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Teen found guilty of RHS shooting:

A Douglas County Juvenile Court Judge found Vincent Wayne Leodoro guilty of attempted murder this morning.

The ruling came after brief closing statements by the defense and prosecution. Judge Robert Millikan ruled that Leodoro, 15, intentionally tried to kill Joseph Monti, 16, when the youth shot Monti four times in the back Feb. 23 on the Roseburg High School campus.

“I think that Mr. Leodoro intended to kill the victim,” Millikan said, as the teen sat at the defense table, his gaze lowered.

Leodoro was found responsible for attempted murder, first-degree assault and several weapons charges. Millikan said the boy had a strong grasp of weapons mechanics and must have understood the consequences of his action.

Sentencing was scheduled for July 7. Leodoro could end up in custody until the age of 25.

Here was the defense’s argument…

In his defense closing, attorney Bruce Tower said the teen continually denied trying to kill Monti, saying he only meant to hurt him.

So Leodoro shot Monti once, then as Monti lay on the ground Leodoro shot him three more times. Yet he was only trying to “hurt” him? So I guess Jack the Ripper was only trying to “scratch” his victims.

During the interview with Leodoro, Kaney challenged Leodoro’s claim that he only intended to hurt Monti. When the detective asked Leodoro what he’d expect to happen to someone who’s shot, he replied, “Dies, I guess.”

At that point in the interview, Leodoro began to sniffle, his voice wavering.
“I screwed up,” he said. “I shouldn’t have done it.”

Ya think?

Possible motives revealed in RHS shooting trial:

Leodoro told the detective about threats Monti had allegedly made to hurt the younger teen’s family in the days preceding the shooting. Monti made the threats because he thought Leodoro was talking bad about him to some female students, Leodoro claimed.

“When he talked about those threats, he would get a little emotional,” Kaney said.

Outside the courtroom, during a brief recess, Monti denied having ever made such threats.

“I never threatened his family in my life,” he said.

Monti claims he’d heard from another student it was his family that had been threatened by Leodoro.

At one point, Kaney said, Leodoro also said he’d given money to Monti to purchase some marijuana, but never got his hands on the drugs. Kaney said that appeared to exacerbate Leodoro’s animosity toward the other teen.

Leodoro told Kaney in the taped interviews that in general he had not been a victim of bullying at the high school.

All really good reasons to shoot someone.

RHS shooting trial begins: ‘I felt like I was gonna die’:

Just some more details that weren’t in the last article…

RHS student Leah Sheppard, 16, said she’d met with fellow students, including Monti and Leodoro, in a group in the cafeteria before first period, though she didn’t talk with the suspect.

When the bell rang for first period, Sheppard said she, Monti and fellow student Kristina Sklenar, walked toward class talking and giggling. She was vaguely aware of Leodoro following them.

When she heard the first shot, like every other student who testified, Sheppard said she thought it was a prank, someone setting off firecrackers.

“I heard Joe screaming,” she said. “… I didn’t know he was serious and I just kept walking.”

She continued toward the school’s Main Building, leaving Monti behind. When the final three shots rang out seconds later and panic ensued in the crowded courtyard, Sheppard realized something was terribly wrong.

She instinctively took off running toward the parking lot, where she saw Leodoro. The teen, she said, reached into the pocket of his gray-hooded sweatshirt.

“He showed me the gun,” she said, adding that at that point, “I ran back to Joe.”

A Fremont Middle School student on the same bus as Leodoro that day said she overheard the suspect talking on a cell phone, saying, “I’ll meet you at school with the bullets.”

Sklenar, 17, spoke of a conversation she had with Leodoro a week or two before the shooting.

“(Leodoro) said ‘You better give me a hug because it’s my last day today,’” she testified. “He said ‘I’m going hunting.’”

When Sklenar asked if he meant hunting for animals, Leodoro said “No.”

“I just laughed it off,” Sklenar said. “I didn’t think he meant anything by it.”

I can’t wait to see how the defense will play this off.