Boy, 14, charged with murder, hate crime:
The gunman in the E.O. Green Junior High School shooting has been identified as 14-year-old Brandon David McInerney. Since his victim, 15-year-old Lawrence King, has been declared brain-dead and will not survive McInerney is being charged with murder with what the article calls a hate crime enhancement.
Prosecutors are saying that they do intend to try McInerney as an adult. With the murder charge, he’s looking at 25 to life. The hate crime enhancement would tack on another three years.
Prosecutors are not saying why the hate crime charges were filed but classmates of King say that he was either gay or a crossdresser.
Several classmates have said King would wear feminine attire, making him an unpopular figure with other boys at his campus.
King sometimes came to school wearing makeup and high heels, said eighth-grader Nicholas Cortez, 14.
Another eighth-grader, Michael Sweeney, said King’s appearance was “freaking the guys out,” the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
“He would come to school in high-heeled boots, makeup, jewelry and painted nails – the whole thing,” Sweeney told the Times.
Personally, I think all crimes are hate crimes but anything that will keep this little ball of hate behind bars longer is ok with me.
Now I’m not trying to cast aspersions on the victim or his family. I have nothing against gay people or crossdressers but at 15 and in a public school you would think his parents would have stepped in and stopped him from dressing like that at school. One would have to know that dressing like that would only invite trouble.