Modern history

Chapter 4

Traumatized Secondary School Shooters

A WORD ON TRAUMA

Most school shooters, contrary to what people often think, did not have terrible family lives. This chapter, however, presents some who did. Traumatized school shooters were not simply abused children but experienced multiple difficulties that caused unstable, overwhelmingly stressful lives.

Though physical and sexual abuse occur at all levels of society, the shooters presented here were at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum. Some grew up in poverty and filth. Others had better living conditions with at least one working parent. One shooter, Mitchell Johnson, had two working parents but lived in a filthy, unkempt environment.

These shooters experienced significant disruption and loss within their families. They often lost parents through separation, divorce, prison, brain damage, or death. Even when parents were physically present, they were often emotionally absent due to alcoholism and drug addiction. Addicts can wreak havoc in families due to financial problems, arrests, and unsavory characters passing through the home. Children in these families often endured frequent relocations and changing caregivers, adding further instability and uncertainty to their lives.

These shooters were traumatized by physical, and sometimes sexual, abuse. But what is trauma? In psychology, a traumatic event is a dangerous or disturbing situation that may be life threatening or that causes intense fear for one’s safety. The trauma may be something done directly to us or something that we witness happening to others. Trauma can result in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). No attempt is made here to formally diagnose the shooters with PTSD because many of the diagnostic criteria are internal experiences that we do not have access to. Nonetheless, an understanding of PTSD is important because it can account for many behaviors these shooters displayed.

People with PTSD feel extreme anxiety, especially in the presence of anything that reminds them of the trauma. A teacher’s yelling may trigger memories of a parent’s drunken rages, causing severe distress in the student. People with PTSD often can see no future for themselves, feeling as if their lives have come to an end. In fact, the affliction often results in depression and suicidal thoughts. PTSD may also involve shame, feeling permanently damaged, problems managing one’s emotions, withdrawal from relationships, impaired social skills, hostility, suspicion, impulsive behavior, and substance abuse.

Physical abuse can cause both physical and emotional pain, with the emotional pain often lasting far longer. Children may feel unloved and unwanted. A drunken adult raging through the house, damaging property and assaulting family members, can leave children feeling terror, helplessness, and hopelessness. Sexual abuse may have all of these effects and more. Issues of shame, secrecy, and confusion can make sexual abuse far more damaging than physical abuse. Male children who are molested by males often have concerns about being gay, causing additional anxiety and depression.

It is crucial to keep in mind the impact that experiencing and witnessing violence can have on children. These shooters were not just kids with strict parents who used harsh punishments. They were children whose lives were full of disruption, chaos, violence, shame, hopelessness, terror, and, ultimately, rage.

ATTACKS BY TRAUMATIZED SECONDARY

SCHOOL SHOOTERS

Eric Houston

“If I die today please bury me somewhere beautiful.”

Date: May 1, 1992

Age: 20

School: Lindhurst High

School

Location: Oliverhurst, CA

Killed: 4

Wounded: 10

Outcome: Held 70 students

hostage for 8 hours, gradually

let them go, and then

surrendered. In prison

Eric Houston was born into a family plagued by incest, alcoholism, physical abuse, suicide, and murder. His mother was physically abused by multiple relatives. His aunt was molested by Houston’s grandfather. His uncle murdered three people in a fight. A grandmother died by suicide. Houston’s father was a violent alcoholic who abandoned the family. On top of this, Houston himself suffered encephalitis, meningitis, and severe pneumonia in infancy; perhaps as a result, his development was delayed.^[1]

Houston’s mother described her home in dark detail. “My husband was drinking and running around with other women; fighting,” she said. “There was a lot of fighting going on. A lot of really bad scene[s]. I went through some suicidal things myself and tried to hold my marriage together. It wasn’t working.”^[2] Later in his life, Houston lived briefly with his father and stepmother; both had drinking problems, and the father used “a lot of heavy drugs.”^[3]

According to Dr. Jonathan Fast, Houston suffered “violent physical abuse.”^[4] Was Houston also sexually abused? His grandfather was a sex offender; it would not be unusual for there to be unreported victims. Even if the grandfather did not molest Houston, another victimized family member might have. One molested family member often molests others.

During Houston’s trial there was discussion about a photograph of him at approximately age three. He was wearing a girl’s dress and hat. The back of the photograph said, “To Daddy. Love Christopher.” Christopher was Houston’s middle name. It was also written, “See, daddy, Chris was a good girl. You never believe he’s a boy.”^[5] If Houston was only three, who wrote these messages? Did Houston dress himself up as a girl, or did somebody do this to him? Sexual abuse and being dressed as a girl could have had a profound impact on his identity development.

Another identity issue for Houston was his belief that he had been adopted. His parents said this wasn’t true.^[6] Regardless, what matters is that he believed he was adopted, which also meant be believed his parents lied to him and hid the truth.

Between second and third grade Houston was identified as “learning handicapped” and started attending special classes. At the end of third grade he was still performing as a beginning first grader; after three years of school he was three years behind. His academic difficulties were likely compounded by his family’s frequent relocations around California. Moving disrupted not only his education but also his friendships; he was repeatedly the new kid on the block and in the classroom.

When Houston was twelve or thirteen years old, he became fascinated with the military, weapons, and SWAT teams. In light of the photograph of him dressed as a girl, his fascination with ultramasculine activities beginning around the onset of puberty is interesting. Perhaps his masculinity was threatened, driving him to overcompensate by seeking to establish a powerful male identity.

In 1988, around age sixteen, Houston had a girlfriend. When the relationship ended, he attempted suicide. In 1989, Houston reportedly was molested by his teacher, Robert Brens. Though Houston’s allegations were challenged in court, he provided detailed accounts of the events. Also, a friend reported that Houston had disclosed his molestation prior to the rampage, providing corroboration for Houston’s testimony.

There were two significant outcomes of the relationship with Mr. Brens. First, Houston was traumatized and questioned his sexual orientation. He became “obsessed with what this meant, what did it mean about him.”^[7] Following the molestations, Houston had a single homosexual encounter with a friend and also went to a gay bar at least once. A friend reported that Houston “blamed the teacher for his feelings of homosexuality.”^[8]

The second significant outcome was that Brens failed Houston in his course. This meant that Houston did not graduate with his class in 1989. In fact, he never did graduate. This would loom larger over time, preventing him from joining the military as he desired and limiting his job opportunities. Though the abuse occurred in 1989, Houston did not commit his attack until 1992.

What triggered his attack? Houston had been doing temporary work at Hewlett-Packard with his half-brother, Ron Caddell. Houston, however, was not employed by Hewlett-Packard but placed there through an agency. When his contract expired, Hewlett-Packard was not able to hire him because he lacked a high school diploma. He ended up on unemployment and became increasingly depressed. Caddell commented that Houston would “every now and then . . . get into these quiet spells where he didn’t want to talk to me or my mom and kind of go like by himself.”^[9] These depressive episodes became worse once he was out of work.

Other stresses were piling up. The friend he had a homosexual experience with wanted Houston to be his sexual partner, but Houston wanted to date women. This caused conflict between them. Houston found a girlfriend, but she left him shortly before his attack. He had poor relationships with family members. His mother pressured him to move out and support himself. Faced with the prospect of being self-sufficient, the lack of a diploma became more significant. This fed his rage toward Brens. Houston also reportedly drank, tried marijuana, and, according to his mother, had probably tried other drugs.

Houston began talking to a friend about going back to his high school and shooting people. This reportedly began as joking around. Houston, however, was fascinated by military tactics and had accumulated weapons and ammunition, and his fantasy of committing a rampage attack became more and more real. On May 1, 1992, Houston turned the fantasy into reality. He shot and killed Brens, shot random people, and held seventy students hostage for up to eight hours. Houston claimed the attack was revenge against Brens for ruining his life. He also wanted to make the public aware that he had been molested at the school so no other students would go through what he did.

