EMT Found Son Wounded At Minn. School Shooting

[GalvestonDuck]

http://www.click2houston.com/news/2514290/detail.html

Victim Dies From Wound; Freshman, 15, Charged With 2nd-Degree Murder

COLD SPRING, Minn. -- When a firefighter found a second shooting victim near the weight room at Rocori High School, emergency medical technician Tom Rollins was the first to rush downstairs to give first aid.

To his horror, his son Aaron (pictured, left) lay mortally wounded near the bottom of the stairs.

Unable to stay, Tom Rollins returned up the stairs, and someone else was sent to help his 17-year-old son. Aaron Rollins died at a hospital a short time later. The shootings Wednesday also left freshman Seth Bartell, 14, in critical condition.

Fifteen-year-old John Jason McLaughlin was charged Friday with second-degree murder, and prosecutors say they are trying to have the suspect tried as an adult.

Aaron's wounds were so grievous he was sent to the hospital by ambulance; emergency workers gave Bartell (pictured, below left) the lone spot on the medical helicopter because he was considered more likely to survive.

The shooter is said to be the son of a Stearns County sheriff's deputy. By late Thursday, authorities had searched the school and McLaughlin's home, seizing three computers.

The St. Cloud Times quoted freshman Stephanie Stommes, a friend who had spent time with Bartell's family at the hospital, as saying he was able to sit up and move his arms. She said he was breathing on his own and could hear people talk to him, but couldn't talk back.

Flags flew at half-staff in front of the schools and city hall, which also houses the small town's library, fire and police departments. A sign in front of Cold Spring Floral said, "God be with Aaron and Seth." The high school was cleaned as it was readied for classes to resume on Friday.

It wasn't clear whether McLaughlin knew the two victims, and authorities refused to identify a motive. Superintendent Scott Staska noted that McLaughlin and Bartell had been in the same grade in the small school district "for some time." Some students who knew McLaughlin said he was the subject of teasing, in part because of severe acne.

Tim O'Malley, assistant superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said students were still being interviewed and he didn't want to influence their statements by suggesting a motive publicly.

Authorities on Thursday gave the first detailed account of the shooting:

O'Malley said the suspect took a .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol from a gym bag as he walked out of a swimming pool locker room. He fired two shots in a hallway outside the weight room in the basement, striking Rollins and Bartell.

One boy was about 10 feet away and the other about 50 feet, O'Malley said, though he wouldn't specify which was which. He said the distances could mean that one target was intentional, and the other accidental.

Bartell got up a flight of stairs. The shooter followed him, found him in the gymnasium and fired again. According to newspaper reports, the second shot was from close range, hitting the victim in the head.

Mark Johnson, a 27-year-teacher and coach, was getting ready for a gym class when he heard the last shot. He took a step toward the boy with the gun, but stopped when the boy raised it. Johnson, a tall man with a commanding voice, raised his right hand and shouted, "No!"

The boy with the gun emptied the bullets out of the gun and dropped it. Johnson grabbed the gun and the boy's left wrist and hauled him to the school office before returning to attend to the wounded Bartell.

"Very quiet," Johnson said of the trip to the office. "Didn't say a word. As I escorted him to the office, didn't say one word. He came with me very willingly."

O'Malley said it did not appear that McLaughlin was intent on a Columbine-style massacre.

"This was most likely not something that was designed to injure a whole bunch of students," O'Malley said. He also moved to quell a rumor that school officials had received some warning of an attack.

McLaughlin's attorney said his client is "overwhelmed by everything" and that his parents are "crushed." McLaughlin's parents have issued a statement in which they extend their deepest sympathies to the victims' families and say "the devastation that has been caused is irreparable."

Since the shooting, Johnson has been portrayed as a hero for intervening. At the news conference, he again downplayed the idea, saying a lot of people "would have done the same thing."

"He may very well have saved others' lives," O'Malley said. "I don't know."

Rollins' uncle, Russ Van Beck, read a statement Thursday on behalf of the family, thanking law enforcement and school officials for their quick response.

"Aaron was a terrific young man with a positive attitude and a great smile which we will all miss," Van Beck said. "We all know that Aaron would expect us to make something positive from this situation. We challenge everyone to help us achieve this outcome."

School officials said classes would resume at the high school on Friday. The Rocori district serves 2,673 students from the central Minnesota towns of Rockville, Cold Spring and Richmond, about 60 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
Donations to the Aaron Rollins Memorial Fund can be sent to: State Bank of Cold Spring, Box 415, Cold Spring, MN 56320; First National Bank of Cold Spring, Box 416, Cold Spring; and Wenner Funeral Home, 600 Red River Ave. S, Cold Spring.
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[blizzard]

That's a little too close to home. Goes to show that no-one is safe or exempt from this typoe of behavior. Sends chills up my spine thinking that this was so close to where I live.

[hunter84]

On an interview I saw on tv. A female student had said it was some teasing that got out of hand that was probably the motive. Very sad.

[Guest]

Scary times we live in. I can't imagine how his father felt when he realized it was his son laying there, mortally wounded. My heart goes out to them...

[Colin]

Very sad...this World gets worse every day.