Geoff Bennett:
Students recounted ducking for cover in their classrooms as gunshots rang through the hallway. Within minutes, officials say, the shooter surrendered to school resource officers.
Questions remain about how the teenage gunman obtained an assault-style rifle, as more information emerges about his past encounters with law enforcement. In May 2023, the FBI traced online posts from an individual threatening to shoot up a middle school, according to multiple news reports. That led authorities to the youth, who was then 13. He denied making those comments.
His father insisted his son did not have access to hunting guns kept inside their house. Authorities alerted nearby schools to monitor him, but he was not arrested or further detained. In a home search yesterday, according to The New York Times, police found evidence that the gunman was — quote — “obsessed” with the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
He’s set to appear in court virtually tomorrow. Among his victims, two 14-year-old students, Mason Schermerhorn, whose family described him as a lighthearted teen and a lover of Disney World, Christian Angulo, whose friends called him a free spirit with a chill attitude, and two faculty members, 53-year-old Christina Irimie, a devoted math teacher described as patient and caring, and 39-year-old Richard Aspinwall. He also taught math and coached football as the team’s defensive coordinator.