Some of you may remember the post I shared last year about a charter school shooting. This post is a follow-up on that true-crime case.
A little backstory: The crime occurred at the end of a school year. A 16-year-old female student transitioning to be a male [boy] had been bullied to the point of deciding retaliation was the only answer. The [boy] emailed an 18-year-old friend, warning him to stay away from school the next day. You can read the earlier post at https://www.robinlyons.com/post/revenge-for-spreading-false-rumors
The next day, the friend tried to talk the [boy] out of his plan. The boy knew the friend’s parents had a gun safe with weapons inside. They trashed the house looking for the gun safe key. When they couldn’t find a key, they pried open the gun safe using an ax and a crowbar. Then they set fire to the friend’s mother’s car inside the garage and went to school armed with handguns, a rifle and ammunition.
The [boy] unloaded two handguns in a specific classroom. Before he could get a shot fired, a student jumped the friend . In doing so, the brave student received a fatal gunshot wound. When the [boy] ran from the classroom, a security guard disarmed him because he lacked experience with weapons and couldn’t work the safety on a 3rd handgun. The friends killed one student and injured eight others.
The [boy] pleaded guilty to 17 counts ranging from first-degree murder to crime-of-violence sentenced enhancers. The judge sentenced the 17-year-old to life in prison with the possibility of parole plus 38-years.
Since then, a jury convicted the friend on many counts, including three counts of first-degree felony murder for killing the one student. The judge sentenced him to two life in prison sentences without the possibility of parole plus many additional years.
At the friend’s sentencing, the judge said, “I haven’t seen and I haven’t heard that you’ve accepted responsibility for this. No sentence I impose is going to change that. That’s on you.”
Be sure to email me if you hear of a true-crime you think would be good in a book. I’ll research it, share it and possibly use it in one of my novels.
And if you are an author interested in true-crimes as inspiration for a plot, email me. I’m happy to share more information about this case.
Source: CBS Denver, The Colorado Sun, The Denver Post