Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

The casket of slain Chardon High School student Daniel Parmertor is carried to his gravesite in Chardon, Ohio on Saturday.

CHARDON, Ohio - Hundreds of people stood shoulder to shoulder along the street on a cold, windy Saturday morning to honor one of three teenagers killed in a high school shooting.

The service in Chardon for 16-year-old Daniel Parmertor is the first of the three funerals. Services for 16-year-old Demetrius Hewlin and 17-year-old Russell King Jr. will be held next week.

Parmertor's family said they planned to bury him with his first paycheck — still unopened — from his new job at a bowling alley, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

At the Mass, Danny's brother Dominic said, "Not only did I lose my brother, I lost my best friend. I don't want to wait 50 or 60 years to see you . . . . My life will never be the same," according to The Plain Dealer.

Tony Dejak / AP

Students walk after the burial of Daniel Parmertor at All Soul's Cemetery on Saturday, in Chardon, Ohio.

Those honoring the teen wore the school's colors of red and black and huddled in hoods, knit hats and blankets. They held U.S. flags and signs featuring red hearts and saying "We are One Heartbeat." Some expressed continued disbelief about the Monday attack.

Parmertor was remembered as a computer whiz and for his laugh and wit.

NBC affilate WKYC-TV reported members of the community were handing out food and water to each other before the funeral procession as mourners lined the street to show the Parmertor family their support.

Two other students were seriously wounded when a gunman opened fire in the cafeteria at Chardon High School, about 30 miles east of Cleveland. One remains in serious condition; a second has been released from the hospital.

The Mass was held at the Church of St. Mary across the street from the school complex where the attack occurred. It's the same church where thousands showed up for a vigil earlier this week.

On Friday, hundreds had waited hours in cold rain to pay respects to the teen at a funeral home in nearby Eastlake. He was to be buried at a Chardon cemetery.

Hearing for suspect next week
Charges filed in juvenile court accuse 17-year-old T.J. Lane of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and felonious assault. Lane's next hearing is Tuesday.

Chardon starts painful process of getting back to normal

Prosecutor David Joyce said the motive for the shooting remains unclear. He said the victims were selected randomly, and he called the suspect someone "who's not well."

Classes resumed at the 1,100-student school on Friday with police on hand.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

CHARDON, Ohio -- A 17-year-old youth was charged Thursday with three juvenile counts of aggravated murder in shooting that killed three students at a high school.

Thomas "T.J." Lane was accused of pulling out a semiautomatic pistol he had stolen from his uncle and opening fire in the Chardon High School cafeteria on Monday. Three boys were fatally wounded, and two other students were injured. One is still in the hospital.

Lane also faces two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of felonious assault.

The juvenile counts of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder would mean only a few years in detention if Lane is convicted. But the prosecutor has already said he plans to try the boy as an adult. That could mean life in prison if he is found guilty.

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A group of students and parents pray for victims of a school shooting on the square in Chardon, Ohio, Tuesday.

The high school shooting in Chardon, Ohio, that left three students dead culminated a month of bloody gun violence in America’s schools, but experts say it’s not necessarily indicative of a troubling trend.

At least four shootings of students have occurred in February in schools across the country. That spate may be mere coincidence. Research indicates killings on school grounds remain rare, and overall violence in schools has been declining in recent years.

The Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics last week released a study that says school-related violent deaths are at an all-time low since it began tracking such deaths in 1992, The Christian Science Monitor reported.   

The study, “Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2011,” reported 33 such deaths for the 2009-10 school year; of those, there were 17 homicides and one suicide of students ages 5-18. That translates to a rate of approximately one homicide or suicide of a school-aged youth at school per 2.7 million students enrolled, according to the study.

“Over all available survey years, the percentage of youth homicides occurring at school remained less than 2 percent of the total number of youth homicides, and the percentage of youth suicides occurring at school remained at less than 1 percent of the total number of youth suicides,” the study noted.

The study doesn’t shed much light specifically on school shootings, and there doesn’t seem to be a central, authoritative national clearinghouse for such data.

Report: Suspect in Oho school shooting from violent family
Third teen dies after school shooting
Trauma can last for months or years

Washington Ceasefire, a gun prohibition organization, says it has tracked more than 375 school shootings in the past 20 years on its SchoolShooting.org website. The vast majority of these have been nonfatal.

