Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Teenager attempts school shooting in Missouri
By Juana Summers
The Maneater (U. Missouri)
10/10/2006

(U-WIRE) COLUMBIA, Mo. — A 13-year-old student armed with an assault rifle and clips of ammunition entered a Joplin middle school on Monday. No students or faculty were harmed in the altercation, according to a Joplin, Mo., police news release.

The seventh-grade student entered Memorial Middle School dressed in a green trench coat and camouflage clothing. He also carried a duffle bag containing a pellet gun and notes referencing bomb-making material and hand drawings of Memorial Middle School's layout. He was armed with a loaded MAC assault rifle, according to the release.

District Superintendent Jim Simpson held a news conference Monday afternoon in which he stated the police had yet to discover a motive in the shooting. Simpson also said there were no indications of the student's behavioral patterns to support any tendencies towards violent behavior.

School officials told police that the student asked the administrators to leave the area, and to "not make him do it," the release stated. Administrators present at the scene continued to attempt to calm the student.

The release stated the student fired one shot into the ceiling of the school. The bullet struck a water pipe, causing a leak.

After the shot was fired, officials left the area and called police from a school office.

According to the release, the student's gun jammed after the first shot and, despite attempts, the student was unable to fire additional shots.

Police were notified at 7:44 a.m. about the situation.

The release stated that the student ran out of the school and was found crouched down, about a half block away from the school with a backpack and the loaded MAC assault rifle on the ground next to him.

The student reached for the rifle when officers approached and ordered him to raise his hands.

After a brief pause, the student raised his hands and was taken into custody.

Lt. Geoff Jones of the Joplin Police Department said the student was taken to the Jasper County Juvenile Detention center, and his parents have been notified.

According to the release, after further investigation, police found cause to believe that there were explosives present in the school. Students and faculty were evacuated to a safe location.

Simpson published an open letter to parents of students in the school regarding the incident. The letter detailed the events of the day, as well as the findings of the police investigation. According to Simpson's letter, the school is expected to resume classes and extracurricular events today.

"The juvenile court will handle his case," Jones said on Monday. "The courts are closed today because of (Columbus Day), but they will be open tomorrow. The juvenile authorities did come in and assist us on the investigation. Since he's a juvenile, I'm not sure if we'll hear anything else."

Police also investigated the presence of a suspicious device in the suspect's front yard.

"It was harmless, an older military flare container," Jones said. "It was a pipe with threads on both ends so you can kind of see why we were concerned."

The Springfield Police Department's bomb squad was dispatched to investigate the incident, and all weapons have been seized from the student's home, Jones said.

The incident was the fourth school shooting in the United States within a week. Other shootings took place on Oct. 3 at an Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pa.; a Sept. 29 shooting at Cazenovia, Wis.; and a Sept. 27 shooting in Bailey, Colo.

[ Back to Student Voices ]