Houston was surprisingly concerned about his hostages. He had Advil brought in for students who had headaches. He asked if anyone was hungry, and when students said yes, he exchanged hostages for pizza and soda. He sent a student to help carry wounded victims out of the building. He sent another student to search the school and tell people they could leave. He let students leave who were not feeling well, were extremely upset, or were pregnant. When the last hostages left, he shook their hands and apologized.

* * *

What caused Houston’s rampage? Perhaps it was the accumulation of stresses: being raised in a chaotic and violent family, frequent relocations, being molested by his teacher, confusion about his sexual orientation, failing twelfth grade, breakups with girlfriends, unemployment, pressure to move out on his own, and his struggles with PTSD and depression. Also, a friend talked with Houston about shooting people, providing peer support for Houston’s violent thoughts.

Houston’s behavior was notable for its contradictions. He shot random people but was kind to his hostages. He committed murder, but part of his motivation was to bring attention to his molestation to prevent it from happening to other students. He blended murderous rage with compassion and virtuous aspiration. Unfortunately, he had poor judgment and was not thinking clearly, and his desire to do good was lost amid the tragedy of his violence.

Gary Scott Pennington

“The worst day of my life was the day I was born.”

Date: January 18, 1993

Age: 17

School: East Carter High

School

Location: Grayson, KY

Killed: 2

Wounded: 0

Outcome: Held class hostage

for 20 minutes, then

surrendered. In prison

Gary Pennington was an honors student who reportedly was smarter than just about any other kid in the county. In seventh grade he won a science competition for the eastern region of Kentucky. In high school, he taught himself calculus over the summer.^[10] Why, then, did he gun down his English teacher and a custodian and hold his class hostage?

Though Pennington was the opposite of Eric Houston in terms of academic achievement, the two had many things in common. Pennington’s father was an alcoholic and drug abuser^[11] whose substance abuse caused mental impairment.^[12] Mr. Pennington was on disability and his family survived on public assistance and whatever odd jobs he could find. The family was so poor that “Pennington was embarrassed by the family’s dilapidated wooden house with no telephone, toilet, or running water.”^[13]

The father physically abused both his wife and Pennington.^[14] An aunt commented about Pennington and his father, saying that “there was no relationship. . . . There was just nothing there.”^[15] Once when he was addressed as Gary, Pennington declared, “I want to be called Scott. . . . My father’s name is Gary, and I hate my father.”^[16] Making matters even worse, Pennington’s mother was reportedly psychotic.^[17]

In addition to the difficulties at home, Pennington was bullied at school. After the attack, a student testified that he had once beaten up Pennington while fifteen students had watched.^[18] Another student recalled Pennington’s sitting silently on the school bus as kids called him “nerd, geek, and dork.”^[19] One student admitted that he punched Pennington in the nose and mouth and kneed him in a fight.^[20] A week before the attack, a bully teased him and then beat him up.^[21]

Why was Pennington picked on? Perhaps because he was a shy kid who stuttered. Perhaps because of his intelligence. Maybe because he was new to the school that year, having relocated after his family had been evicted.^[22] Being the new kid may have been part of the problem, but a friend said Pennington had been tormented at school since sixth grade.^[23] Pennington’s aunt testified that even other children in his family made fun of him for stuttering.^[24]

In a writing assignment for his teacher, Deanna McDavid, Pennington wrote, “The worst day of my life was the day I was born . . . the day I realized that no matter what I did, Dad would never love me . . . the day when I discovered I had no friends, my stuttering became more pronounced . . . I realized what hell life was . . . I have been serving 11 years of hell.”^[25] Just before Christmas, McDavid gave Pennington a C on his English midterm. He was upset by the low grade and asked her to change it, but she held firm. Pennington told friends he hated McDavid and contemplated either putting a bomb in her mailbox or shooting her.^[26] He suffered another blow when his first girlfriend broke up with him shortly before Christmas.^[27]

Not long after winter break, Pennington walked into McDavid’s class several minutes late. He shot at her and missed, then shot her again, killing her. A custodian heard the noise, entered the room, and confronted Pennington; Pennington shot and killed him. Then he taunted the class, saying, “Do you like me now? . . . Do you think I’m crazy? . . . What’s the matter, cat got your tongues?”^[28] Though he initially threatened the students by saying he had enough bullets for each of them, he then said, “You don’t have to worry. The next person I shoot will probably be myself.”^[29] He did not, however, shoot himself or anyone else. He gradually let the students leave and after about twenty minutes surrendered to police.

Pennington hated his violent, alcoholic, drug-addicted father, but he didn’t target him. He may have hated the bullies who beat him up, but he didn’t target them. He targeted the teacher who gave him a C. What sense does this make? Perhaps he tolerated his dysfunctional family; after all, this was all he had ever known. Perhaps he never expected to be liked by his peers and was used to being picked on. The one area in which he excelled, however, was academics. His intelligence was the foundation of his identity. When this was threatened by a poor grade, it apparently was more than he could tolerate. But the C was not the only factor. He might have endured the low grade if his girlfriend hadn’t left him. Similarly, if he hadn’t been raised in a chaotic family, if he hadn’t felt abandoned and unloved by his father, if he hadn’t been harassed for years by his peers, maybe a C wouldn’t have mattered so much.

* * *

Pennington’s family, like Houston’s, was rife with parental violence and substance abuse. Though Pennington may not have had frequent relocations, he was a new kid at his school. Whereas Houston was molested by a teacher, Pennington was harassed and assaulted by his peers. Thus, both were victimized at home and at school. Pennington, like Houston, had several stressors shortly before his attack: a breakup with his girlfriend, conflict with a teacher, and being beaten up the week before his rampage. Finally, both Houston and Pennington targeted teachers due to real or perceived victimization.

James Rouse

“Mama, people are dead because of me.”

Date: November 15, 1995

Age: 17

School: Richland High School

Location: Lynville, TN

Killed: 2

Wounded: 1

Outcome: Apprehended.

In prison

Jamie Rouse’s father was an alcoholic and a drug addict. On four occasions he spent the night in jail, twice for reckless driving and twice for driving under the influence. His drinking got him fired from multiple jobs. Cocaine was a daily habit for years; he also used marijuana, quaaludes, amphetamines, and crystal meth. His substance abuse nearly bankrupted the family. At one point, he came home to find his wife and kids gone, and a long letter from his wife waiting for him. After that, he decided to turn his life around.^[30] By the time his son, Jamie, committed a rampage attack, Mr. Rouse had been clean and sober for a year and a half.

By then, however, the damage had been done. The father had been a violent man who beat his kids with belts and paddles.^[31] He punched holes in the walls of their home during drunken rages. He once blasted six pet cats with a shotgun and flung the carcasses into trees. Rouse lived in terror of his father’s violence. Recalling one incident of abuse, Rouse said “My Daddy came in there, and he raised me by the arm, and [he started whipping] the back of my legs, and my butt too, and he just kept doing it. I had bruises and welts, even a few days afterward. I just lay there and cried on the floor.”^[32] Rouse’s father was a truck driver; he was on the road the day of the shooting. He later commented, “To this day, I still believe if I’d been home that day, I’d been the one that died.”^[33] He knew that his son had reasons for hating him to the point of wanting him dead. And yet, if Rouse had wanted to kill his father, he could have done so.

