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Cruiser's avatar

A 10 yr old kid shoots 6 classmates with a BB gun...what is wrong with this picture?

Asked by Cruiser (40454points) May 10th, 2011

This kid shoots a classmate when the teacher is not looking….she looks away and he hits another….then another. It is not till after class that a student tells the teacher what happened. WTH is wrong with these kids? My biggest question is why did they not say anything while it was happening? Who is to blame here and how should this kid be punished? What is it with Colorado, kids and guns?

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21 Answers

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RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

Difficult situation. Again, I believe parents should be held to a greater degree of accountability for the actions of the children they raise. Though no professional psychologist would ever dare recommend it, I believe there is a time and place where public shame may be worth considering.

john65pennington's avatar

I saw the video.

The very first thought that came to me is…...........why? Had the shot students given him a problem and he was fighting back the only way he knew how? Were these students selective by the 10 year old? Did all ten have something in common with the shooter?

The juvenile shooter definetely has problems. A child psychiarist will open the door to the problems this child is facing.

His family will need to be throroughly investigated to find a link in his and their behavior.

There is a lot more to this situation and hopefully the police will uncover his intentions.

And, thank God it was not a real weapon.

Coloma's avatar

How’d the kid manage to smuggle a bb gun into school to begin with?
It must have been a pistol type and not a rifle. You’d think, anyway!

The fact the kid chose to shoot classmates rather than maybe just bring it to school to show off is what really concerns me.

Sounds like a little sociopath in the makings.

Any 10 year old that was mentally and emotionally stable would NOT do this!

I hope someone intervenes and gets this kid help before it is too late.

I can only imagine what other horrible deeds he is doing like shooting pets and wildlife.

Cruiser's avatar

@noelleptc That was my initial reaction. Most BB-guns I have ever seen make a pretty loud noise so what was this teacher doing to not notice WTH was going on??

optimisticpessimist's avatar

Just an observation. I heard/saw no reference to parents in the article or video (I may have missed something.) The grandparent brought the child to the police station. I would be curious if his actions were a one-of or if he had a history of misbehavior. Bringing the ‘weapon’ to school and using it were obviously wrong and he knew it otherwise he would not have hidden it from the substitute; however, he may have thought it was a harmless practical joke. (I am not saying it was a harmless practical joke.)

@Cruiser My oldest son has an air soft (I think that is what it is called) pistol. It is not loud at all.

ucme's avatar

Apathy & incompetence sounds about right to these ears. Both from the teachers perspective & no doubt, from this kids parents.

Cruiser's avatar

@optimisticpessimist My kids have those too and fire it in your house as if it was a classroom and you will hear a pretty loud “pop” sound.

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optimisticpessimist's avatar

@Cruiser He only fires it outside so I have no perspective on in the classroom.

Cruiser's avatar

@noelleptc I am suspecting a complete moron…yet the school looks like it may be used to rough and tumble and just another day at school for these kids.

Blueroses's avatar

“He puts the blame not on the kid, but his parents.”
This line bothers me. Maybe there is something wrong in the kid’s home but there doesn’t necessarily have to be. 10 years is certainly old enough to know what he was doing, I knew plenty of assholes-in-training in the 4th grade. Everybody running around saying “I blame the parents” only teaches this child that he isn’t accountable for his own actions.

@Cruiser I used to live in this area. Jefferson County is extremely wealthy and Lakewood is hardly a ghetto. Not so much rough & tumble as spoiled rotten.

Facade's avatar

Why do kids even have BB guns? That’s not safe at all. I couldn’t even play with water guns as a child…

JLeslie's avatar

Children this age might know right from wrong, but do not necessarily understand consequences of their actions. I think kids are desensitized to violence nowadays. I wonder if BB guns are legal in that state? In MD I think it was illegal, not sure about the state I live in now.

The children I guess said nothing for the same reason people always don’t necessarily do the right thing, the dynamics of a group, or simple peer pressure, or if the child had a history of being a bully maybe the children were afraid. Kids don’t tell all of the time.

It is impossible to lay blame without knowing the entire background of the story. Had this child been in trouble before?

By the way it isn’t just Colorado we have gun incidence every year here in Memphis. It is unbelievable.

jaytkay's avatar

It must have been a pretty weak BB gun if the kids weren’t yelping enough to stop the classroom.

I agree the kid should be expelled, but this isn’t Columbine II.

As a former 12-year old BB gun duelist, I can tell you they sting but don’t necessarily even draw blood

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

I put many a birds eye out with my bb gun as a child. No doubt it could do the same to Sally three desks over. If my boy were in that classroom, he wouldn’t have told the teacher. He wouldn’t have asked the shooter to stop. He would have stood up, taken the toy gun away, and clobbered the little shit bastard to a pulp with it, and then kindly hand it back to him.

There are times, rare times, when backwoods justice serves society well enough to leave well enough alone.

Cruiser's avatar

This is what kids that age think is funny now maybe other kids there were in on this event???

Blueroses's avatar

Growing up, my friends and I all had BB airguns and very strict parental rules not to shoot at anything with a pulse unless we were prepared to eat what we shot. Not that it stopped us from aiming at each other with low-pump action in boy vs. girl wars but we were all bright enough to know taking guns to school was a piss-poor idea and I don’t remember ever being told that specifically.

Coloma's avatar

@Blueroses

Yep, and that is the way parents should handle bb guns with their kids.

I have a friend whose sons shot and killed a Canadian goose when they were about 10 & 12 in their ranch estate community with a private lake.

She had those boys eating that goose for days!

Roast goose, goose soup, goose stew…down to the last bowl of goose broth.

Despite their cries and protests they ate every bit of that poor bird and learned their lesson.

Good thing t wasn’t a cat or a skunk. lol

Berserker's avatar

Maybe the kids who saw but didn’t say got really frightened. It’s not like popping a sandwich bag and being told on by anyone who saw it was you. A BB gun can be a frightening looking thing to a little kid. When I was little, if something really scared me, my first reaction was to become invisible somehow.
I’m not sure who to blame. How was this kid able to bring that to school? Hiding it? I’m with @john65pennington on this one; why? I’d love to know what answer this boy may have given if he was asked why he did this. Judging on his answer, I might know who, or what, to blame. Very odd indeed.

BarnacleBill's avatar

And a 5th grader in Aurora CO shot classmates with an Airsoft pellet gun today as well.

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