Sunday - January 15, 2006

Florida School Shooting Update

Surprise! Now we hear from the boy’s family ... and attorney. The father claims he tried to warn police and even went to the school to try to resolve the issue. The lawyer is doing most of the talking though. This bodes ill. My magic Ouija board tells me there will be a wrongful death lawsuit for millions in damage and a deputy will be fired. My gut tells me this boy’s father bears most of the responsibility for not having talked to his son and helping him through an adolescent crisis. Yet he will probably get a huge settlement from the county. Keep an eye on this one and let me know if I’m right ...

Lawyer: Teen Shot by Police Is Brain Dead
Pictured:
Family friend Jennings ‘Bucky’ Hurt (left)
and attorney Mark Nation. (right)
January 15, 2006, 4:49 AM EST
LONGWOOD, Fla. (AP)

The parents of a 15-year-old boy accused of terrorizing classmates with a pistol warned authorities the weapon likely was fake before police shot him in a middle school bathroom, a family attorney said Saturday. Christopher Penley, of Winter Springs, was accused of pulling a pellet gun in a classroom Friday and pointing it at other students. When he later raised the weapon at a deputy, a SWAT team member shot him, authorities said. Penley was clinically brain dead Saturday, said family attorney Mark Nation. “His organs are in the process of being harvested,” Nation said.

Officers who had responded to the 1,100-student school in suburban Orlando believed the gun was a Beretta 9mm, and didn’t learn until after the shooting that it was a pellet gun. The boy’s parents, Ralph and Donna Penley, were in contact with authorities during the incident and told them they believed Penley did not have a real gun, Nation said. Ralph Penley went to the school to attempt to talk his son out of the situation. “When he got to the school, they would not let him in and he was later told Christopher had been shot,” Nation said.

Sheriff’s officials Saturday did not return several calls from The Associated Press seeking comment on the lawyer’s allegations. Friends and investigators say Penley was bullied and emotionally distraught, and went to school that day expecting to die. Patrick Lafferty, a 15-year-old neighbor who has known Penley about six years, said he wasn’t surprised by what happened. He said Penley was a loner who “told me he wanted to kill himself dozens of times.”

“He would put his headphones on and walk up and down the street and he would work out a lot,” preferring to keep to himself, Lafferty said. Kelly Swofford, a family spokeswoman and neighbor of the boy’s parents, said the boy had run away from home several times. Her 11-year-old son, Jeffery Swofford, said Penley had said he had something planned. “He said `I hope I die today because I don’t really like my life,’” Jeffery Swofford said.

Maurice Cotey, 13, told WKMG-TV in Orlando that he struggled with Penley over the gun after everyone else left the classroom. “He got me towards the closet door, he turned me around, and ... started to point the gun at me, so I started to grab for it. And he pulled it away and then I grabbed for it one more time, .... twisted it and I pointed it at him.”

Cotey said after he put the gun to Penley’s legs, the gunman kicked him into the closet, where the two scuffled further, before Penley ran out of the classroom. The school went into lockdown. From there, Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said, Penley traversed the Milwee Middle School campus before ending up in a bathroom. By then, more than 40 officers, including SWAT and negotiators, were on scene. He refused to drop the firearm, Eslinger said, and was shot after pointing it at a SWAT deputy.

Jeffery Swofford said Penley had been in a disagreement with someone, allegedly over a girl. There was going to be a fight Friday, he said. “I heard a rumor that he had a BB gun, but I didn’t think he really had one,” he added.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/15/2006 at 05:07 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Insanity •  
• Comments (8) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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