Teen charged with fatal Tacoma school shooting found mentally ill:
Douglas S. Chanthabouly is the gunman from Foss High School in Tacoma who fatally shot Samnang Kok last year. The last we heard he was found mentally fit to stand trial. Apparently, something happened between August and now because he’s declared mentally incompetent.
His trial was set to start on February 4th, but that has been pushed back pending the results of a 90-day judge ordered stay at a mental facility.
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 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 held 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 wrongdoing 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 been called, and he’d still be alive. We are all responsible for our own actions.
If I were a judge, I would never let this case see a courtroom.
Middle-school shooting suspect claimed he wasn’t targeting anyone:
Ever since Thomas White fired a round from a MAC-90 into the ceiling of Memorial Middle School in Joplin, Missouri, his defenders have declared that it was because he was bullied, and the school wouldn’t do anything about it. Yet in recently released documents, White himself claims it was because he was failing in school and saw no other option.
The 13-year-old boy believed he was failing four out of his six classes at Memorial Middle School. He felt it had got him “into trouble at home,” and he didn’t see anyway to improve his grades.
How about studying and doing your work. Did you ever think of that? Look, I was no Valedictorian, but the only person who was responsible for my bad grades was me.
Anyway, the fact that he claims that his failure would get him into “trouble at home” makes me think that we should be looking once again at the White family and not the school.
As I’ve previously posted, Thomas White’s father is a former drug dealer who was in illegal possession of a firearm. The same firearm that Thomas White used at his school.
Also, White said that he had no target in mind except to scare the teachers.
Thomas White told them “he just wanted to scare people,” according to a statement of facts drawn up by public defender James Egan and submitted as part of a brief filed this past week with the state’s high court. When asked specifically whom he was trying to scare, he’d told them “all the teachers,” according to the brief.
According to police, White tried firing the gun at his principal, but the gun had already jammed. White even admits to trying to fire the gun.
White eventually “admitted,” during a second interrogation, that he’d tried to fire the gun more than once, although the brief claims this “admission” was elicited by his interrogators with the assistance of his own attorney at the time,
His new attorneys say that his previous defense was inadequate. It sounds like to me, he was trying to get him the best deal possible. Now the case is tied up while attorneys argue that White should not be tried as an adult.
Jonesboro Shooter Wants Statements Suppressed:
The attorney for Jonesboro gunman Mitchell Johnson wants statements Johnson made to police to be thrown out.
Jack Schisler, assistant federal public defender, made the motion Monday in U.S. District Court. Schisler argued that Johnson was not read his Miranda rights before police began questioning him following a traffic stop. Schisler said Johnson made incriminating statements about his use of marijuana during the questioning.
So, police have to read everybody Miranda rights when they get pulled over for a traffic violation? Spare me.
Schisler contends Johnson was actually placed in custody, handcuffed and locked in the back seat of a patrol car, and questioned by police numerous times during a search of the vehicle. The exchanges were recorded by cameras in the police cars and on officers’ microphones.
Being held in custody and being under arrest are two different things, but I’ll give him points for trying.
If you’ll remember, Johnson was arrested on New Year’s Day 2007 for being in possession of drugs and a weapon. The city turned over the case to the feds, who are trying him on federal weapons charges.
No word yet on when the trial is due to start.
Mount Clemens: Resentencing delayed:
Our favorite Michigan Neo-Nazi school shooting wannabe scamp, Andrew Osantowski, has had his resentencing rescheduled again.
The re-sentencing, originally scheduled for Monday, is a result of a recent Court of Appeals decision that upheld Andrew Osantowski’s conviction under Michigan’s 2001 terrorism law.
He was originally sentenced to 4/12 years for plotting an attack against Chippewa Valley High School, but his sentence was appealed by prosecutors, who said the judge did not interpret the law correctly. Osantowski could get an additional 20 years.
Calgary teen dreamed about shooting teachers after seeing Bowling for Columbine:
A 14-year-old from Calgary was arrested back in April for threatening to kill two of his teachers on the Anniversary of Columbine. Recently, the charges against him were dropped after he agreed to what the article calls a one-year peace bond.
The peace bond requires the teenager to report to a probation officer, reside with his parents and not have any contact with the two teachers or any students involved in the matter.
He’s also not allowed to go within one city block of the southwest junior high school he once attended, use the Internet without supervision or come into contact with any firearms.
