Fornits
General Interest => Open Free for All => Topic started by: 69 on December 16, 2006, 10:02:07 PM
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The father of the 16-year-old who killed himself inside his high school Tuesday over a less-than-satisfactory report card urged students at a candlelight vigil to listen to troubled classmates.
?You got to talk to anyone who has a problem and listen to the problem,? Halligan said. ?I?m not saying Shane did talk to anyone, but obviously, he had an issue.?
His son, Shane Halligan, died after he put what appeared to be an AK-47 to his chin and pulled the trigger in a hallway at Springfield Township High School in Montgomery County Tuesday morning.
"It's a very, very, very tough time," said John Halligan, the teen's father. "He was an Eagle Scout. He got it when he was 13. He was a volunteer fireman. He was going for his private pilot's license. He's talking National Guard. I don't know what happened today."
Shane Halligan, who would have turned 17 in February, is described as a good student, a volunteer firefighter and an Eagle Scout. Halligan had planned to go into the Army and his parents were going to let him take boot camp this summer before his senior year of high school.
Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor said it could have been the end of those hopes that sparked Tuesday's shooting. Halligan's grades had been dropping, and after his parents found a report card with grades they deemed unsatisfactory, the 16-year-old was told he would not be able to be a firefighter or go to boot camp early unless his grades improved.
His family said he took it well, watched football with them Monday night and nothing seemed unusual at breakfast Tuesday morning.
Then, around 9:15 a.m. between classes in a hall near the school science wing when the teen, wearing a Led Zeppelin T-shirt and blue jeans, pulled the semiautomatic rifle from his bag, warned students nearby to get down and get away and he started shooting into the ceiling, leaving huge craters in the cinder block walls.
"I just heard 'Get down,' and I saw shots fired into the ceiling, and so from that point, I just ran outside," one student told NBC 10.
"Teachers were just trying to get everybody out of the building, just trying to get away from the school. They said, 'Just get in your cars and leave,'" another student said.
None of the many students in the hall were injured.
"I just heard shooting, and we were running," student Jen Lynch said.
"Everyone was running and yelling. Someone was shooting. We ran. People were pushing everyone out of the way," student Mercy Eustace said.
Police said they responded almost immediately and were in the building when the final shot was fired into the boy's head. The coroner will do an autopsy Wednesday but confirmed that the death appears to be a suicide, according to Castor.
A note was found in Halligan's front pocket indicating that he intended to commit suicide.
"Today is the day that Montgomery County lost its innocence as it relates to school safety," Castor said. "We will have to convene the chiefs of police and the senior staff in the DA's office and the school administrators to figure out what we can do to try to make sure this doesn't happen again."
When the shots were fired, 911 was immediately called and the schools were put on lockdown.
The district attorney said it appears the gun came from a gun safe in the family home with multiple other firearms. The teen found some way to get the gun out of the safe, which is secured with two keys kept by his father John Halligan, Castor said.
"We don't know how it became it unlocked and how it got into his possession or when," John Halligan said.
"... We see this on the news and wonder how it happens. It doesn't happen to your family, but it did," the tearful father said.
After a student brought a handgun to school and showed it to classmates in September, school officials considered metal detectors, but felt it was an isolated incident and that detectors might not be the answer.
Police said they don't think the security measures would have made a difference.
"These campuses are not prisons," Police Chief Randall Hummel said. "If he was intent on doing this and there was a metal detector, I have no doubt that there would have been a way for him to get the weapon into the school and use it."
Castor suggests it may be impossible to stop someone intent on causing harm.
"I know how to make sure that we have no violence in schools, but you've got to wonder if the public is willing to pay the price of searches and metal detectors and clothing that is always tucked in, and no long coats, and no duffle bags and all of those sorts of things," Castor said. "America is built on freedom, and what we have to do is create an atmosphere where people don't do this rather than try to stop everything that can possibly happen."
Schools in the School District of Springfield Township will be closed Wednesday, following Tuesday's school shooting. The district will make counselors available to students and their families.
District Superintendent Dr. Roseanne Nyiri said Tuesday night they will explore all possible avenues to prevent guns from coming into the school, and that police will provide them with a lot of guidance.
