OK, it’s not hard to understand why Dopers are focused on Northern Illinois University – seven dead, a couple dozen wounded, Mr Bus Guy’s daughter five minutes away from being one of the victims. (And I can imagine how that’s shaken her and him up!)
But there’s another school shooting story that has barely penetrated the consciousness of anyone here, based on posts – a link to it as part of a GQ answer. And that one really gets to me for a reason I’ll explain.
First, a real fast and objective-as-possible summary of what happened: In Oxnard, California (Ventura County), an eighth grader was shot in the head – twice – by another eighth grader. In class, in front of 20 other students. It happened in O.E. Green School – either a middle school or a junior high school, depending on which news report you read. The victim was Lawrence King; the alleged shooter Brandon McInerney. Both boys were either 14 or 15, again with reports giving each boy either age.
Lawrence openly avowed being gay, and dressed what I think is termed “femme” – high-heeled boots, wearing lipstick, nail polish, mascara. Though some news reports termed him a cross-dresser, the details are always what I’ve just given, not girls’/women’s clothing. So I’ll leave it to the gender-classification analysis wonks to define what that’s called. Classmates reportedly said that Lawrence and Brandon with a few other classmates had been in an argument the day before, relative to Lawrence’s sexual orientation. And that Lawrence’s being gay and how he dressed “skeeved Brandon out.” Lawrence had not lived with his parents but in Casa Pacifica, a local home for abused and neglected children. However, based on things people are not saying, it would be unwise to jump to conclusions about the parents – they were devastated by the killing, and according to a woman I know who I found out is friends with the mother, there were issues nobody was willing to make public leading to that placement.
At this point, Lawrence is completely dead – news reports earlier had listed him as brain dead but on life support while the family decided to donate his organs, which was done and the body removed from life support. The county prosecutor has said she will probably charge Brandon as an adult, with murder and use of a firearm in a homicide, and as a hate crime. There are lots of details not being given here.
One student at that school wrote in a comment to the L.A. Times coverage that he and his mother had sought to have the school install metal detectors, but that it had refused “because it didn’t want the kids to feel like they were being locked up.”
You can imagine the sorts of commentary this is getting, with every agenda imaginable being brought in. Questions that get to me: What was the atmosphere Lawrence had to deal with? How did Brandon get a gun and bring it into school? What caused him to kill Lawrence, and why? What might have prevented this, ideally without undue regimentation of anyone, and why wasn’t whatever that turns out to be done?
Now, what brings it home to me: As I’ve mentioned casually a couple of times, Barb and I are engaged in writing in a shared universe (amateur fiction, not book publishing). The plot line for one of our stories has us borrowing characters from a couple other authors to work with our own – SOP for that author group – an one of the ones we’re due to use is a gay early teen boy named Lawrence – who has gender identity issues and crossdresses from time to time. In other words, a fictional character who matches the victim here in name and sexuality/gender terms – differences of hair color and state of residence seem negligible. I’ve had this kid who’s been killed’s alter ego running around inside my head; I know how he acts and how he talks – I’m due to be writing about him. That’s really unnerving.
And, of course, there’s a second boy lost here, too. Brandon is not likely to see the light of day as a free man until at least middle age, if tried as an adult, and may be spending his entire life behind bars. What made him do it? What could have stopped him? What could have stopped him from wanting to do it?
No, it’s not a standard Pit rant. I haven’t vented righteous angerr at anyone. I haven’t resorted to scatology or the vocabulary for peculiar sexual practices. But dammit, I know that dead kid; he’s been running around in my mind, interacting with my characters. And I’m left with a sense of “What a waste!” For both boys.
Okay, tell me what I’m saying wrong here – that’s the chief purpose of the Pit these days, right?
