threats at the school where seven people were killed last year appeared Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Duluth, according to a newspaper report.

    The Star Tribune of Minneapolis said the nature of the 10-minute, closed-door hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond Erickson was not revealed. The identity of the boy also was not revealed.

    Several members of the boy’s family attended the hearing but did not share details afterward. The boy appeared expressionless as authorities led him from the courtroom with his hands cuffed behind his back, the newspaper reported.

    There’s something eerie about the fact that they’re keeping such a tight lid on this.

  • FBI comment on new Red Lake scare

    FBI comment on new Red Lake scare

    Student In Custody For Red Lake High School Threat:

    The FBI is being very tight-lipped about the new scare in Red Lake…

    On Tuesday, FBI Special Agent Michael Tabman announced in a news release, “At the present time, we believe the alleged threat to the Red Lake High School has been neutralized. Because this investigation is ongoing and involves a juvenile, there will be no further comment,” the AP reports.

  • New threat at Red Lake

    New threat at Red Lake

    New threats at Red Lake School:

    Haven’t these kids ever heard the expression “don’t poke the bear”?…

    Officials at Red Lake High School arranged extra security after rumors that a group of students planned an assault at the school, which was the site of an attack last year in which seven people were gunned down.

    The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the situation, reported Tuesday that a ninth-grade student was in custody.

    Minnesota high school violent plot foiled:

    More details…

    RED LAKE, Minn., April 25 (UPI) — Federal officials have foiled a gang-related violent plot at the Red Lake, Minn., high school where seven people were gunned down last year.

    An unidentified ninth-grade boy with no record of behavioral problems was taken into custody late last week, and the FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs agents were working at increasing security at the school, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported Tuesday.

    Staff members and students learned of a “hit list” that contained dozens of names, mostly students and a few staff members, the report said.

    If you plan a school attack where people have been previously killed in one, joking or not, the law is going to come down on you like a ton of bricks.

  • Never forget the monsters

    Never forget the monsters

    Letter: Use of names in Columbine column could mislead others into repeating actions:

    This is a letter to the paper of Kansas State University. I don’t know the original article the author is referring to, but it seems like it had something to do with the Columbine anniversary last week. Anyway, this is a person after my own heart…

    Editor,

    I was appalled at Thursday’s column on the shooting at Columbine High School. The apparent lack of respect displayed by the article was very upsetting for me.

    The author states that these individuals were not monsters; only their acts were monstrous. The minute these young men brought guns into a school and started shooting, they became monsters.

    Another misstep by the author was the inclusion of their names. The names have been enshrined on Websites by other misguided youths, and have given them people to rally behind. The acts of those two individuals should never be forgotten, but their names should drift into obscurity.

    I attended a school that was a middle-class, white suburban school just like Columbine, located on the opposite side of Denver.

    My school was hit very hard by the reality of what happened, and how it easily could have been us. I did see the memorial that was set up shortly after the shooting and have never been anywhere so quiet, and yet the expressions of the people said so much.

    On April 20, 1999, our schools felt less safe, and a community was trying to find answers as to why kids were killing other kids. A discussion of the reasons why two kids turned into monsters should be held. The discussion should never not include the great pain a community felt and the terror the students and faculty felt.

    Chris Rude

    Graduate Student

    Animal Sciences and Industry

    I do disagree on one point. The names of Harris and Klebold, scumbags that they are, should be remembered. If you forget the names of history’s monsters, it will only be a matter of time before their crimes against humanity are forgotten too.

  • Police search Michelle Dohm’s house

    Police search Michelle Dohm’s house

    Police search accused Thurmont teacher’s home:

    It’s been a while since we talked about the case of Michelle Dohm. She is the teacher from Maryland who is accused of stalking and threatening students. On Friday, local police searched her house…

    Members of the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office on Friday afternoon searched the home of Michelle Dohm, a Thurmont school teacher accused of stalking students and making bomb threats in fall 2005.

    Police were looking for handwriting samples, according to Cpl. Jennifer Bailey. Officers with a search and seizure warrant began searching Ms. Dohm’s home, at 2 Furnace Court, about noon, said Frederick County State’s Attorney Scott Rolle.

    “We felt we needed the (handwriting samples) for comparative purposes,” Mr. Rolle said.

    Although Mr. Rolle could not comment on what was taken, he said all the information police obtained would be shared with Ms. Dohm’s defense lawyer.

    It seems that there have been further shenanigans in this case…

    At the same time as police were searching Ms. Dohm’s house, the Thurmont Police Department investigated a suspicious envelope mailed to a residence at Emmitsburg Road, about two miles away.

    Thurmont Police Chief Greg Eyler said he could not reveal what the letter inside the envelope said. However, the letter did have certain similarities to the letters Ms. Dohm allegedly left for students last fall.

    One of the letters Ms. Dohm allegedly wrote stated, “Tick tock, tick tock. Is it as bomb or is it a clock. You ignored the note on the van. Now I will carry out my plan.”

    “The occupant received an envelope that seemed suspicious,” Chief Eyler said. “It was heavy on the hand.”

    Thurmont Officer First Class Christopher McLoughlin responded to Emmitsburg Road and called in the bomb squad, Chief Eyler said. A deputy from the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office also responded.

    The envelope, postmarked April 20 and sent from Thurmont, was taken apart, and nothing was found, Chief Eyler said.

    “Everything is OK,” he said.

    The letter is being compared to the letters Ms. Dohm allegedly sent and being sent to a laboratory for further review, Chief Eyler said.

    This is the strangest case I’ve ever covered. It’s like watching a bad made for TV movie.

  • Red Lake under lockdown

    Red Lake under lockdown

    FBI assisting Red Lake police in investigation:

    The schools in Red Lake have been under lockdown since Tuesday while the FBI and Red Lake police investigate threats made against the schools…

    Paul McCabe, spokesman for the FBI, said today that the agents are assisting Red Lake police but said he could not comment on the situation. McCabe referred a Herald reporter to the Red Lake police.

    Interim Police Chief Pat Graves said, through a spokeswoman, that he would not comment to the news media about the situation.

    Tribal Chairman Floyd “Buck” Jourdain Jr., is out of town and unavailable for comment, said a tribal spokeswoman.

    A school employee said the schools, including a separate building for kindergarten and Head Start about a mile from the high school and middle school, have been in “lockdown” since Tuesday because of the reported threats.

    Superintendent Stuart Desjarlaits said school was in session today but refused to comment on the reported threats.

    Employees of the school said that reported threats from several students involving violence at the school lead to the lockdown being imposed. The lockdown means students are not allowed to leave the school building during the day, including no recess outdoors for elementary students, an employee said.

    More on this if any more information becomes available.

  • Kerns trial delayed again

    Kerns trial delayed again

    School massacre-plot trial hits new snag: Immunity appeal could cause delay lasting months:

    I hate to make this sound like a soap opera, but they couldn’t write this more like one.

    Anyway, the last we left the situation in Marshfield the trial of Tobin Kerns was delayed once again because witnesses for the prosecution, Daniel Farley and Joseph Sullivan, refused to testify on the day of the trial unless they were granted immunity.

    That immunity was granted to them last week. Now the DA is appealing that decision, which could take months.

    It will be interesting to see if the trial of Joe Nee will have this many delays, considering Nee is the son of a Boston cop.

  • Penley shooting ruled lawful

    Penley shooting ruled lawful

    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.