Halligan's friends could not believe the teen killed himself. They said he was the funny guy in the crowd, the volunteer firefighter who couldn't wait to join the military -- an all around good guy. They wish they could have spoken to him in those final minutes.
"If he had gotten somebody to talk to, somebody he knew, I don't think he would have done anything. If he was confused, then we would have helped him," said friend James Andrews.
At Tuesday night's candlelight vigil outside the school, Oreland firefighters looked on and friends cried as Halligan's dad begged everyone not to let this kind of thing happen again.
?You think you know them, but obviously you don?t know what goes on behind their eyes,? Halligan said. ?I?m at a loss, I?m at a complete loss here.?
http://www.nbc10.com/news/10515720/deta ... i&psp=news (http://www.nbc10.com/news/10515720/detail.html?rss=phi&psp=news)
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***Halligan's grades had been dropping, and after his parents found a report card with grades they deemed unsatisfactory, the 16-year-old was told he would not be able to be a firefighter or go to boot camp early unless his grades improved.
Well, chalk another one up for Behavior Mod.
Why Administrators and Law Enforcement will never 'stop this from happening again'.
http://ishmael.com/Education/Writings/rice_u_2_98.shtml (http://ishmael.com/Education/Writings/rice_u_2_98.shtml)
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I kinda like this DA's and the cop's take on it. It's unusual to see cops not clamouring for more magic cop powder.
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Wow Deborah ...
Not sure I had the same take on this. I guess a child who lost some privileges due to falling grades who puts a gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger has some deep problems. I sincerely doubt that this loss of becoming a volunteer firefighter was the core cause of his problems.
I think it's a little harsh to point fingers at the parents. Trust me, they are doing enough of that themselves.
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Yeh, possibly wasn't the core cause. Could've been the culmination of a lifetime of trying to meet mom and dad's unrealistic expectations. What were the grades they considered "unsatisfactory"? Was the kid expected to perform at a level he couldn't/no longer wanted to maintain? Was BM used as a quick fix, or was there discussion? Is BM the best way to motivate a kid toward passion for learning? Lots of questions, ones that I might be asking myself. But the article suggests his suicide was directly related to his parents reaction to the report card they 'found', and the consequence he received.
Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor said it could have been the end of those hopes that sparked Tuesday's shooting. Halligan's grades had been dropping, and after his parents found a report card with grades they deemed unsatisfactory, the 16-year-old was told he would not be able to be a firefighter or go to boot camp early unless his grades improved.
His family said he took it well, watched football with them Monday night and nothing seemed unusual at breakfast Tuesday morning.
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I dont think any one thing can tip someone over the edge but i do wonder why a bootcamp would be the family answer to shitty grades.
Cutting back on exta curricular activities has a certain logic because i assume you would expect thekids to devote that time to their home work, but having a kid march around under a drill sargeant seems pretty retarded, afterall such places are anti intellectual by nature!
This is what i often fail to get. So called logical consequences which are completely irrational!
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I always found that smoking pot helped me focus, go figure...
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I think I read the same article ... maybe I'm not reading well enough between the lines ... but I didn't see anything about behavior mod or disciplinary boot camps (I assume this meant as in National Guard 'boot camp' ... not 'behavior modification boot camp'). The article I read said that the parents had imposed some consequences - "the 16-year-old was told he would not be able to be a firefighter or go to boot camp early unless his grades improved"
It is certainly possible that his parent's expectations were over the top, and they had consistently pressured him beyond his capabilities. It is also entirely possible that Shane was an over achieving, anal personality type as well. Perhaps a combination of both ... who knows. There is not enough information (IMHO) to draw immediate conclusions that this suicide was a result of poor (or over) parenting.
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After pledging to improve his falling grades, Shane Halligan ate breakfast with his family, went off to school, and took his own life.
The 11th-grader was an Eagle scout and volunteer firefighter who planned a career in the military. But the poor grades he brought home on his report card Monday led his parents to warn him to focus on school.