Instead, he shot two teachers and aimed at a coach but missed him, killing his best friend’s sister. Why shoot teachers? Rouse had talked to friends about killing a girl at school, the principal, and a state trooper who had twice caught him speeding. Yet, when asked immediately afterward what was on his mind as he entered the school, he replied, “Kill all the teachers.”^[34] This was a mystery to Rouse himself. “Those people, the victims, hadn’t ever done nothing to me,” he said. “It would have been different if they had picked on me, but they never picked on me or nothing.”^[35] It is interesting that his father had four teachers in the family: his parents, his sister, and his brother-in-law. Perhaps Rouse associated teachers with his father’s family and instead of killing his father, killed innocent people who represented his father.

But what drove Rouse to want to kill in the first place? After all, his father had been clean and sober for eighteen months. This was the most stability the family had ever known. Why go on a rampage when he did? As with Houston and Pennington, there were multiple stressors. In eleventh grade Rouse began going out with a girl. This relationship lasted several months. It isn’t clear when it ended, but she broke up with him. Rouse felt devastated and admitted that he had thoughts of killing her.^[36]

In twelfth grade, Rouse wanted to drop out of school and get his GED. His parents, however, objected and pressured him to stay in school. In addition, Rouse worked eight hours after school, from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m. To manage this grueling schedule, he used MaxAlert to stay awake and then Tylenol PM to get to sleep. He also drank alcohol and used marijuana.^[37]

Not surprisingly, given his substance use, Rouse got four traffic tickets within nine months and lost his license. When he got his license back, he had further trouble. On November 12, three days before his attack, he backed his father’s pickup into a car at a service station. When the girlfriend of the man who owned the car heard him talking about it, she confronted him angrily and said, “I hope you’ve got insurance.” Rouse, panicked about further legal trouble and losing his license again, responded with, “You’d better have life insurance.” Later, he recalled, “I almost felt like I could kill her.”^[38]

On top of this, Rouse was incorrectly marked absent at school, and a truancy officer called his mother. This was not a major issue, but it was one more upsetting event. Rouse was overworked, abusing substances, and worried about losing his license again. In addition, he had a lifetime of fear, trauma, and rage built up from his home life. He later recalled his mental state, “I was so stressed out, I guess. I don’t know. I had a lot of conflict, and mostly, at that time, I guess I just had kind of a panicked feeling. I was angry, depressed, worried, all at one time. I’d get extremely angry, and in a split second I’d feel like crying, and then I would go back to being extremely angry.”^[39] The movie Natural Born Killers was another possible factor in Rouse’s psychological state. After his attack, he commented of the film, “It made killing look easy and fun . . . it fascinated me.”^[40] He talked about why violence was appealing: “I guess for so long I’d felt helpless and weak, and with violence, you know, you have control.”^[41] Control had been noticeably absent from his life. In taking control for a few brief moments, however, he committed acts that destroyed him emotionally.

While in prison, Rouse tried to kill himself. When his mother asked him why, he said, “Mama, people are dead because of me.”^[42] This was the first of many suicide attempts. Rouse literally could not live with what he had done.

* * *

Houston, Pennington, and Rouse all targeted teachers. Rouse’s attack was different, however. Whereas Houston killed the teacher who molested him and failed him, and Pennington killed the teacher who had given him an unacceptable grade, Rouse shot random teachers for no known reason. This makes his attack harder to comprehend. His attack seemed to be the most impulsive, the least planned, the most driven by immediate emotion.

All three of these shooters discussed their ideas for attacks with friends. It seems the friends did not actively encourage the shooters to kill, but neither did they object to the talk of murder. The shooters may have taken this as tacit approval for the attacks.

Evan Ramsey

“I don’t know who my parents are; that was another thing that hurts. It seemed like all my friends knew their fathers.”

Date: February 19, 1997

Age: 16

School: Bethel High School

Location: Bethel, AK

Killed: 2

Wounded: 2

Outcome: Intended suicide,

but decided against it.

Surrendered. In prison

Evan Ramsey’s father was known as “the Rambo of Alaska.” Donald Ramsey went on an armed rampage when Evan was five years old because the publisher of the Anchorage Times did not print an advertisement he had paid for. Mr. Ramsey also believed the publisher had his apartment set on fire in an attempt to kill him. Heavily armed, Mr. Ramsey stormed the newspaper building, looking for the publisher. He chained the doors shut and set off a smoke grenade, starting a fire. He found the publisher and his daughter, who struggled with Mr. Ramsey, eventually subduing him.^[43] “The Rambo of Alaska” served ten years in prison. Evan Ramsey called his father’s legacy “the family curse.”^[44]

The family curse also hit Ramsey’s older brother, John. Five days before Ramsey’s attack, an armed John Ramsey robbed a porn shop.^[45] John had been racking up criminal charges since he was twelve years old, including theft, assault, and the illegal use of firearms.^[46] In addition, a man named Willie Billy, one of Ramsey’s mother’s boyfriends, had a long list of criminal charges including misconduct with a weapon.^[47] At least three men in Ramsey’s family constellation used guns illegally; his friends, however, convinced him to kill.

Ramsey told two buddies he wanted to take a gun to school, scare people, and then kill himself. His friends, James Randall and Matthew Charles, talked him into murder. They showed him how to use a shotgun and said he would become famous. Randall reportedly told him, “Don’t kill yourself. . . . You got to live the fame and the fortune.”^[48] Charles urged Ramsey over and over again to kill the principal, Ron Edwards. Randall pressured Ramsey, saying, “You can’t go back, everybody would think you’re nothing. Everybody would just have one more reason to mess with you.”^[49]

Ramsey, depressed, confused, and pressured by his peers, did as he was told. He shot Ron Edwards, killing him. He also shot and killed Josh Palacios, a boy who had reportedly harassed him. Besides picking on Ramsey, Palacios was a star basketball player who was handsome and attractive to girls.^[50] Ramsey may have shot him out of revenge, out of envy, or because his friends told him to.

What events drove Ramsey to suicidal thoughts and homicidal actions? Whereas the previous three shooters had fathers who were violent substance abusers, violence and substance abuse were split among Ramsey’s father, mother, and mother’s boyfriends. Mr. Ramsey’s rampage at the newspaper building showed his violent nature. Ramsey’s mother, Carol, had a serious alcohol problem that became devastating after Donald was imprisoned. She often drank from morning to night, passing out and neglecting her three children—John, Evan, and William.^[51] Carol was arrested once for drunk driving and another time for public drunkenness. Once a social worker found the boys huddled in the apartment with their mother drunk and unconscious. There was no heat in the apartment; outside, the temperature was twenty-two degrees below zero.^[52]

After her husband’s incarceration, Carol moved in with a man in another town, bringing her three boys with her. This boyfriend was violent. Carol then moved in with another man in a different town. This boyfriend was also violent.^[53] One of these boyfriends may have been Willie Billy, or perhaps he was a third violent boyfriend. Carol went to court over Mr. Billy’s domestic violence. In fact, Willie Billy crossed paths with the legal system in two dozen different incidents from 1983 to 2000, for reasons including intoxication, assault, criminal trespass, misconduct with a weapon, attempted sexual assault, and failure to register as a sex offender.^[54] It would not be surprising if he physically or sexually abused the Ramsey boys.

When Ramsey’s mother sunk into chronic drunkenness, her three sons were removed from her care and placed in foster homes. Ramsey moved through eleven homes in two years. In one home, an older boy assaulted Ramsey, leaving bruises on his face and neck. The boy also molested Ramsey and urinated in his mouth.^[55]

Eventually, Ramsey ended up in foster care with the school superintendent. She had an adult adopted son who had pleaded “no contest to sexual abuse of a minor.”^[56] Though it was against state law to have a sex offender living with foster children, this situation slipped through the cracks. Ramsey never reported being molested in this home; perhaps there was no molestation, or perhaps he kept silent to protect his foster mother. He described her as “the nicest person I’ve ever met.”^[57] She took him in and was like a mother to him.

