UPDATE: The Chardon High School Shooting in Ohio has left five students shot on Monday. A third student has died from his injuries. T.J. Lane, 17, is the alleged lone shooter of the students. Lane is now in police custody and will remain in a juvenile detention facility for the next fifteen day. Charges are expected to be filed against Lane on March 1st.
T.J. Lane admitted to police that he had taken a .22 caliber gun and a knife to the Chardon High School cafeteria on Monday. Lane opened fire at a group of students sitting at a table. He didn’t attend Chardon but a nearby Lake Academy for students with academic or behavorial problems.
Was Lane bullied or just “not well”? Danny Komertz, 15, who witnessed the shooting, said Lane was known as an outcast who had apparently been bullied. But others students disputed Komertz comments on that.
Another student Nate Mueller was sitting in the cafeteria where a bullet grazed his ear said Lane was “not well”. Lane shot one of the victims who had recently started dating his ex-girlfriend.
Lane’s grandfather has custody of him.
Was T.J. Lane simply “not well” or was his actions a result of being bullied? Mental health professionals, prosecutors, defenders, and the judge will have to make that determination.
The effects of bullying in schools can be severely detrimental. Bullying can result in serious emotional damage for years, and the children who are bullied are not the only ones who suffer. The bullies themselves suffer from emotional trauma which causes them to bully others. Bullying takes a variety of forms and in addition to emotional damage, bullying may also cause depression, stress, sickness, and even death.
The first step in dealing with bullying, is to first discover the causes of bullying. Many bullies engage in bullying as a way to draw attention to themselves and make themselves feel important. This is especially true in middle schools, where bullies are viewed as being popular and cool.
This causes other children to imitate bullying in order to reach a certain level of popularity. Bullies also desire control and power. Often, bullies perceive kids who are smarter then them as a threat. Dominating the perceived threat causes bullies to feel empowered.
The bully’s main goal is to provoke a reaction from the victims who are being bullied. Frequently, bullying is the result of a repetitive cycle of abuse. Bullies are often the victims of abuse at home, or they may learn certain forms of abuse from a family member. They may simply be repeating behavior that they’ve seen at home from a parent or sibling.
It has been said that the Chardon High School shooting in Ohio happened as a direct result of bullying. In this case, the gunman was a victim as well. He was described by students who knew him as a bullied outcast. Your child may not be a bully, but chances are your child knows a bully. Only by becoming aware will you be able to make a difference.
