17-year old Ohio boy attempts shooting suicide in school during class

A 17-year old boy had just started 1st period in his Cincinnati, Ohio, classroom, with 21 other students in his private Catholic school, when he pulled out a gun, put it to his right temple, and pulled the trigger.

The boy is now in critical condition.  No one else was injured.

The boy was a star pupil.

From an article:

Green Township police said there were at least 21 other students in the first-period classroom Monday morning at the all-male Catholic school west of Cincinnati. Teacher Michael Holman told police he was at his desk when he heard yelling, then saw the youth struggle briefly with the handgun, put it to his right temple and fire. 

He "discharged one round into his head," the police report stated. 

The student is a junior and an honors student. He made the top honor roll on the most recent academic report and has been active in Boy Scouts. School spokesman Greg Tankersley said he has an extensive record of community service, and has been "highly involved" in school life. .... 

Green Township police were investigating how the boy obtained what they described only as a semi-automatic handgun.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Teen North Dakota boy attempts suicide in class

A teen boy walked to the front of his study hall class in Fairmount, North Dakota, apologized, then shot himself in the side of his face with a handgun in front of his seven classmates and teacher, in an attempted suicide.  The teacher administered first aid, and the school went on lockdown.  None of the other 120 students in the little school were injured.

The boy is expected to recover.

From an article and news video:

"As far as I know, he's a well-behaved, good kid," the mayor said. "We're a rural area, but guns are not commonplace."

The shooting was "an isolated incident" for the town, Nelk said.

"I'm sure when we sit down this evening and start playing it back, we'll try to figure out what could have possibly happened and why this happened," Nelk said. "It's a very tight community.

"I've had a lot of conversations with parents and some students. They're quite worried and hoping that our prayers go out to the child and the family and the friends," the mayor said.

A teacher provided first-aid to the boy, and the school went into lockdown shortly after the 8:40 a.m. shooting, Townsend said.

An alert system called all parents, and school was canceled for the day, Townsend said.

School will resume Friday, when counselors will be on hand, the principal said.

The reports don't say how the boy got the gun.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

15-year old Oregon boy attempts to get cop's gun to commit "suicide-by-cop"

Police attempted to stop a 15-year old boy who was riding a bike down a Springfield, Oregon street at 2AM, after curfew.  The boy fled, but was eventually tracked down with the help of a K9 unit.  When the police officer tried approached the boy, the boy tried to take the gun, yelling "Just shoot me!" and hoping to be shot in response.  The boy was controlled using the dog and taken into custody without a shooting occurring.

From an article:

The incident started with a 15-year-old riding his bike along Harlow road in Springfield early Friday morning. He was riding without a headlight after curfew. At around 2:40 a.m. a Springfield Police officer pulled up next to the youth and asked him to stop. The boy fled into a nearby apartment complex and temporarily lost the officer. 

A K9 unit responded to the scene to help the officer search for the rider. The K9, Bronko, was able to pick up the rider's scent and followed him to a field off of Laura Street. The officers found the boy's abandoned bike in the field. 

The team followed the rider's scent to some berry bushes, where they muzzled Bronko and sent him into the brush to find the boy. Bronko soon began barking to alert the officers that he has found the rider. 

When officers found the boy, he was pushing Bronko away from him. The K9 officer challenged the teen, who fled further into the bushes. 

The officer finally reached the boy, who began grabbing at the officer's gun, yelling "just shoot me!". The officer de-muzzled Bronko and ordered him to bite the youth. He was unresponsive to the dog's bites. 

The officers and Bronko eventually get control of the boy and put him in handcuffs.
After he was detained the teen said he was grabbing at the officer's gun to shoot one of the officers, in the hopes that the other would shoot him. 

The boy was taken to the SERBU youth center on multiple charges including possession of marijuana, a probation violation, two counts of harassment on police, resisting arrest and interfering with a police animal.

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15-year old Arizona boy shot in leg during "suicide by cop" attempt

A 15-year old boy in Surprise, Arizona, near Phoenix, apparently called for police and then appeared to them with a rifle when they responded.  He raised the weapon, in an apparent "suicide by cop" attempt, and was shot at least once in the leg.

From the article:

Shortly after 9 a.m., police received an emergency call about a person with a rifle who was in the backyard of a house.

Based on evidence on scene and statements made by the teen, they determined he was the one who called police and requested an officer, police say.

Two officers arrived and were immediately "confronted" by a juvenile holding a rifle, Anzini said.

The officers repeatedly told the teenager to drop the weapon. The teenager, who lives at the residence, ignored the officers' commands. The youth eventually pointed the rifle at the officers, Anzini said. The officers fired at him and struck the teen at least once. It is unclear how many times he was shot, the police spokesman said.

The teeanger was taken to John C. Lincoln Deer Valley Hospital, Fire Department spokeswoman Renee Hamblin said.

An adult male, who may be an older sibling of the teenager, was home at the time of the shooting, police say.

The police say it is unclear whether or not drugs or alcohol may have been involved in the incident.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

Follow up to 14 year old New Hampshire boy who shot himself in school cafeteria

A school shooting affects the entire community in which it happens. In a small New Hampshire town, a 14 year old boy shot himself in an alleged attempted suicide in front of his peers in the school cafeteria. We wrote about it previously. Now the whole town is trying to deal with this tragedy. This article highlights how difficult it is to come to terms with something so senseless and violent.

A 14-year-old student at the school, which serves grades 5 through 8, shot himself in the cafeteria yesterday as his peers looked on. The student, who relatives and residents identified as Hunter Mack, remains hospitalized. His condition was reported as serious on Friday, but officials today declined to give an update.

“It certainly has been a tragedy for us,” said Fall Mountain Regional School District superintendent Debra Livingston. “We’re healing. We’re a very close-knit community, and we respect the people that have offered us their thoughts.”

Further, the investigation continues as to how something like this could have happened. Finding explanations may lead to some thought provoking discussion about how children get their hands on guns in the first place.

Heed said he could not discuss how Mack obtained the gun and that it was too early to speculate about whether charges could be filed in the case.

David Edkins, who moderates the district’s annual school meeting, said the family was well-known in Walpole, a town of 3,700 residents, where “everybody knows everybody.”

“It’s absolutely tragic,” Edkins said. “They’re a longtime Walpole family, been there for several generations at least.”

Edkins said Hunter was a “nice kid,” and that the family enjoyed hunting.

“The old-time New England families, they learn to hunt early,” Edkins said. He called the family “responsible hunters.”

It is clear from our first story about this incident that this boy was having problems with depression. That, too, should be part of the community discussion. Mental illness in children and teens and guns do not go together. Attempts to deal with these issues can not be separated from each other.

Every gun in the hands of a child must first pass through the hands of an adult.

14 year old boy shoots himself in face at school in front of friends

How could this be worse? A 14 year old New Hampshire boy shot himself in the face in the school cafeteria with friends looking on. From the story:

Ethan Symonds, a seventh-grader who was sitting at a table near the boy in the cafeteria, said he heard something "a little bit louder than a chip bag popping." He said he did a double-take, saw blood, and ran.

Seventy of the school's approximately 170 students were in the cafeteria at the time. Nick Phillips, an eighth-grader in the student's home room, said he had been passing notes during the week saying he was depressed, but it wasn't clear why.

The boy is in serious condition. His friends and the school must be traumatized. There are problems with children and teen depression all over our country. When that is combined with easy access of guns, it can lead to tragedy. Every gun in the hands of a child first goes through the hands of an adult.

UPDATE (2/12/12):  A follow-up posting.