Ralph Fascitelli, the group’s board president, says although school shootings can happen anywhere they’re more likely to happen “if there are guns in the home.”

“If your kids don’t have access to guns then they can’t act on their impulse,” he told msnbc.com.

But Dave Workman, who edits the Second Amendment Foundation's Gun Week magazine, says it would be a fallacy to link home gun ownership to school shootings.

“We have 90 million people in the country who own 230 million firearms and yet school shootings are a relatively rare event. That doesn’t dismiss the fact that they are horrible, terrible tragedies but the fact that so many children grow up in homes where firearms are present tends to refute the claim that having a gun in house is going to contribute to school shootings,” he told msnbc.com.

Both sides agree that school shootings aren't bound by geography and can happen anywhere in the country. Chardon School Superintendent Joseph Bergant II echoed that sentiment.

“We’re not just any old place, Chardon,” Bergant said. “This is every place. As you’ve seen in the past, this can happen anywhere, proof of what we had yesterday.”

Other school shootings in February:

• A 9-year-old girl at an elementary school in Bremerton, Wash., is killed seriously wounded after a .45-caliber handgun fired accidentally from a backpack carried by a 9-year-old boy.
• A 14-year-old boy at an elementary school in Walpole, N.H., was hospitalized after shooting himself in the cafeteria
• Two teens wielding guns shot at a group of kids at a Murfreesboro, Tenn. , school. A 14-year-old was hit twice in the leg.

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Updated at 5:25 p.m. ET

CHARDON, Ohio -- The death toll in an Ohio high school shooting rose to three students Tuesday as the suspect, 17-year-old T.J. Lane, appeared at a preliminary hearing where a prosecutor said Lane had confessed to investigators and that he said he fired at students randomly.

A Cleveland hospital spokesperson said Demetrius Hewlin, who had been in critical condition, died Tuesday morning. That news came shortly after Chardon Police Chief Tim McKenna said Russell King Jr. was declared brain dead. Both were 17.

Another student, 16-year-old Daniel Parmertor, died hours after the Monday shooting, which sent Chardon High School students screaming through the halls and led teachers to lock down classrooms as they had practiced doing so many times during drills.

King and Parmertor were students at the nearby Auburn Career Center, a vocational school, and were waiting for a bus for their daily 15-minute ride when they were shot.

Lane on Tuesday appeared briefly before a juvenile court judge who ordered that he remain detained for at least 15 days and noted that prosecutors have until next Monday to charge the teen.

A prosecutor who spoke briefly before the judge said Lane had admitted firing 10 shots and that he said he did not know the victims and fired randomly. Two other teens were wounded; one remains hospitalized and the other was released on Tuesday.

When Lane exited in custody of police, he turned to his two aunts and his grandfather, who is his legal guardian, and said with emotion "I'm sorry I'm so sorry" as he clenched his jaw, appearing to hold back tears.

At a press conference after the hearing, Prosecutor David Joyce described Lane as "someone who's not well."

"This is not about bullying," he added. "This is not about drugs."

Monday night, Lane's family issued a statement through lawyer Bob Farinacci. "The family wanted me to convey to the citizens of Geauga County and Northeastern Ohio that the family is devastated by this most recent event," Farinacci said. "This is something that could never have been predicted. T.J.'s family has asked for some privacy while they try to understand how such a tragedy could have occurred and while they mourn this terrible loss for their community."

Shaken residents offered condolences and prayers to the families of those killed and wounded at 1,100-student Chardon High School in a suburb of Cleveland.

"This gets more tragic, the whole area is suffering, our prayers go up to God to give all strength, healing and closure," said one of hundreds of Facebook postings on a memorial page.

Meanwhile, the community offered grief counseling to students, staff and others at area schools.

"We're not just any old place, Chardon," Chardon School Superintendent Joseph Bergant II said. "This is every place. As you've seen in the past, this can happen anywhere, proof of what we had yesterday."

The police chief would shed no light on a motive.

"I feel sorry not only for that family but all the families that are affected by this," McKenna said. Characterizing himself as a "hometown boy," he added: "Chardon will take care of Chardon."

Danielle Samples, 16, a Chardon High student who was in the cafeteria at the time, told Reuters she heard a series of "pops" and someone yelled to run down the hallway into a classroom. While Samples was in the hall, she heard another round of pops.

