• Ohio school shooter, wearing 'KILLER' T-shirt, sentenced to life in prison

    Pool/The News-Herald via AP

    T.J. Lane, wearing a "KILLER" T-shirt, smirks as he listens to the judge during sentencing on Tuesday in Chardon, Ohio.

    By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Editor's warning: This story contains graphic content. 

    An Ohio judge has sentenced T.J. Lane, the Ohio teen charged with shooting three students to death and wounding three others last February, to life in prison without the possibility of parole. 

    Lane showed up to his sentencing wearing a white T-shirt with the word "KILLER" in capital letters scrawled on it -- the same word police say he had emblazoned on his shirt the day of the shootings at Chardon High School.

    Lane, 18, pleaded guilty last month to all charges against him in the Feb. 27, 2012, shootings, in which he opened fire on a cafeteria table full of students in the rural community of Chardon.

    In a brief statement during his sentencing on Tuesday, Lane flipped his middle finger at people in the courtroom, which included family members of his victims, reported NBC affiliate WKYC.com. He revealed his "KILLER" T-shirt to the court once he was inside, taking off a blue button-down he had worn on the way in, the station reported.

    Pool / The News-Herald via AP

    T.J. Lane unbuttons his shirt during sentencing Tuesday in Chardon, Ohio.

    Three students -- Demetrius Hewlin, 16; Russell King Jr., 17; and Daniel Parmertor, 16 -- were killed last February. Nate Mueller and Joy Rickers were wounded, as was Nick Walczak, who is paralyzed from the waist down, according to Reuters. 

    Lane has not given a motive for the shootings, which rocked the tiny town 30 miles outside Cleveland. He gave only a short, defiant statement in the courtroom on Tuesday: "This hand that pulled the trigger that killed your sons now masturbates to the memory. F--- all of you."


    Gasps were heard in the courtroom as Lane then proceeded to stick up his middle finger at both his own relatives and those of his victims, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. Some people started crying.

    Geauga County Judge David Fuhry sentenced Lane to three life sentences without eligibility for parole for three counts of murder, plus 8 years for a fourth count of attempted aggravated murder, 6 years for a fifth count of attempted aggravated murder, and 6 years for a sixth count of felonious assault.

    In handing him the sentences, Fuhry said Lane lacked remorse for the killings. Lane was ruled mentally competent enough to stand trial last year despite evidence he suffers from hallucinations and psychosis. Fuhry said Tuesday that court examinations showed Lane faked mental illness and was such a smart student that he was set to graduate from high school early, Reuters reported. 

    The families of the boys who died in the shooting have attended every one of Lane’s court hearings, The Plain Dealer said. Other victims' family members also attended Tuesday's sentencing, and read statements to the court ahead of Lane's sentencing.

    "Because of you, our quiet little town will never be the same. Why? Why did you do it? Why?" Holly Walczak, mother of paralyzed victim Nick Walczak, said in court on Tuesday. Lane smiled as she read her statement, The Plain Dealer said.

    Dina Parmertor, mother of slain victim of Daniel, said, "I want you to be ensured years and years of pain, which in my opinion is not enough. You don’t deserve to take another breath while my 16-year-old son lies in the ground because of your cold, disgusting actions."

    "You’re a pathetic excuse for a human being. In fact, you're not even human. You’re a monster," she added, according to The Plain Dealer.

    Lane's sister, Sadie, who was in Chardon High School's cafeteria when her brother opened fire, also spoke on Tuesday, talking to reporters outside of the courthouse after the sentencing.

    "The brother in the courtroom and that did this is not the brother I knew," she said, offering her condolences to victims' families. 

    She described the moment she learned from a police officer who the shooter was last February. 

    “Along with other students, I heard the gunshots and screams, ran for my life, ducked under tables, hid in the teachers’ lounge, not knowing who the shooter was,” Sadie Lane said. "When those words hit me, I shook and cried and denied that all this could be true."

    She said she hoped for some good to come from the situation. 

    "It may be hard for some to understand, but I love my brother, and I hope he can touch other lives in a positive way," she said.

    Lane lived with his grandparents and attended an alternative school for students who haven't succeeded in traditional schools. He was waiting for the bus to his school from Chardon High when he began shooting from a .22-caliber semiautomatic Ruger handgun last February, according to police reports. 

    He was taken into custody a short distance from where the shootings happened.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

     

     

    This story was originally published on Tue Mar 19, 2013 8:59 AM EDT

  • Report: Alleged school gunman from violent family

    In rare situations, students who are isolated from their peers, and lose interest in activities they used to like doing, can sometimes become violent. NBC's Chris Jansing reports.

    By msnbc.com staff, NBC News and news services

    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."

    Terrified students turned to social media to console one another and find out more information. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

    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.

    Ian Sanborn and Travis Carver, who were both in the Chardon High School cafeteria when a teen gunman opened fire, talk to TODAY's Ann Curry about the harrowing experience.

    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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