At age ten, Ramsey reportedly attempted suicide.^[58] He was suicidal again at fourteen.^[59] Not everything in his life was bleak, however. He had a group of friends with whom he hung out, talked, and smoked marijuana. Despite his tumultuous childhood, Ramsey was generally seen as a polite and likable young man. He had angry outbursts at school and at home, but by age sixteen his behavior had improved.^[60]

What triggered Ramsey’s violence? As with other shooters, several events occurred shortly before the attack that exacerbated his distress. There was girlfriend trouble: “all of a sudden, she said no more, [expletive] you, and left town. It was a pretty depressing situation.”^[61] He also had a CD player confiscated at school the week before the attack. It was a minor incident, but it bothered him.

Perhaps more important were the family events. His father finished his ten-year sentence on January 13, 1997.^[62] On February 9, he called Ramsey and announced he was out of prison.^[63] We can only speculate about how this affected Ramsey. Was he excited or perhaps terrified? Would his father expect him to move in with him? The prospect of living with “the Rambo of Alaska” might have been overwhelming. A few days after his father’s call, Ramsey’s brother was arrested for armed robbery. Did this suggest that all the men in his family were destined to be violent?

Though Ramsey intended to kill himself during the attack, he did not do so. He put a gun under his chin but didn’t shoot.^[64] He surrendered to the police and is in prison for the rest of his life.

* * *

Ramsey shares many features with the previous shooters in terms of family history and trauma. In addition, like the other shooters presented so far, Ramsey targeted an adult at the school. Unlike the other shooters, Ramsey also sought out and killed a boy who had harassed him. How much this was his idea versus his friends’ remains unknown.

What stands out in Ramsey’s case was the significant criminal activity in his family, the number of violent men in his life, and the multiple role models for the misuse of firearms. Another prominent feature was the extent of his friends’ influence on his attack. In fact, without peer influence, there apparently would have been no attack. He planned to only kill himself at school; his friends convinced him to kill others. This is the first case where the idea of committing a school shooting did not originate with the shooter. The following case presents a different twist on this dynamic.

Mitchell Johnson

“I felt cornered. I felt like I didn’t have anywhere to go, nothing to do. I thought my life was at an end.”

Date: March 24, 1998

Age: 13

School: Westside Middle

School

Location: Jonesboro, AR

Killed: 1

Wounded: 3

Outcome: Planned escape.

Apprehended. In prison until

he turned 21, then released.

Back in prison on other

charges (not violent crimes)

According to Mitchell Johnson, the school shooting was not his idea. His friend, Andrew Golden, recruited him.^[65] This appears to be the case, even though Golden was only eleven years old to Johnson’s thirteen. Johnson fired his rifle five times while Golden fired twenty-five shots, which implies that Golden was indeed the aggressor.^[66] Johnson used a high-powered rifle with a telescopic sight, so he could clearly see his targets.

Who were his targets? One was Candace Porter, a girl he went out with briefly who broke up with him shortly before the attack. After the attack several students reported that Johnson had talked about killing all the girls who rejected him.^[67] Another girl who had rejected his advances was also shot, but ballistics could not determine whether Golden or Johnson had shot her. This is where facts give way to speculation.

As noted, Johnson fired five shots, hitting either four or five people. According to an article in the New York Times, ballistics experts reported that Shannon Wright, a teacher, was hit twice by bullets from Johnson’s gun.^[68] Elsewhere it was reported that Wright was hit inadvertently. However, if Johnson hit Wright twice, this suggests that he was aiming for her. This would mean that Johnson was not the one who killed the second girl who rejected him. Thus, Johnson may have targeted one girl and a teacher, or else he may have targeted two girls and hit the teacher by mistake.

But why target anyone? As with other traumatized shooters, there were both long-term factors and recent stresses. Johnson’s parents had a stormy marriage that had ended in divorce after eleven years. Mr. Johnson smoked marijuana and had been fired from one job because of theft. He also had an explosive temper, punching holes in walls and abusing his son. Of his father’s treatment, Johnson said, “He cussed me all the time. Used to hit me, fight with me. . . . Punch me in the face, slap me around, throw me against the walls.”^[69] His father sometimes terrified Johnson to the point of vomiting.^[70]

Not only was he physically abused at home, but an older boy reportedly sexually abused him from ages eight to twelve.^[71] This boy violently raped Johnson and threatened to kill his grandmother if he told. Johnson suffered both from the abuse itself as well as fearing for his grandmother’s safety. The perpetrator also molested Johnson’s younger brother, which presumably exacerbated Johnson’s helplessness and rage. During his deposition, Johnson referred to the molestations: “That had a lot to do with my anger, had a lot to do with why I was so mad all the time.”^[72]

After his parents’ divorce, Johnson’s mother moved from Minnesota to Arkansas. She married her third husband, an ex-convict who had served time for a variety of charges, including a firearms violation.^[73] Johnson reportedly admired his stepfather, thinking it was cool that he had been in prison. Johnson lived with his mother in Arkansas during the school year and spent summers with his father in Minnesota. According to Johnson, “Me and my dad never got along, me and my real dad, Scott. I would go up there [to Minnesota], and I hated it.”^[74]

In the year leading up to the shooting, Johnson had one problem after another. In sixth grade, he lost his temper at school and slammed a thermostat with his fist, breaking the glass. Shannon Wright, the teacher he later killed, gave him in-school suspension.^[75] Then, over the summer, a girl in Minnesota broke up with him, and he became suicidal. That same summer, he was caught molesting a two-year-old girl while changing her diaper; he admitted he stuck his finger in her vagina and was charged in juvenile court.^[76] Perhaps it was this summer, if not earlier, that he began smoking marijuana.

A month before the shooting he was caught using his father’s credit card to call telephone sex lines; he had run up several hundred dollars worth of calls. His father was furious. He reported his son to the police, accused his ex-wife of unfit parenting, and threatened to have Johnson live with him. This prospect left Johnson feeling hopeless.^[77]

Other stresses piled up. A few weeks before the attack he wore a baseball cap to school. This violated school policy, but when teachers confronted him, he refused to remove it. They tussled and ripped the hat from his hands. He was suspended again. “Mitchell was humiliated, furious, and unrepentant.”^[78]

Not long after this, he was either kicked off the basketball team for self-mutilation or else tried out and didn’t make the team—stories differ.^[79] Johnson had peer conflicts, but he was not bullied. Some people said he was a bully. He bragged about being a gang member, claiming he was in the Bloods; when kids didn’t believe him, he flew off the handle. Perhaps the final straw was that shortly before the attack he went out with Candace Porter but she broke up with him.^[80]

Years after the shooting, Johnson recalled how he felt in the period leading up to his rampage: “I remember feeling like I was trapped, like no one understood me. . . . I felt cornered. I felt like I didn’t have anywhere to go, nothing to do. I thought my life was at an end.”^[81]

* * *

What factors led Johnson to participate in the attack? Physical abuse by his father, four years of brutal sexual abuse, legal troubles, disciplinary issues, rejection by girls, the threat of having to live with his father again, and Andrew Golden’s persuasion to join the attack. Like Evan Ramsey, Mitchell Johnson would probably not have committed an attack without peer influence. Both boys faced possible reunification with violent fathers, a potentially terrifying prospect. Johnson, like other traumatized shooters, had a family role model for the misuse of firearms. Finally, if Johnson did target Shannon Wright, the teacher he killed, then like the previous traumatized shooters, he targeted school personnel.

Jason Hoffman

“I got to thinking, ‘What the hell is the point of life?’