Mark Duncan / AP

T.J. Lane, the suspect in Monday's shooting of five students at Chardon High School, is taken into juvenile court on Tuesday.

A student who saw the attack up close said it appeared that the gunman targeted a group of students sitting together and that one of those killed was gunned down while trying to duck under the cafeteria table.

Lane did not go to Chardon High, instead attending nearby Lake Academy, which is for students with academic or behavioral problems.

Danielle, the 16-year-old student, said Lane had been at Chardon's cafeteria waiting for a bus. She said he lived with his grandparents and sister.

Report: Teen suspect in Ohio shooting from violent family

Student in school shooting: ‘I went into panic mode’ 

Slideshow: Photos from Ohio school shooting

Fifteen-year-old Danny Komertz, who witnessed the shooting, said Lane was known as an outcast who had apparently been bullied. But others disputed that.

"Even though he was quiet, he still had friends," said Tyler Lillash, 16. "He was not bullied."

Farinacci, representing Lane and his family, told WKYC that Lane "pretty much sticks to himself but does have some friends and has never been in trouble over anything that we know about."

He added, "His grades are pretty impressive... He's a sophomore. He's been doubling up on his classes with the intent of graduating this May."

The entire school district was closed Monday and Tuesday.

"We want them to stay home and spend some time reflecting on family," an emotional Joseph Bergant, superintendent of Chardon schools, told a news conference.

He urged parents to hug and kiss their children, and he praised the actions of teachers, who had been through disaster training and acted quickly to protect the students.

The students who were shot were found at three different locations throughout the school.

Scene reportedly caught on tape
The chaos, which started in Chardon High School's cafeteria, was captured by school surveillance video, reported cleveland.com. According to a source who saw the video, Lane sat down at an empty table around 7:30 a.m. while students were studying and eating breakfast, and moments later, pulled out a .22-caliber handgun from a bag.

The video shows Lane walking from his table over to another table where King, Hewlin, and Nick Walczak, all juniors, were seated, reported cleveland.com. The video shows Lane raising his gun and shooting, reported cleveland.com. He then ran out the cafeteria door.

Frank Hall, an assistant football coach inside the cafeteria at the time, chased after him as students raced for shelter, reported cleveland.com. The video does not show Lane shooting his other victims.

Long before official word came of the attack, parents learned of the bloodshed from students via text message and cellphone and thronged the streets around the school, anxiously awaiting word on their children.

Chardon freshman Sofia Larkins, 14, was sitting with Lane's sister when the shooting began. "She didn't know anything," said Larkins. "She was surprised as anyone."

The two girls fled to a teachers' lounge when the shooting erupted, and began hearing talk that Lane was the shooter, Larkins said. His sister began crying. Larkins said school officials came to the lounge and took the sister away.

The mother of a student in Chardon, who asked not to be identified, said her son knew the accused gunman.

"My son's reaction was 'this doesn't surprise me.' T.J. was a nice sweet kid who was misunderstood and he probably cracked from being different," she said.

Chardon, the seat of Geauga County, is a town about 35 miles from Cleveland with a population of about 5,000, according to the U.S. Census and Chardon's website. The town, which describes itself as the center of the state's maple syrup industry, contains neatly restored brick buildings downtown.

The high school has about 1,100 students. 

The deadliest school shooting in the United States was a 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech that left 33 people dead. The worst high school shooting was a 1999 attack at Columbine High School in Colorado that killed 12 students and a teacher.

NBC News, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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The teen who authorities believe was behind a deadly shooting Monday in Chardon, Ohio, had violence in his life from early on, Cleveland's Plain Dealer newspaper reported.

Court records showed that Thomas Lane Jr., the father of suspect T.J. Lane, had been arrested several times for abusing women he had children with, including the teen's mother, the newspaper reported. The father had been warned to stay away from the teen's mother at least once, records reportedly showed.

Thomas Lane filed for divorce from the teen's mother in 2002 and later that year was charged with attempted murder, felonious assault and kidnapping, WKYC-TV cited court records as showing. He was convicted of felonious assault and sentenced to 5 years probation. It was not immediately clear what the charges stemmed from.

A juvenile court judge on Tuesday ordered that the teen be held for at least 15 days while prosecutors prepare to file charges.

T.J. Lane

It was not clear whether the teen and his father had any contact recently, the newspaper reported.

