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The news we most desperately did not want to hear about the Chardon High School shooting has arrived: There has been a death among one of the five students who were shot this morning in Ohio. It also looks like we may know who the shooter was. At least one Chardon High School student has identified the shooter as a teen named T.J. Lane although Lane's identity has not yet been confirmed. We also do not know if he is the suspect in police custody.
With these tragic updates, I almost can't bring myself to keep up with this story anymore. Looking away isn't going to change what's actually happened, of course. But wow, it's just really hard when young people die like this -- especially when it appears that they have died at the hands of another clearly troubled young person.
I know I'm not the only one who was hoping all five of the victims would recover from any gunshot wounds they suffered in the cafeteria today. However, with news of a death, this story of the Chardon shooting incident has gone from terrifying to horribly sad.
My heart goes out to the victim's family, especially the parents, who could never have imagined that they would be saying goodbye to their son or daughter for the last time this morning. And I'm sure everyone is wondering what they could have done differently. Supposedly, the shooter hinted via Twitter that he was going to bring a gun to the school. So what could other parents and school officials have done? We won't know until we learn more details.
According to Nate Mueller, the student who identified Lane as the shooter, T.J. attends a school for at-risk youth but formerly attended school with Chardon High students. Mueller also says one of his friends had been dating T.J.'s ex-girlfriend. Two of Nate's friends were among the five students shot. Was this a planned shooting over a love triangle? A parent of one of the students has also said the shooter had specific targets -- he was not just shooting randomly.
Oh, this is almost too much to bear. These high school students should not have had to face such a horrifc tragedy like this. Let's hope this first fatality is the last, and that they truly have the boy who is responsible in custody.
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Does it sound to you like the shooting may have been over a broken relationship?
Image via CNN
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