It was like I dove off a cliff.”

Date: March 22, 2001

Age: 18

School: Granite Hills High

School

Location: El Cajon, CA

Killed: 0

Wounded: 5

Outcome: Intended

“suicide by cop.”

Was shot and wounded.

Died by suicide in prison

Contrary to popular opinion, most school shooters were not loners; Jason Hoffman, however, came close. He apparently had one friend, and when the boy moved away, Hoffman was essentially alone.^[82] Apart from his lack of friends, Hoffman’s case resembles those reviewed so far. His childhood was unstable and violent. His parents, Ralph Hoffman and Denise Marquez, never married. His father was an alcoholic with criminal charges of public drunkenness and malicious mischief. As noted by a social worker’s report, “The situation has been unsafe for Jason since virtually his birth.”^[83]

Mr. Hoffman reportedly threw his three-month-old son at Ms. Marquez during a fight;^[84] fourteen months later he was arrested. “Jason Hoffman came to the attention of authorities when he was just seventeen months of age after an incident in which his father was drunk, took the minor into a swimming pool, threw him toward the deep end . . . and continuously submerged the minor for a period of approximately fifteen minutes even though the minor was obviously terrified.”^[85]

Mr. Hoffman’s comment at the time was, “The kid loved the water . . . and besides, I didn’t let him stay under that long.”^[86] Mr. Hoffman also reportedly assaulted Ms. Marquez and banged her head against the wall. When Jason Hoffman was seven years old, his father reportedly urinated on him in the shower.^[87]

There is minimal information about the years between Hoffman’s childhood and his attack. During high school he reportedly kept to himself. He was generally silent, had a quick temper, and was not bullied. One student said, “He had this hate-the-world walk. . . . Most of the kids were afraid of him.”^[88] Another student said, “He was always trying to start fights with people.”^[89] He was a large, intimidating young man. He was arrested in tenth grade for hitting a peer in the head with a racquet during an argument.^[90]

What drove Hoffman to commit a rampage attack? First, he was chronically unhappy and angry. Second, academics were not his strength. At some point he had been in special-education classes.^[91] He was supposed to graduate in 2000 but did not have enough credits and had to repeat his senior year. It was also reported that he did not have enough credits to graduate in 2001.^[92] He took a math class at a community college and did not do well. He also lost his job at McDonald’s for failing to learn to use the cash register.^[93]

Perhaps in response to these failures, he tried to enlist in the navy. Unfortunately, he was rejected. The following day he committed his attack.^[94] When he arrived outside the school, he saw the vice principal, Dan Barnes. Hoffman cried, “I’ve got you.”^[95] He shot at Barnes but missed. He went on shooting, however, wounding two teachers and three students. He was wounded twice by a school resource officer and apprehended. Hoffman said he had intended to commit “suicide by cop.” Failing in this, Hoffman killed himself in jail.^[96]

After the attack, Hoffman told investigators he wanted to kill Barnes because he blamed him for his rejection by the navy. For some reason, Hoffman believed Barnes was out to get him. Barnes had met with him four times regarding counseling and disciplinary issues but said their last meeting on February 23 had been positive.^[97]

One other fact may be of importance. On March 5, 2001, just over two weeks before Hoffman’s attack, Charles “Andy” Williams committed a school shooting at Santana High School in Santee, California. Not only were the attacks less than three weeks apart, they were also less than five miles apart. Was Hoffman influenced by the attack by Williams? He left no statements to this effect, but the proximity in time and place is striking.

* * *

Hoffman differed from other traumatized shooters because he did not discuss his plans with friends. Indeed, he doesn’t seem to have had any friends at the time of his attack, and this sets him apart from other traumatized shooters. His attack was also not preceded by a breakup with a girlfriend because he apparently never had a girlfriend. He did, however, experience other rejections: his impending failure to graduate at the end of his second senior year, failure at the community college, failure at McDonald’s, and rejection by the navy.

Though the details of his life are few, they match the family history of other traumatized shooters. His father was an abusive alcoholic, and Hoffman grew up amid domestic violence and threats to his safety. Also, like other traumatized shooters, he targeted an adult at the school. One feature of Hoffman’s case is new and will be seen in many other cases—military failure. Rejection by the military apparently was a devastating blow to Hoffman; he committed his attack less than twenty-four hours later.

Jeffrey Weise

“Sixteen years of accumulated rage.”

Date: March 21, 2005

Age: 16

School: Red Lake High

School

Location: Red Lake, MN

Killed: 9

Wounded: 7

Outcome: Shot by police

during attack.

Died by suicide

Jeffrey Weise was a writer; he had a way with words. He posted his zombie fiction online and also posted personal material about himself. Though many details of his life are missing, we have a glimpse into his internal world through his writings.^[98]

Weise’s parents, Joanne Weise and Daryl Lussier Jr., were Native American. They were not married when Jeffrey was born and may never have lived together with Jeffrey. When Weise was three months old, his mother, who lived in Minneapolis, gave him to his father, who lived on the reservation at Red Lake, Minnesota. For three years, Weise was raised by his father and his father’s parents. Then, he went back to live with his mother in Minneapolis. Weise’s life was characterized by relocations and changing caregivers.

Very little is known about Weise’s father. He reportedly was “a real nice guy when he was sober,”^[99] which implies that he was often not sober and that he was not a nice guy when drunk. One crucial fact is that Lussier killed himself during an armed standoff with tribal police. This incident was particularly heartrending because Lussier’s father was one of the officers trying to resolve the standoff. Daryl Lussier Sr. was not able to talk his son into surrendering; Lussier Jr. shot himself and died. Jeffrey Weise was eight years old.

At this time, Weise lived with his mother and her boyfriend, Timothy Desjarlait. Joanne and Timothy had two children together and eventually married. Life for Weise, however, was not good. He wrote, “My mom used to abuse me a lot when I was little. She . . . used to drink excessively, too. She would tell me I was a mistake, and she should say so many . . . things that it’s hard to deal with them or think of them without crying.”^[100] In addition, “Weise was disciplined by being locked out of the house, locked in the closet, or made to kneel for hours in the corner.”^[101]

Joanne Weise was jailed once for driving while intoxicated and again for misdemeanor assault.^[102] Less than a year after marrying Tim Desjarlait, Joanne and her cousin were out drinking and had a car accident; the cousin was killed, and Joanne suffered brain damage. Desjarlait separated from Joanne and took their two children. He did not take Jeffrey. “Within two years, Jeffrey lost his father to suicide, his mother to brain damage, and his stepfather and half-siblings to separation.”^[103]

There is no information regarding the impact of these events on Weise, but these were clearly overwhelming losses. A few years later, Weise flunked eighth grade. One source said he was “held back a couple of grades.”^[104] During his adolescence, he drank and used marijuana. He became depressed and engaged in self-mutilation, using the metal end of a pencil to scratch himself. When he was fifteen, he attempted suicide by cutting his wrists. Of the incident he wrote, “I had went through a lot of things in my life that had driven me to a darker path than most choose to take. I split the flesh on my wrist with a box opener, painting the floor of my bedroom with blood I shouldn’t have spilt. After sitting there for what seemed like hours (which apparently was only minutes), I had the revelation that this was not the path.”^[105] When Weise was fifteen years old, he joined an online discussion forum about the Nazis. The idea of a Native American Nazi may be odd, but Weise wrote, “I’ve always carried a natural admiration for Hitler and his ideals, and his courage to take on larger nations.”^[106] For someone who had been physically abused and spiritually beaten down, perhaps Hitler represented strength.

