Ohio High School Gunman in Recent Facebook Posting: 'Die, All of You'
A high school student accused of shooting five students at Chardon High School in Chardon, Ohio, this morning has been identified as a student named Thomas "T.J." Lane. The attack this morning injured four students and killed one, 16-year-old Daniel Parmertor.
A few students have described Lane as a "bullied outcast." He reportedly lived with his grandparents and took a bus from Chardon to Lake Academy, an alternative school for "at-risk" students in Willoughby, Ohio, every morning. Some reports say that Lane had written threatening messages on his Twitter feed in the past few weeks, and his alleged Facebook page includes a lengthy note about "mistreated peasants" that ended with, "Die all of you."
A Chardon junior named Nate Mueller told the Cleveland Plain Dealer today that Lane approached a cafeteria table where he and three other students—Russell King, Nick Walczak and Demetrius Hewlin—had been sitting and talking:
Nate said he heard a gunshot behind him. He turned and felt a sting on his ear.
"My friends were crawling on the floor, and one of my friends was bent over the table, and he was shot," Nate said. "It was almost like a firecracker went off. I turned around and saw [T.J.] standing with a gun and I saw him take a shot."
Nate, who has a scratch on his upper right ear, said he ran out of the building, hid behind a car and called 9-1-1.
Nate said his group was friends with T.J. through middle school, but in high school, T.J. went a separate way.
Russell, he said, had recently started dating T.J.'s ex-girlfriend, who is home-schooled.
"He was silent the whole time," said Nate, who was waiting for a bus to his culinary arts classes at Auburn Career Center. "That's what made it so random."
Lane's alleged Facebook page has already been searched for any warnings of the attack. The Daily Caller picked out this particular status, posted on Jan. 20. It has been shared more than 100 times on Facebook today, as Lane did not use any privacy settings for his wall:
In a time long since, a time of repent, The Renaissance. In a quaint lonely town, sits a man with a frown. No job. No family. No crown. His luck had run out. Lost and alone. The streets were his home. His thoughts would solely consist of "why do we exist?" His only company to confide in was the vermin in the street. He longed for only one thing, the world to bow at his feet. They too should feel his secret fear. The dismal drear. His pain had made him sincere. He was better than the rest, all those ones he detests, within their castles, so vain. Selfish and conceited. They couldn't care less about the peasents they mistreated. They were in their own world, it was a joyous one too. That castle, she stood just to do all she could to keep the peasents at bay, not the enemy away. They had no enemies in their filthy orgy. And in her, the castles every story, was just another chamber of Lucifer's Laboratory. The world is a sandbox for all the wretched sinners. They simply create what they want and make themselves the winners. But the true winner, he has nothing at all. Enduring the pain of waiting for that castle to fall. Through his good deeds, the rats and the fleas. He will have for what he pleads, through the eradication of disease. So, to the castle he proceeds, like an ominous breeze through the trees. "Stay back!" The Guards screamed as they were thrown to their knees. "Oh God, have mercy, please!" The castle, she gasped and then so imprisoned her breath, to the shallow confines of her fragile chest. I'm on the lamb but I ain't no sheep. I am Death. And you have always been the sod. So repulsive and so odd. You never even deserved the presence of God, and yet, I am here. Around your cradle I plod. Came on foot, without shod. How improper, how rude. However, they shall not mind the mud on my feet if there is blood on your sheet. Now! Feel death, not just mocking you. Not just stalking you but inside of you. Wriggle and writhe. Feel smaller beneath my might. Seizure in the Pestilence that is my scythe. Die, all of you.