Cincinnati School Shooting: La Salle High School Student Shoots Self Inside Classroom

Authorities in Ohio responded to reports that a student pulled a gun and shot himself inside a classroom Monday morning, 10TV reports.
Administrators placed La Salle High School in Cincinnati on lockdown and all students were escorted to the gymnasium following the incident, according to WKRC. There is currently no active threat.
The Hamilton County sheriff's office said that the student was rushed to a hospital with a self-inflicted wound, according to the Associated Press.
More from the Associated Press:

By DAN SEWELL CINCINNATI — A student at an all-male parochial high school pulled out a gun in a classroom Monday morning and shot himself in an apparent suicide attempt, police said.
The youth was taken to a hospital, and there appeared to be no threat to other students at La Salle High School, a private school west of Cincinnati that was immediately put on lockdown as a precaution, police said.
At around 8 a.m., "a student produced a gun inside one of the classrooms and shot himself, and we're dealing with that now," Green Township Police Chief Bart West told reporters. School officials said the shooting was during the first class period of the day.
West said the student apparently was trying to kill himself, but he had no other information on why he fired the shot. He said authorities weren't aware of any threats made concerning the school or any other students. Authorities said all other students were safe.
Students, some in tears, gathered in the school gym, and school officials said they were organizing an orderly dismissal as parents came to pick them up.
A school official said counselors were meeting with students, and officials were talking to students to try to learn more about the student who fired the shot.
"We just ask that you pray for him and his family," said Greg Tankersley, La Salle's director of community development. "It's a tragic situation for this young man."
He said the youth was "fighting for his life." A message was left at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center about the student's condition.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese sent additional counselors to the school, he said, and a priest went to the hospital where the student was taken. Tankersley said he wouldn't release other information about the student at this point.
In the aftermath of last year's fatal shootings of three students in Chardon High School in northeast Ohio and December's Sandy Hook Elementary shooting rampage in Connecticut, most schools have taken steps to increase security. In Ohio, that's included taking shooting prevention and response training courses offered by the state attorney general and updating safety procedures with police.
"We always have concerns about school security," West said, but he added that La Salle "did an excellent job" in responding Monday. He said township police had met recently with school officials to review their safety plan.
"We're going to go back and look at everything," Tankersley replied when asked about a gun getting into the school. But he added that Monday's top priority was the condition of the wounded student and the well-being of the others.

T.J. Lane Life Sentence: Chardon High School Shooter Appears In Court Wearing 'KILLER' T-Shirt

T.J. Lane, who appeared in court Tuesday morning wearing a t-shirt with the word "KILLER" in marker across his chest, will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of three teenagers at an Ohio high school.
Going against the recommendation of his counsel, Lane addressed the courtroom before learning his fate. He smiled periodically and showed little remorse for his actions.
"F--- all of you," he said, before raising his middle finger at the victims' families, according to the Plain Dealer.
On Feb. 27, 2012, Lane, then 17, entered Chardon High School, east of Cleveland and opened fire, killing Daniel Parmertor and Demetrius Hewlin, both 16, and Russell King Jr., 17. Three other students were wounded.
Nearly one year later, Lane pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of felonious assault.
Lane received three life sentences without the possibility of parole. Because he was a juvenile at the time of the incident, Lane could not face the death penalty.

 

CHARDON, Ohio (AP) — Wearing a T-shirt with "killer" scrawled across it, a teenager cursed and gestured obscenely as he was given three life sentences Tuesday for shooting to death three students in an Ohio high school cafeteria.
T.J. Lane, 18, had pleaded guilty last month to shooting at students in February 2012 at Chardon High School, east of Cleveland. Investigators have said he admitted to the shooting but said he didn't know why he did it.
Before the case went to adult court last year, a juvenile court judge ruled that Lane was mentally competent to stand trial despite evidence he suffers from hallucinations, psychosis and fantasies.

Lane was defiant during the sentencing, smiling and smirking throughout, including while four relatives of victims spoke.    
After he came in, he calmly unbuttoned his blue dress shirt to reveal the T-shirt reading "killer," which the prosecutor noted was similar to one he wore during the shooting.
At one point, he swiveled around in his chair toward the gallery where his own family members and those of the slain teenagers were sitting and spoke suddenly, surprising even his lawyer.
"The hand that pulls the trigger that killed your sons now masturbates to the memory," he said, then cursed at and raised his middle finger toward the victims' relatives.
A student who was wounded in the rampage dismissed the outburst.
"He said it like a scared little boy and couldn't talk slow enough that anyone could understand him," said Nate Mueller, who was nicked in the ear in the shooting.
Dina Parmertor, mother of victim Daniel, called Lane "a pathetic excuse for a human being" and wished upon him "an extremely, slow torturous death." She said she has nightmares and her family has been physically sick over the crimes.
"From now on, he will only be a killer," she said, as Lane's smile widened. "I want him to feel my anger toward him."
Prosecutors say Lane took a .22-caliber pistol and a knife to the school and fired 10 shots at a group of students in the cafeteria. Daniel Parmertor and Demetrius Hewlin, both 16, and Russell King Jr., 17, were killed.
Lane was at Chardon waiting for a bus to the alternative school he attended, for students who haven't done well in traditional settings.
Lane had pleaded guilty last month to three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of felonious assault.
Life imprisonment without parole was the maximum sentence Lane faced. He wasn't eligible for the death penalty because he was 17 at the time of the shootings. Relatives of the slain students indicated earlier they wanted Lane to get the maximum sentence.