Though some people said Weise was a loner, this is wrong. He belonged to a group of kids who called themselves “The Darkers.” He played in a band. He hung out with friends. In fact, he apparently was well liked by his peers. One girl said, “He was the one I talked to about my problems. . . . He was trustworthy, and he always understood what I was going through.”^[107] Another peer said, “Jeff often said his friends were the only thing he had in life.”^[108] A girl named Michelle said, “He was funny. He was cool. . . . Any time I felt sad, he made me feel happy. . . . He always made me laugh.”^[109]

Was Weise harassed? Reports vary significantly. His maternal grandmother said that three years before the attack, Jeffrey told her that kids punched and tripped him.^[110] His aunt said he was picked on because of his appearance, but not badly.^[111] A classmate said he was “terrorized” by people who thought he was weird.^[112] His paternal grandmother reported, “Kids would say stuff about his mom. . . . They’d say things to him about not having a mother, about not having a dad.”^[113] In contrast, another peer “denied the contention of other students who said Weise . . . was a target of teasing.”^[114]

It appears that he was harassed when young, but perhaps not after he became physically imposing. Some sources say he was six feet tall and weighed 250 pounds; others said he was 6'3" and weighed close to three hundred pounds. He liked to style his hair into two “devil horns” on the top of his head. Between his Nazi interest and his deliberately odd appearance, he may have either invited comments or discouraged them. Weise said, “You encounter a lot of hostility when you claim to be a National Socialist, but because of my size and appearance people don’t give me as much trouble as they would if I looked weak. . . . I try not to be aggressive in most situations. I’ll use force if I have to, but I’m not about to go out and pick a fight. I’m mostly defensive; I’ll defend myself if someone tries something.”^[115] We do not know what role—if any—peer harassment played in his attack. When it came time for his attack, he did not target any particular students.

After slicing his wrist with the box cutter, Weise tried to turn his life around, but there was no stability. With his father dead and his mother incapacitated, Weise bounced back and forth between relatives and foster homes. At some point he was put on homebound instruction, but why this was done is not clear.^[116] Whatever the cause, Weise was not attending his school at the time of his attack.

Despite his efforts at getting out of “the grave I’m continually digging for myself,”^[117] his depression returned. On January 4, 2005, Weise posted a comment: “I’m starting to regret sticking around, I should’ve taken the razor blade express last time around. . . . Well, whatever, man. Maybe they’ve got another shuttle comin’ around sometime soon?”^[118] Just a few weeks later, his mood sank even further. “So fucking naive man,” he wrote despairingly, “so fucking naive. Always expecting change when I know nothing ever changes. I’ve seen mothers choose their man over their own flesh and blood, I’ve seen others choose alcohol over friendship. I sacrifice no more for others, part of me has fucking died and I hate this shit. I’m living every man’s nightmare and that single fact alone is kicking my ass, I really must be fucking worthless. This place never changes, it never will. Fuck it all.”^[119] A couple of friends heard him say, “That would be cool if I shot up the school.”^[120] In addition, Weise had been communicating with his cousin and best friend, Louis Jourdain, for months about carrying out some kind of attack.^[121] It is not clear if Jourdain planned on joining Weise’s attack or if he were just a sounding board. Whatever their plan might have been, Weise carried out the attack on his own on March 21, 2005.

Alone among traumatized shooters, Weise killed members of his family, shooting his paternal grandfather, Daryl Lussier Sr., and Lussier’s girlfriend, Michelle Sigana. After killing his grandfather, he drove Lussier’s police cruiser to the school, got out, and began shooting. Weise ended up in an armed standoff with police—just like his father. And just like his father, he chose death.^[122]

Weise had written reflections on suicide. He once wrote, “Most people have never dealt with people who have faced the kind of pain that makes you physically sick at times, makes you so depressed you can’t function, makes you so sad and overwhelmed with grief that eating a bullet or sticking your head in a noose seems welcoming.”^[123] In another passage on suicide, he may have been thinking of his father, or perhaps he was anticipating his own death: “It takes courage to turn the gun on yourself, takes courage to face death. Knowing you’re going to die and actually following through takes heart.”^[124]

* * *

Jeffrey Weise resembles other traumatized shooters in his history of abuse, frequent relocations, use of alcohol and marijuana, and peer influence to go on a rampage. Also, like some other traumatized shooters, there was peer harassment. There is no clear evidence that he targeted school personnel, but one account suggested that he pursued Neva Rogers, a teacher who was killed.^[125]

Unlike other shooters, Weise’s mother was physically abusive. Also, he was the only traumatized shooter to target family members. He was the only one to be attracted to Nazi ideology or any ideology of power. Like Jason Hoffman, there is no record that Weise ever had a romantic relationship; thus, he did not experience the distress of a breakup.

The other traumatized shooters typically had multiple stresses that accumulated shortly before their attacks. If Weise had such stresses, they have not been identified. Perhaps he was angered about being put on homebound instruction, but he left no record of this. It seems that his rampage was driven by all the pain he had endured throughout his life: “16 years of accumulated rage suppressed by nothing more than brief glimpses of hope, which have all but faded to black. I can feel the urges within slipping through the cracks, the leash I can no longer hold.”^[126]

Eric Hainstock

“I face less abuse in prison than I did at school or at home.”

Date: September 29, 2006

Age: 15

School: Weston High School

Location: Cazenovia, WI

Killed: 1

Wounded: 0

Outcome: Apprehended.

Prison

Eric Hainstock shot and killed the principal of his school.^[127] Though he only shot one person, he appears to have intended to kill more. He carried two loaded firearms plus additional ammunition. He also had made references to Columbine, which suggests he was planning a large-scale attack.^[128] When he showed up at the school, a janitor saw him aiming a shotgun at a teacher and wrestled it from him.^[129] Hainstock got away from the custodian, shot the principal, and was immediately apprehended. If things had gone differently, there might have been many more victims.

The Hainstock household was filthy and cluttered.^[130] There were indications that his mother had problems with alcohol.^[131] His father was unemployed and on disability.^[132] In addition, home was a violent place. His father abused Hainstock by hitting him with a piece of wood and whipping him with a belt. The father was charged with felony child abuse, though the charge was later reduced and eventually dismissed.^[133] A woman who dated the father got one restraining order against him to protect herself and another to protect her children.^[134] According to a reporter, “Hainstock says both parents beat him, kicked him, slapped him, and threw things at him. His dad made him hold hot sauce and peppers in his mouth, which burned so bad ‘I couldn’t breathe or swallow,’ and run laps in the yard, sometimes for hours. He couldn’t stop to urinate; ‘I would have to pee in my pants or pull it out while I ran.’”^[135] Hainstock reportedly was also physically abused by his adoptive mother and his stepfather and sexually abused by his stepbrother, including fondling and anal penetration. Hainstock exhibited inappropriate sexual behavior when he was four years old.^[136] Besides the abuse, Hainstock said his father treated him like a slave, making him do housework until midnight. He also reported strange punishments, such as having to stand with his nose touching a wall and one leg lifted in the air.^[137]

When Hainstock came to school with a split lip, Mr. Hainstock was investigated for abusive behavior, but the allegation was dismissed. Once Hainstock showed up at school without a shirt and another time was “filthy and smelling.”^[138] Both times the school filed reports of neglect; both times the allegations were dismissed. Hainstock also had to deal with moving to a new home eight times in nine years.

