In some ways MySpace is bad but in this case it may have saved a bunch of lives.
The teens planned to wear black trench coats and disable the school's camera system before starting the attack between noon and 1 p.m. Thursday, Norman said. Sheriff's deputies found guns, ammunition, knives and coded messages in the bedroom of one suspect and documents about firearms and references to Armageddon in two suspects' school lockers.
Apparently, they had been plotting since the beginning of the school year. Norman said school officials began investigating Tuesday after learning a threatening message had been posted on MySpace.com.
If not for MySpace or if these teens didn't have access to the internet they may have carried out this crime without tipping off the authorities. In this article they are already scapegoating video games as the culprit. I would bet you even money that they had Grand Theft Auto in their video game collections.
Norman also mentioned bullying and said investigators had learned the suspects liked violent video games.
While this is the real culprit though:
Ferneau and other students described the teen as a class clown who was often in trouble with the teachers.
He was an "oddball," student Trenton Berry told ABC. "Everybody picked on him and everything."
That is why people shouldn't pick on the "oddball" students because the next group of teen spree killers may not have time to chat on MySpace and just go into the next high school with guns blazing.
1 comment:
It always amazes me how quickly adults forget how pressured teen life is--especially now. Life is "video game" short and disposable for this generation of young adults because we (the 40 to 55 year olds) have failed at apt parenting and at adequate cultural transference. They kill themselves and are surprised at not getting another life, they seek out comic, high drama violence in the hope of finally leaving a legacy worthy of a parent's time and attention...they, in short, seek our hearts at all costs.
What struck me most about this case was the extreme age of the children involved and the personal anger of the would-be attack.
In a town of a mere 1600 people, you know whom you would kill, and could either put that aside and kill with a precision belied by your years (indicating sociopathy not found in children), or you wanted the intimacy of the kill and the interaction that death brings...either way a haunting image of young children seeking the last drops of attention from a society that has abandoned them.
I will continue to save those I can...
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