Sad story from Dowagiac, MI

[Dobber]

Looks like this kid was camping out in the woods next to his old school at about 05:30. The story thus far goes that the kid was pulled for this year to be home schooled. Custodian saw a kid skulking that early and was suspicious. Principal approached close enough to see this kid had a gun. Kid took off into the woods and police ended up pursuing. How the kid was shot and killed has been changing throughout the day. The current story is a self-inflicted GSW.

STRICTLY SPECULATION:
I kind of wonder if he was pulled from enrollment following some bullying or something and maybe he was hoping to catch some old "friends" walking into school this AM. Who knows.

This definitely isn't a situation ripe for sarcasm but here it goes anyway:
I sure wish he would have been informed of the laws about possession of firearms on school property. This may have never happened.

-Dobber

Dowagiac schools close after former student approaches principal with gun

 

[Bigtanker]

It is very sad. But if his goal was to take a few other people with him, at least he did not succeed. My prayers to his family.

 

[churchmouse]

I was bullied daily growing up. If I made it a day without being shoved, punched, books knocked out of hands etc it was like Christmas. I finally had enough and retaliated with my with like force and fists if need be. There were always more than 1 of them.
I never ever wanted to lay in ambush and shoot anyone. This mindset is something new to me with all the school shootings.
Apparently the schools are failing to teach or give away self esteem. Also some fail on parents in a lot of this.
I can only speculate as to this young mans motivations and how he was out of the house camping by the school???
These are troubled times.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I was bullied daily growing up. If I made it a day without being shoved, punched, books knocked out of hands etc it was like Christmas. I finally had enough and retaliated with my with like force and fists if need be. There were always more than 1 of them.
I never ever wanted to lay in ambush and shoot anyone. This mindset is something new to me with all the school shootings.
Apparently the schools are failing to teach or give away self esteem. Also some fail on parents in a lot of this.
I can only speculate as to this young mans motivations and how he was out of the house camping by the school???
These are troubled times.

Same story, different bullying target and I agree. How these kids today are feeling the need to go this far is beyond me.

 

[Nim]

Story caught my eye as I have a cousin who lies in that area.

Sad that a Middle schooler would shoot himself over something like this.

If there was bullying, they need to be dealt with as well but not before a student feels the need to take things into their own hands.

 

[HoughMade]

I am originally from Cass County, MI, but Edwardsburg, not Dowagiac. However Cass County is sparsely enough populated that a story like this hits way, way too close to home.

Sad story all the way around.

 

[Bill B]

I went Dowagiac ("dog patch") public schools after quitting a private school..

 

[Pitmaster]

I suspect the real issue behind home-schooling in this issue is that the family/kids were a behavior problem at the schools and the parents pulled them. I'm speculating a little but I have experience in this area with the schools, mental health, and the legal system.

Bullying would be my second theory. Either way its a failure of parental responsibility and at least one of the other systems. Maybe all of them combined.

 

[CathyInBlue]

In my experience, my bullies were always, ALWAYS, coddled and protected by the administration, and each and every time I reported being bullied, I was always, ALWAYS, the one punished; even more severely if I dared to strike back at those who were bullying me. It sometimes surprises me that I never got a gun to lay in wait, but I never did. Thought never even occurred to me. I just tried to armor up to protect myself from the punches and kicks.

I guarantee you for every one of the bullied kids that snapped and did, or tried to, commit a mass shooting at a school, there is an administration rife with adults who ignored his pleas for safety on school grounds and Just. Didn't. Care.

That is, of course, orthogonal to cases like Columbine, where the doers WERE the bullies and just wanted to up the ante.[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre#Bullying

 

[lucky4034]

I was bullied daily growing up. If I made it a day without being shoved, punched, books knocked out of hands etc it was like Christmas. I finally had enough and retaliated with my with like force and fists if need be. There were always more than 1 of them.
I never ever wanted to lay in ambush and shoot anyone. This mindset is something new to me with all the school shootings.
Apparently the schools are failing to teach or give away self esteem. Also some fail on parents in a lot of this.
I can only speculate as to this young mans motivations and how he was out of the house camping by the school???
These are troubled times.

Thats because back then society didn't deem you a victim... they deemed you a wussy.... We create victims now instead of teaching kids to stand up for themselves. I was bullied too a few times and it made me a wiser person.

(not intended to be mean... but that is how society/peers looked at it back then)


.... on a side note... I'm a Cass Co. kid too (Cassopolis). Funny to see so many people from that ****ty place smartened up and high tailed it to Indiana lol

 

[ghuns]

Back in ye-olden days, when a bully pushed too far, some kid would fight back and kick his arse. Teachers would sit back and silently cheer the bullied kid on and step in before things got out of hand.

Now we have a zero tolerance, use your words not your fist culture that would punish the bullied kid as if he did something wrong.

I think some kids, who have never been allowed to show any form of aggression, build up negative feelings to a point where they just snap and go way over the top. They have no understanding of what the proper amount of aggression for a given set of circumstances looks like.

You can blame it on the feminist movement, the failure of public schools, our litigious society, ADHD medication, childhood immunizations, Hollywood, video games, etc, but what it comes down to is a failure on the part of parents to be able, or willing, to objectively look at their kids and know if they are "ok" or if they need some serious help.

I am originally from Cass County, MI, but Edwardsburg

on a side note... I'm a Cass Co. kid too (Cassopolis).