Hainstock’s mother apparently wanted nothing to do with him. She gave up her parental rights when he was eight years old.^[139] She apparently dropped out of his life and wasn’t even on his list of visitors when he was in prison after his attack. Regarding his home life, Hainstock said, “I would accept all the beatings if I could have just heard one ‘I love you’ or ‘Good job, Eric.’”^[140]

In addition to the abuse at home, Hainstock reported severe bullying at school: “I would be slapped, hit all over the body, pushed in bushes or thrown to the ground, my head was stuck in dirty toilets.”^[141] Hainstock was gay,^[142] and he reported chronic harassment about his sexual orientation: “Every day the same thing. They would call me names in the hall, in class, at lunch, before school and after.”^[143]

Other students, however, challenged his reports and said that Hainstock was a bully himself. He admitted to harassing a couple of students but claimed the mistreatment he received was far worse than what he did to others. A peer, however, said that Hainstock “would push people more than he got pushed.”^[144] In addition, a guidance counselor who knew Hainstock said he enjoyed playing the role of victim and that his accounts of abuse at school were not accurate.^[145] Finally, Hainstock’s credibility is damaged by his postattack statements that he never meant to kill the principal.

Hainstock struggled with academics. In seventh grade he functioned at a fourth- to fifth-grade level.^[146] His academic performance presumably was not helped by his drug use, which by his report included marijuana, cocaine, LSD, psychedelic mushrooms, and heroin.^[147]

Two weeks before his attack, Hainstock quarreled with a student and threw a stapler at his special-education teacher. The principal, John Klang, suspended Hainstock for three days.^[148] Hainstock was also charged with disorderly conduct, criminal damage, and recklessly endangering safety. A few days later he had a fight with his adoptive mother in which she reportedly bit him. The day before the shooting, Klang gave him an in-school suspension for bringing tobacco to school.

After the attack, Hainstock said he had brought a gun to school to force Klang to listen to his complaints about being bullied. He denied homicidal intent, claiming that his gun went off accidentally when Klang grabbed him from behind. The court did not accept this. Weeks before the shooting, Hainstock made comments to at least two peers that the principal would not live much longer. The morning of the attack, he reportedly said he was there “to fucking kill somebody.”^[149] He also had confessed to the police that he deliberately shot Klang three times.^[150] Klang was not the only target, however, because Hainstock initially tried to shoot a teacher. Despite his claims of harassment, he made no attempt to kill students.

* * *

Hainstock resembles other traumatized shooters in multiple ways: his abusive father, the fragmented and dysfunctional family, frequent relocations, sexual abuse, and substance abuse. Also, in addition to the long history of trauma, there were several incidents shortly before the attack that presumably contributed to his rage: a fight with a student, suspension and charges for throwing a stapler at a teacher, a fight with his adoptive mother, and an in-school suspension the day before the attack.

Hainstock differs from the other shooters in the extent of his substance abuse. Also, though Eric Houston experimented with homosexuality, Hainstock is the only shooter discussed so far who identified as gay. He reported severe bullying, but the accuracy of his reports has been challenged. It is not clear if he discussed his attack plans with friends or if peers just happened to hear him remark that the principal would not live much longer. Finally, Hainstock, like most other traumatized shooters, targeted school personnel.

Asa Coon

“Now what have you got to say to me?”

Date: October 10, 2007

Age: 14

School: SuccessTech Academy

Location: Cleveland, OH

Killed: 0

Wounded: 4

Outcome: Suicide

Asa Coon was a bright, well-behaved boy living in horrendous circumstances—at home, at school, and in his neighborhood. Despite growing up amid violence, there are reports that Asa was often polite^[151] and ignored his peers’ harassment.^[152] His father claimed that Asa had been a state chess champion when he was ten years old.^[153] His uncle said Asa had won a citywide chess tournament the previous December.^[154] Unfortunately, according to the uncle, Coon’s intelligence made him a target of his peers.

Coon came from a broken home with a long history of significant dysfunction. His father lived in Florida;^[155] it is not known when he left the family. At age four, Coon was the subject of a juvenile court neglect case.^[156] The home was described as having a yard littered with dog feces and debris, and Coon often went to school with his face dirty, his clothes shabby, and his hair unkempt. In 2000, the Department of Children and Family Services investigated the home because Coon had scratches on his forehead and burns on his arms.^[157] It was difficult to assess the severity of the burns. Why? Because they were covered with flea bites.^[158] It was alleged that Coon’s brother, Stephen, had burned him, but Coon would not tell what happened.

When Coon was twelve, he was charged with domestic violence for aggression toward his mother. His older brother, Stephen, had a long history of illegal behavior. He had been charged with domestic violence and assault by age thirteen.^[159] Later charges included intimidation, burglary, assault, sale of counterfeit drugs, and weapons charges. He spent two years in prison.^[160] Stephen and another brother “threatened neighbors with weapons, including rocks, knives, and a fake bomb.”^[161] Between 2006 and the attack in October 2007, police made five visits to the home in response to calls about domestic violence, assault, property crime, and a hit-and-run accident.^[162] There are consistent reports that Coon was harassed at school and in the neighborhood, including fights and beatings.^[163]

Coon had several placements out of the home as his behavior deteriorated. He was sent to a shelter pending a placement in a detention center. While in the shelter, he attempted suicide. After being placed in the detention facility, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital.^[164]

A woman who volunteered at the school commented on Coon’s unkempt appearance: “shabby shoes and raggedy coat—didn’t brush his hair, take a washcloth across his face, hair sticking up all over the place.”^[165] She also said, “That child was tormented from his classmates every single day.”^[166] A friend of Coon’s said, “I ain’t justifying nothing . . . I ain’t saying he did the right thing, but I am saying he got pushed for a long time and asked them people for help, help, help, help, but nobody helped.”^[167]

There are remarkable parallels between Asa Coon and Evan Ramsey. Ramsey’s father was in prison for a variety of charges, including the illegal use of firearms. Coon’s older brother was in prison for a variety of charges, including the illegal use of firearms. About six weeks before Ramsey’s attack, his father was released from prison. About six weeks before Coon’s attack, his brother was released from prison.^[168] Five days before his attack, Ramsey’s brother was arrested for armed robbery. Two days before his attack, Coon’s brother was arrested for armed robbery.^[169]

In addition to these similarities, both boys had disciplinary problems at school shortly before their attacks. Ramsey had a CD player confiscated, and Coon was suspended for fighting.^[170] Furthermore, both were harassed at school, had histories of fighting, and had been suicidal. Finally, both boys gave plenty of warning to their peers of what they were about to do.^[171] A friend reported that Coon “said if he did shoot up the school he’d let me and some other dude he knew go.”^[172] He also made threats at school: “He threatened to blow up our school. He threatened to stab everybody.”^[173] Students also reported that Coon threatened to come to school with a gun and shoot everyone.

Coon targeted at least one teacher in his attack. He was in danger of failing his history class taught by Michael Grassie. Grassie said Coon had tried to pick a fight with him shortly before the attack. On the day of the rampage, Coon walked into his classroom and said to him, “Now what have you got to say to me?” and then shot him.^[174] Fortunately, Grassie survived.

* * *

Unlike most shooters in this category, there is no evidence that Asa’s father was violent or that he abused substances, but this lack of evidence may be due to the virtual absence of any information about his father. Coon grew up amid poverty, neglect, and domestic violence. He was bullied, but there is no indication that he targeted anyone who bullied him. Instead, he targeted a teacher. Nor is there any report of a girlfriend. Like most of the other traumatized shooters, Coon talked about his plan with at least one friend.

Thomas “T. J.” Lane

“In a quaint lonely town, sits a man with a frown.

No job. No family. No crown.”

Date: February 27, 2012

Age: 17

School: Chardon High School

Location: Chardon, OH

Killed: 3

Wounded: 3

Outcome: Surrendered.

Prison

T. J. Lane’s parents, Thomas Lane and Sara Nolan, never married. They had a tumultuous relationship in which both were charged with domestic violence.^[175] According to Mr. Lane, Ms. Nolan bit and punched him, was “unable to control herself with respect to the use of alcohol,” and engaged “in violent, dangerous conduct.”^[176] Ms. Nolan’s behavior was bad enough that she was jailed. She, however, was not as violent as T. J. Lane’s father.