The suspect's family said through attorney Bob Farinacci Monday night that they were struggling to comprehend what had happened a day after the worst U.S. high school shooting in nearly a year.

"This is something that could never have been predicted. T.J.'s family has asked for some privacy while they try to understand how such a tragedy could have occurred and while they mourn this terrible loss for their community," the statement read.

Students at the high school outside of Cleveland were told to stay home Tuesday.

Officials believe Lane opened fire inside a high school cafeteria at the start of the classes on Monday, hitting five students. 

A prosecutor on Tuesday said Lane had confessed to the shootings and that he had aimed randomly.

Daniel Parmertor was killed instantly and on Tuesday officials said Demetrius Hewlin had died while Russell King Jr. was declared brain dead. Two others remain hospitalized.

"He had no emotion on his face, he was just shooting," a Chardon student told WKYC.

Travis Carver, another student present in the cafeteria at the time said the expression on the gunman's face was "straight determination."

The suspect was taken into custody near his car a half-mile from the suburban Cleveland school after football coach Frank Hall chased him from the building, according to FBI officials.

The motive for the shooting, which took place while students were studying and eating breakfast, remains a mystery. Fellow students told local media the suspect was a quiet loner who may have been bullied.

Lane was not a student at Chardon High School. He attended the nearby alternative school Lake Academy in Willoughby, which serves at-risk students. Students may have been referred to the school because of academic or behavioral problems.

'Good kid'
When asked about the suspect, his family's lawyer called him a "good kid."

"By all accounts T.J. is a fairly quiet and good kid. His grades are pretty impressive," Farinacci said. "He's a sophomore. He's been doubling up on his classes with the intent of graduating this May. He pretty much sticks to himself but does have some friends and has never been in trouble over anything that we know about."

Student in school shooting: ‘I went into panic mode’

Some fellow students called the 17-year-old quiet and sweet, although others said he had a temper, the Plain Dealer reported.

"He would never really talk about his family," Haley Kovacik said. "But you can always tell he had a very sad look in his eyes all the time. He usually just kept to himself."

Kovacik said she never saw him get bullied, but said it could have happened, as he was "very quiet."

"He never really stood up for himself very much," she said.

His now-deleted Facebook page showed one picture of him bare-chested and glaring at the camera and another behind a huge teddy bear that bore a heart and the words "Be Mine," according to the newspaper.

He listed "primitive hunting" among his interests, the newspaper reported.

The suspect's family said they were struggling to comprehend what had happened.

"The family wanted me to convey to the citizens of Geauga County and Northeastern Ohio that the family is devastated," Farinacci said in the statement late Monday. "They want to give their most heartfelt and sincere condolences to the family of the young man who passed and their continuing prayers are with all those who were injured."

Slideshow: Deathly school shooting in Ohio

The mother of a student in Chardon, who asked not to be identified, said her son knew the accused gunman.

"My son's reaction was 'this doesn't surprise me.' T.J. (Lane) was a nice sweet kid who was misunderstood and he probably cracked from being different," she said.

NBC News, Reuters The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Updated 11:15 p.m. ET: CHARDON, Ohio - A teen gunman opened fire inside a high school cafeteria at the start of the classes on Monday, killing one student and wounding four others, police said.

The suspect was taken into custody near his car a half-mile from the suburban Cleveland school after a teacher chased him from the building, according to FBI officials.

Police have not formally identified the suspected gunman, but students, parents of students and local media said his name was T.J. Lane, which was confirmed by NBC News.

FBI agent Scott Wilson would not comment on a possible motive for the attack.

Prayer vigils will be held at the school and several area churches Monday night for the victims of the shooting.

The injured students were rushed to area hospitals where a boy identified as Daniel Parmentor, 17, died at MetroHealth System in Cleveland. Parmentor, a high school junior, went to a nearby vocational school where he studied computer science, and was waiting in the cafeteria for a bus when the gunman opened fire.

"We are shocked by this senseless tragedy," said a statement from Parmentor's family, provided by MetroHealth. "Danny was a bright young boy who had a bright future ahead of him. The family is torn by this loss. We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time."

Two of the wounded were listed in critical condition, and another was in serious condition.

Police Chief Tim McKenna said authorities "have a lot of homework to do yet" in their investigation.