My beef here isn’t with the kid because he told his parents, who went and got him help. However, as the headline states, he came to the conclusion that he wanted to kill his teachers after viewing Michael Moore’s ‘documentary’ Bowling for Columbine.
This isn’t the first time I’ve posted about a potential threat against a school that wasn’t in some way influenced by the film. Yet, you never hear the media speaking out about the movie. It’s always video games or violent movies that they usually cite as the cause.
Do I think Michael Moore’s disgrace of a film caused this kid to want to shoot his teachers? No, of course not. I just think if people are going to get into an uproar about video games and the like, they should be getting into an uproar about this film as well.
House arrest sought for teen accused in school-gun incident:
The public defender for Thomas White is seeking to have his client put under house arrest while he awaits trial. White is the 14-year-old gunman who fired a round from an assault rifle into the ceiling of Memorial Middle School in Joplin, Missouri and allegedly tried to shoot his principal but the gun jammed. Let’s hear from White’s attorney, James Egan…
“Under our system, the purpose of bail is to ensure the defendant show up for trial,” Egan wrote in his motion. “Here, (defendant) is a 14-year-old boy with no means of transportation. Further, any inappropriate actions of (defendant) during the period he is on house arrest will certainly be used against him if this court grants the requested relief and there is another certification hearing. Moreover, (defendant) risks having the preliminary writ quashed if he flees the jurisdiction.”
The motion also says the boy is entitled under state law to educational services that “cannot be adequately provided” while he is in jail.
A 14-year-old may not have any means of transportation, but I’m sure his parents do. And as we’ve seen, at least one of his parents isn’t above breaking the law. If you remember, White’s father, Gregory White, was an ex-felon who was in possession of a firearm. Not only that, but we’ve already seen what Thomas White thinks of educational services. He fires bullets into them.
It’s his attorney’s fault that he hasn’t gone to trial yet, anyway. His attorneys filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court back in September, trying to get the case sent back to juvenile court. The state Supreme Court won’t even hear the appeal until February 28, 2008.
Besides, it’s not like he’s been charged with jaywalking. He’s being charged with first-degree assault, among other charges. House arrest would be a joke.
Pa. Boy Sentenced for Stockpiling Guns:
Dillon Cossey is the 14-year-old homeschooled boy from Pennsylvania who pleaded guilty to plotting an attack against Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School. Today, he was sentenced to 7 years in a juvenile facility. The case has been noteworthy because of Cossey’s mom, Michele Cossey, buying guns for her precious little snowflake. She’s facing charges as well, however the judge let her have it in court today…
In court, the judge said Dillon’s mother, Michele Cossey, had created a “me and mom against the world” attitude in her son.
“This kid has been so totally desocialized, he has no friends,” Tressler said.
“You want this kid dependent on you? Go buy a dog, go buy a pet,” he told Michele Cossey.
And you don’t let him sit on the computer all day unsupervised.
I’m guessing mom won’t receive nearly as much time as her mutant brood, but she should.
Officer who took Coon photo suspended:
The Cleveland police officer who took the cellphone picture of Asa Coon after he committed suicide has been suspended for 8 days as of Monday.
Patrolman Walter Emerick, a 12-year veteran, admitted shooting the photo of Asa Coon, 14, in a hearing with Police Chief Michael McGrath, said Safety Director Martin Flask. Coon committed suicide after shooting four others in SuccessTech Academy Oct. 10.
No word if that was without pay or not.
Wal-Mart says holiday crowds, not threats, reason for police:
I received an e-mail the other day from a nice reader from Fayetteville, Arkansas who said she received an e-mail stating that Wal-Mart was increasing its security because Jonesboro gunman Mitchell Johnson was planning an attack on the store. It was alleged in the e-mail that Johnson was recently fired from there and that his girlfriend left him.
I said to the reader that I doubt Johnson was planning anything because after his New Years Day arrest on weapons charges I would think that local law enforcement and the feds are probably keeping a close eye on him.
Now, this article confirms it that Wally World just requested additional security for the Christmas season.
Police Sgt. Matt Partain confirmed that Johnson was formerly employed by the store but was terminated months ago. He further confirmed that Johnson’s girlfriend is a current Wal-Mart employee.
“Yes his girlfriend works there, but we haven’t even seen him there since we’ve been there,” he said.
Partain said Johnson is not believed to have had any involvement in a recent bomb threat at the Wal-Mart in north Fayetteville.
So the people of Fayetteville have nothing to fear at Wal-Mart except the usual, other Wal-Mart shoppers.