Mr. Lane had multiple violent episodes that are difficult to sort out.^[177] He was charged with resisting arrest for fighting with an officer who intervened in a domestic altercation and was later imprisoned for beating and kidnapping a woman. This may have been the attack in which he “held his wife’s head under running water, then bashed it into the wall, hard enough to leave a dent in the drywall.”^[178] In 1997, Mr. Lane was charged with pushing a woman around and threatening to kill her. Five years later, Mr. Lane was imprisoned after he “verbally abused and physically attacked another woman over a period of nine hours in the presence of three young children.”^[179] He was charged with attempted murder and felonious assault. If T. J. Lane were one of the three children present during this episode, he would have been seven years old. It is no surprise that “more than once, police or courts warned [Mr. Lane] to stay away from the boy and his mother.”^[180] Because of the family chaos, Lane was largely brought up by grandparents, apparently living with his mother’s parents and visiting his father’s parents on weekends.

Though at first Lane was said to have been an outcast who was bullied, multiple people who knew him said that this was not true.^[181] He reportedly had friends and was not picked on^[182] and was said by many to be a nice young man who was easy to talk to.^[183]

If the attack was not revenge for bullying, why did he shoot people? Though initial reports said he did not know the victims, it was later reported that he had known some since middle school and was even Facebook friends with them.^[184] The best guess as to a motive was that one of the victims was dating Lane’s former girlfriend.^[185] Lane walked over to the table where this boy was sitting and opened fire on him and his buddies. This may have been a crime of envy and resentment. These themes appear in a poem Lane wrote two months before his attack:

He was better than the rest, all those ones he detests, within their castles, so vain. Selfish and conceited. They couldn’t care less about the peasants they mistreated. They were in their own world, it was a joyous one too.^[186]

Lane clearly felt left out of the joyous world that others seemed to live in, and he was bitterly angry about it. His poem ends on a threatening note:

Now! Feel death, not just mocking you. Not just stalking you but inside of you. Wriggle and writhe. Feel smaller beneath my might. . . . Die, all of you.^[187]

* * *

Lane had two unusually violent parents, both of whom served time. It’s not clear how much violence he witnessed versus how much he experienced. Regardless, the instability of the household, his mother’s reported alcoholism, violent episodes with both parents, police intervention, and moving among multiple caregivers makes his life resemble those of other traumatized shooters. Unlike most traumatized shooters, however, Lane did not target any school personnel. Nor is there evidence that he discussed his attack plans with any peers.

COMMENTS

All ten traumatized secondary school shooters had overwhelmingly stressful lives, with physical abuse being common and sexual abuse occurring in four cases. At least eight grew up with parental substance abuse. Seven experienced frequent relocations. All of the shooters had fathers who were either absent or had severely impaired functioning. Seven of them had mothers who were absent or impaired to varying degrees. They all had family role models for violence, and at least five of them (six, if Eric Houston’s uncle used a gun when he murdered three men in a fight) had older male family members who were role models for the misuse of firearms.

According to Dr. James Garbarino, author of Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them, “Disruption in the basic relationships of the family figure[s] prominently in the lives of violent boys.”^[188] This was certainly the case with the traumatized shooters. Garbarino noted two patterns of influence involving fathers and violent boys: “(1) the presence of an abusive father and (2) the absence of a caring and resourceful father.”^[189] The traumatized shooters suffered both of these influences.

According to Garbarino, “Many of the boys involved in lethal violence lose their mothers for significant periods in their early years; some lose them permanently.”^[190] Evan Ramsey lost his mother to alcoholism. Jeffrey Weise lost his mother to alcoholism and brain damage. Eric Hainstock’s mother walked out of his life. T. J. Lane’s mother was unable to care for him, and he ended up with his grandparents.

One remarkable feature of the traumatized shooters is that at least seven out of ten targeted school personnel (nine, if Mitchell Johnson and Jeffrey Weise targeted the teachers they shot). In comparison, only one shooter targeted a bully, and one targeted family members. Despite the fact that at least five of the shooters were devastated by breakups, only Mitchell Johnson targeted a girl. T. J. Lane, however, apparently targeted a boy who was dating his ex-girlfriend.

Why shoot school personnel? Was this a displacement for the shooters’ rage against the abusive adults in their lives? It is noteworthy that all of them had violent adults in their families, but none of them shot a family member who abused them. Perhaps shooting a parent was simply taboo; maybe they displaced their rage from abuse at home onto adults at school.

In addition, at least seven talked to friends about their plans for rampages. In some cases, the friends’ apparent tacit approval may have been encouraging. In others, there was direct encouragement, such as with Evan Ramsey, or recruitment by a peer, as with Mitchell Johnson.

The attacks by the traumatized shooters were triggered by an accumulation of stressors, including breakups, legal troubles, disciplinary issues at school, academic failures, bullying, job loss, military rejection, impending relocations, and impending reunions with violent fathers. These recent stresses, on top of the shooters’ chaotic and violence-filled life histories, formed a deadly combination.

People of the State of California v. Eric Christopher Houston, S035190, Napa County Superior Court No. 14311 (2008), available online at http://www.schoolshooters.info. Unless otherwise noted, the information on Houston is from the court case cited here.

People of the State of California v. Eric Christopher Houston, 112.

People of the State of California v. Eric Christopher Houston, 113.

Jonathan Fast, Ceremonial Violence: A Psychological Explanation of School Shootings (New York: Overlook, 2008), 26.

People of the State of California v. Eric Christopher Houston, 100.

People of the State of California v. Eric Christopher Houston, 91.

People of the State of California v. Eric Christopher Houston, 84.

People of the State of California v. Eric Christopher Houston, 89.

People of the State of California v. Eric Christopher Houston, 79.

10.

Jerry Buckley, “The Tragedy in Room 108: An Angry Teen Killed His Teacher and Forever Changed a Kentucky Town,” US News & World Report, October 31, 1993, http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/1993/10/31/the-tragedy-in-room-108.

11.

Fast, Ceremonial Violence, 28.

12.

Fast, Ceremonial Violence, 28.

13.

Susan Reed, “Reading, Writing, and Murder,” People 39, no. 23, June 14, 1993, http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20110610,00.html.

14.

Fast, Ceremonial Violence, 28.

15.

Buckley, “The Tragedy in Room 108.”

16.

Buckley, “The Tragedy in Room 108.”

17.

Fast, Ceremonial Violence, 28.

18.

Lee Mueller, “Jurors Hear Tape of Pennington Confession,” Lexington Herald-Leader, February 17, 1995, B1.

19.

Mueller, “Jurors Hear Tape.”

20.

Mueller, “Jurors Hear Tape.”

21.

Chris Poore and Lee Mueller, “Move to Carter School Was Difficult for Teen,” Lexington Herald-Leader, January 21, 1993, A1.

22.

Fast, Ceremonial Violence, 28.

23.

Lee Mueller, “Pennington’s Teacher Was Told to Contact Police, Social Workers,” Lexington Herald-Leader, February 18, 1995, B1.

24.

Mueller, “Pennington’s Teacher.”

25.

Fast, Ceremonial Violence, 29.

26.

Buckley, “The Tragedy in Room 108.”

27.

Mueller, “Pennington’s Teacher.”

28.

Buckley, “The Tragedy in Room 108.”

29.

Buckley, “The Tragedy in Room 108.”

30.

Richard Meyer, “When the Shooting Stops,” Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2000, http://articles.latimes.com/2000/apr/22/news/ss-24169.

31.