Bob Farinacci, who is representing Lane, read a statement on behalf of his family:

"They want to give their most heartfelt and sincere condolences to the family of the young man who passed and their continuing prayers are with all those who were injured. This is something that could never have been predicted. T.J.'s family has asked for some privacy while they try to understand how such a tragedy could have occurred and while they mourn this terrible loss for their community."

Farinacci added that Lane is a sophomore with "pretty impressive" grades who doubled up on classes this year to graduate by May.

"He pretty much sticks to himself but does have some friends and has never been in trouble over anything that we would know about," Farinacci said. 

Lane attended Lake Academy Alternative School for at-risk students that is operated out of the Lake County Educational Service Center, said Brian Bontempo, superintendent of the Lake County Educational Service Center, which operates the academy.

The Ohio shooting is the worst at a U.S. high school in 11 months and the worst in Ohio since late 2007, according to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Suspect in custody following Ohio school shooting

‘In shock’
Panicked students screamed and ran through the halls when gunfire broke out around 7:30 a.m. at the 1,100-student Chardon school, about an hour’s drive east of downtown Cleveland.

Freshman Danny Komertz, 15, said he saw one student who authorities say was killed trying to get under a table to protect himself and shield his face.

Komertz described the shooter as an outcast who had apparently been bullied.

Komertz says that there were at least 100 students in the cafeteria at the time and that most fled immediately as shots were fired.

Three of the male students shot were believed to be from Auburn Career Academy, a vocational school with 700 juniors and seniors, taken from 11 surrounding school districts including Chardon High School, Superintendent Maggie Lynch said. 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer identified the wounded students as Joy Rickers, 18, Nick Walczak, 17, Russell King, 17, and Demetrius Hewlin, 16.

The teacher who chased the gunman out of the school was identified by students as Frank Hall, an assistant football coach.

Nate Mueller, a student who said he was sitting in the cafeteria at a table with three of the victims, told WKYC.com that his ear was grazed by one of the bullets as he turned away from the gunman.

“He didn’t say anything the entire time. He took one shot, and then that’s when we looked to see what was happening because it sounded like a firecracker almost, and at that point I looked back, I saw him shoot -- which hit one of my other friends that was sitting at the table with us. And then, as I was turning around ... that’s when he hit me.”

Mueller said the shooting didn't seem real. "It all feels like a movie. ... I am sure tomorrow I’ll be devastated."

Sketchy reports emerge on alleged high school gunman

The gunman, who used a revolver, had been a friend of Mueller's until the end of junior high school. Mueller said at that point the gunman had entered a "gothic" phase.

“He still had friends. He was still a nice kid … we didn’t think he would hurt anybody,” he said.

“He was not like a jock, a popular kid," student Evan Erasmus told Channel 5. “He has friends, but he would be considered the outcast type."

Erasmus told Channel 5 that a student tweeted he was going to bring a gun to school but no one took him seriously. Other reports said it was a text.

Jonathan Sylak, a senior at the high school, said he never saw a text or tweet but had heard about it.

 “It is a nice, safe community, and from what we have observed, very little crime... But you never know what is going on in other people’s minds,” Sylak told MSNBC TV.

"I am still in shock,” Sylak said.

 Asked about the connection of the alleged shooter and the victims, Sylak said, “I don’t think it was random.”

“They were definitely targeted, I think,” he said.

‘Distraught’
Heather Ziska, 17, said she was in the cafeteria when she heard popping noises in the hall. She said she recognized the male student as he came into the cafeteria and started shooting.

She said she and several others immediately ran outside, while other friends ran into a middle school and others locked themselves in a teachers' lounge.

"Everybody just started running," said 17-year-old Megan Hennessy, who was in class when she heard loud noises. "Everyone was running and screaming down the hallway."

Police recovered a handgun and gave it to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for examination, that agency said.

A law enforcement source said the Geauga County sheriff's office and federal agents were executing search warrants in the case, but the official did not provide locations.

"I'm just distraught," Victoria, a Chardon High student, told Fox 8. She said the cafeteria wasn't crowded at the time of the shooting, adding that she knew the shooter, who is a junior.  Victoria said she saw him shoot another student in the back before she and a friend fled the area.

Chardon schools will be closed on Tuesday as a day of reflection following the shooting, Superintendent Joe Bergant said at an afternoon news briefing.

The school system in Chardon has received an excellent rating from the Ohio Department of Education for 10 consecutive years and draws students from a number of surrounding communities.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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