"The picture that's emerging is he was despondent over (the fact) his grades are down, his parents are taking appropriate steps to limit extracurricular activities to get the grades up, and he saw the things that he felt were important in his life being taken from him," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce L. Castor said.
After the family breakfast Tuesday, Halligan retrieved a rifle from a locked cabinet - his father kept the two keys - and found high-powered ammunition in the basement, Castor said.
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/ ... 224913.htm (http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/16224913.htm)
Castor said that a suicide note was found in the right front pocket of Halligan's jeans and that the suicide followed an argument with his parents Monday about falling grades on his report card.
"He felt that things he saw as important in his life were being taken away from him," Castor said.
Castor said that Halligan was told by his parents that if his grades did not improve he would have to cut back his hours as a volunteer fireman and would not be allowed to go to National Guard boot camp next summer
http://www.mydeathspace.com/article/200 ... lligan_(16 (http://www.mydeathspace.com/article/2006/12/13/Shane_Halligan_(16))_brought_a_gun_to_school_and_shot_himself_because_of_bad_grades
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oops. Misread this sorry!
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This is why i am constantly banging on about forgetting the kids damn bloody grades and concentrating on their happiness!!!
This has made me so F***ing angry! :flame:
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I can see why parents are big on the grades thing. After all a good education gives a prson more choices in life. Where I think the folly lies is making the penalty to take away something that the kid excells at ajnd which builds their self esteem in order to make them study harder.
I understand why a parent would put their foot down about the amount of time sepnt watching telly ot playing video games etc and making a kid cut back after a bad report. i cant understand banning a team sport or other such social activity. I also dont understand parents who are horrified and obsessed with forcing change when their over 18 kid decides that in spite of good grades they just want to be a waiter for a while. I think that by that stage the parent should butt out and learn to love their kid for who they are.
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I cant see why parents are big on the grades thing when it makes their kid unhappy and suicidal, burger flippers are alive kids, dead straight A students aren't exactly the most productive people in society!!
Still fuming :flame:
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There is an over-emphasis on grades. Let's face it. No one looks at your high-school transcript except for college enrollment people. Also, grades are not always a good indicator of future success. Two of the most successful people I know were college drop-outs.
When I entered college my Dad told me, "Get any degree you want. If you like the subject, you'll find a way to make money at it." My Dad taught high-school for over 40 years. He never got upset or punished me over grades. When they dropped, he would step in and help me with whatever subject was causing me trouble.
I might have made honor roll a bit over half the time, but my grades were never stellar. Both my parents were teachers and that never seemed to bother them.
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There is definitely an over emphasis on grades. my parents used to take away stuff that i liked to do as incentive to raise my grades. it hardly worked. but they also worked with me to bring up my grades.
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Bill gates dropped out of college to pursue the computing dream......
His parents must be so dissapointed in him, :(
Wonder if we'd have the Internets if he'd been sent on a program :-?
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my parents were big on grades in high school but like Ants if i was genuinely trying, they would go more for the extra help approach than punishment. i do agree that once you have gotten the kid to the point where they have been excepted by a university, this idea of continuing to try and run their life is pointless. At what point are they then seen as an autonomous adult who is loved independently of what they do to earn money if not after age 18?
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. At what point are they then seen as an autonomous adult who is loved independently of what they do to earn money if not after age 18?
Why wait until they are 18? Why not love them unconditionally from the date of birth? They are people who will go their own way no matter what.
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fair point. i kinda took it as a given that a parent would love a child unconditionally from birth. Iguess the difference to me is that i probably would want to emphasise to a kid that education is important without making it everything. i honestly believe that a good education gives a kid far greater choice so I understand how it can make otherwise reasonable parents fail to see the big picture.But ultimately i guess 18 seems a reasonable age to me for a parent to let gobecause this is a normal school leaving age for most kids so it is the next step in their life.
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Here they can leave school at 16, they are able to continue onto college until the age of 19 then it's University....
I wouldn't 'let go' completely at 16, because I think they're still babies at that age and the whole hormone eruption thing is going on
Some parents still have detachment issues when their child is 40 years old - I guess each child, each parent, knows when they can start to let the reins out according to the maturity level of their child
(means my boys will be living at home until they're 70!)