Michi-billies! That explains a lot

Working in Elkhart, right along the toll road, I am in daily contact with your people. Both at work, and on the roads.

 

[1775usmarine]

I was bullied daily growing up. If I made it a day without being shoved, punched, books knocked out of hands etc it was like Christmas. I finally had enough and retaliated with my with like force and fists if need be. There were always more than 1 of them.
I never ever wanted to lay in ambush and shoot anyone. This mindset is something new to me with all the school shootings.
Apparently the schools are failing to teach or give away self esteem. Also some fail on parents in a lot of this.
I can only speculate as to this young mans motivations and how he was out of the house camping by the school???
These are troubled times.

I agree I had a brain tumor when I was 7 and obviously there is a giant horseshoe scar on the side of my head. I was made fun of throughout my childhood, and what not, but not once did I think about killing myself or killing others.
It seems like nobody cares about the children anymore. teaching them right from wrong, a proper education, some physical fitness, and just plain talking to them like a parent instead of a childhood friend. Now everybody needs to be coddled through life or medicated for no reason.
Life aint fair and its rough sometimes, but if we had decent schools like we did, parents who were actually parents, a country that wasn't so out of focus, and people who wouldn't try to find an excuse for their problems/behavior this country would of continued running strong.
As for me I enlisted in the Corps out of high school, did two tours in Iraq, saw many countries, got out went to school, work for the railroad, got married, and own a home. Yet I see many of my peers still wasting life away living at home with parents, finding excuses for their problems, and not realizing they have become zombies to what the media and corporations tell them. In the end who's laughing now?

 

[YoungGunLover]

Thought I would throw in my opinion on bullying. I'll admit it, I was the opposite of you guys, I was the one doing more bullying than receiving it. But just to clarify, I never punched or physically hurt people. I know words can be hurtful, but it's different. What people say about administrators are to an extent correct. I never got a detention in high school. I knew all the administrators from vice principal through superintendent and some were family friends. I was a popular guy, 2 sport athlete, honor role student. Basically I got away with more than the ones perceived as "loners." It seems like kids take bullying too far now and others snap too easy. Sure I called people names, and got called names. Didnt bother me.

Looking back on it all, I admit I was an a**hole. If I could change it I would, but I can't. But the people I so called "bullied" never ran out and shot anyone. Usually they turned around and called me a name or whatever. It was called kids being kids. Now it's bullying. We coddle people too much. What happens in the workplace when their boss belittles them or "picks" on them? Just accept it and move on.

And I'd say most teachers are oblivious to bullying and the ones who realize it were probably so called "bullies" in school or know that nothing will come of reporting them. Basically, I say let kids be kids. Physically injuring others is never right, but name calling, it's happened to us all and we've turned out ok dontcha think? Just my opinion.

 

[CathyInBlue]

I say the best thing to do regarding any type of bullying, physical, verbal, or psychologic, is to treat it as we would treat the exact same behaviour in adults. That's what school is, is it not? Preparing children to function as well-adjusted adults in the adult world. But, since children do not have the same level of evidence gathering acumen as adults do, the standard of proof for any claim of bullying (of any type) would be mere accusation (on a signed affidavit attesting to the details of the alleged bullying). If any element of the accusation can be falsified by the alleged bully, the accuser gets a day of suspension. If not, the accused gets a day of suspension, immediately and without possibility of appeal.

Some might say that this is just going to give bullies a new way to bully, and initially, I'm sure that will be true, but once the bullies' victims realize that they can do it just as well, the power inequality between bully and victim will disappear and the kids will learn to get along and not bully in any fashion.

 

[Lex Concord]

I say the best thing to do regarding any type of bullying, physical, verbal, or psychologic, is to treat it as we would treat the exact same behaviour in adults. That's what school is, is it not? Preparing children to function as well-adjusted adults in the adult world. But, since children do not have the same level of evidence gathering acumen as adults do, the standard of proof for any claim of bullying (of any type) would be mere accusation (on a signed affidavit attesting to the details of the alleged bullying). If any element of the accusation can be falsified by the alleged bully, the accuser gets a day of suspension. If not, the accused gets a day of suspension, immediately and without possibility of appeal.

Some might say that this is just going to give bullies a new way to bully, and initially, I'm sure that will be true, but once the bullies' victims realize that they can do it just as well, the power inequality between bully and victim will disappear and the kids will learn to get along and not bully in any fashion.

No, school is to teach kids regimentation, conformity, and submission.

Parents are to teach kids to be adults in our society, efforts of the schools to the contrary notwithstanding.

 

[CathyInBlue]

Missing purple?

 

[Hookeye]

Sad, back in the day one could just ignore a bully, and if that didn't work, punch 'em in the face. It was good enough after a couple of events to secure a person's spot in the school social structure and minimize future issues.

Today you put a bully in his place and the school treats you like a criminal, or the bully shoots you in the park.

Me thinks a giant blender needs built outside a Planned Parenthood, retroactive abortion kinda thing.

My ol' lady works with junior criminals in a secure environment, she says the problem is freakin' huge. Bad genetics, bad parents, abuse/drugs.............all of that stuff makes for a sizable population of predatory teens.

And they get legal protection pretty much until they graduate/hit 18 and are turned loose on the rest of us.

That's what kills me, how folks on the Treyvon deal say "he's just a kid".........they have no frickin' clue what's out there.