(Reuters) — A Washington state teenager who fired a gun inside his high school in an apparent attempt to provoke an on-campus guard into killing him made his first court appearance on Tuesday and was ordered held on $500,000 bail, officials said.
The 16-year-old student shot off two rounds from a revolver that struck the floor and ceiling inside a stairwell on Monday at North Thurston High School in Lacey, outside Olympia, Lacey police said. Nobody was hurt.
The teen appeared in a Thurston County courtroom represented by a public defender on Tuesday and will remain in a juvenile detention facility if he cannot post the bail, an official in the county prosecutor’s office said.
He will face weapons charges in coming days, the official said.
It was unclear how the boy intended to plead to the pending charges. Authorities have not released his name because he is a juvenile.
The teen told police after the incident he had no intention of hurting anyone, but had hoped discharging the gun on school grounds would force the armed officer on campus to shoot him, Lacey Police Commander Jim Mack said.
Mack said the boy had recently transferred to the school and faced bullying.
Archive for school security
(MSN.com) — At least two families of victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have filed a lawsuit against the town of Newtown and the school board, alleging lax security on the day 20 first-graders and six adults were shot and killed.
The 66-page lawsuit was given to a state marshal on Dec. 14, the last day under state statutes that legal action could be taken against the community, and recently served at the town clerk’s office.
The plaintiffs are the estates of slain students Noah Pozner and Jesse Lewis. The children’s parents, Leonard Pozner, Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, are the administrators. The families are represented by Norwalk attorney Donald Papcsy, a Sandy Hook resident, who could not be reached for comment Monday.
Adam Lanza shot his way into the Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012, and opened fire in two classrooms. Lanza entered the school by shooting through the front glass windows and entering near the school offices.
He killed school Principal Dawn Hochsprung and school psychologist Mary Sherlach before entering the classrooms. In one of those classrooms, substitute teacher Lauren Rousseau was unable to lock the door because she did not have a key.
Rousseau was assigned to the class shortly before school was set to open when the regular teacher called in sick. Rousseau tried to hide the students in a small bathroom but Lanza walked into the room and opened fire, killing all but one girl.
The lawsuit alleges that Rousseau “had neither a key to lock the door nor any knowledge of the … safety and security protocols rehearsed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in case an intruder or other dangerous individual gained access to the school.”
