West Long Branch, N.J. (The Verge) – 17-year-old, T.J Lane, accused of brutally murdering three students at Chardon High School in Ohio, was told by a judge this past Tuesday that he may be charged as an adult.
Lane has been charged with three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of felonious assault. He did not enter a plea in Juvenile court on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
The shooting rampage took place on Monday, February 27th, when Lane fired 10 shots with his .22 caliber pistol towards the Chardon High School cafeteria. He killed three students and wounded three.
Before the horrific incident took place, Lane was waiting for a school bus to pick him up at Chardon High School to bring him to the alternative school that he attended.
There are no definite motives, however, several students from Chardon High School told ABC reporters that Lane’s ex-girlfriend was dating one of the victims that he had killed.
Football coach, Frank Hall chased the young gunman out of the building to prevent him from firing any more rounds. “I don’t know why this happened, I only wish I could have done more. I am not a hero just a football coach and study hall teacher,” said Hall.
This has not been the first incident of violence from Lane. At 15-years-old, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after choking and punching another boy.
Monmouth University student, Kelli Ercolano believes that Lane should be tried as a juvenile since he is 17-years-old and that is what the law states. However, she questions, “I do not understand what goes wrong in someone’s life that they go to these extreme lengths to do harm to innocent people.”
School shootings can happen anywhere. It is a shame that nowadays students and faculty have to worry about violence on school grounds, but unfortunately this is the world we live in today.
It is very tragic but we should think about how we prevent school shootings.