Posted on 10/29/2001 12:44:06 PM PST by Dane
Teen Shooter Kills Self in Jail Cell
SAN DIEGO (AP) - An 18-year-old student who wounded five people in a shooting rampage at his high school earlier this year hanged himself with a bedsheet in his jail cell Monday, authorities said.
Jason Hoffman, who had a history of mental illness, was found dead at San Diego's Central Jail, Deputy District Attorney Dan Lamborn said. The teen-ager had been in a cell by himself.
Last month, Hoffman pleaded guilty in the March 22 shooting at Granite Hills High School in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon. His sentencing had been set for Nov. 8. He could have gotten 27 years to life in prison.
"This was an obviously troubled young man, and it's a sad end to his life," Lamborn said.
William Trainor, Hoffman's attorney, said his client was "extraordinarily remorseful for what he did."
The teen-ager opened fire in an attack apparently aimed at the school's dean of students. The reason was never fully explained.
Trainor has said Hoffman had taken antidepressants before the shooting.
The attack came two weeks after a shooting at a nearby school, Santana High in Santee, left two students dead and 13 people wounded. A 15-year-old freshman, Charles "Andy" Williams, was arrested. He is in custody, awaiting trial.
/sarcasm
/sarcasm
That was supposed to be Prozac's or Zoloft's job. Why does it seem that all these teen shooters are on anti-depressants.
I wonder if OJ ever considered this course of action.
a) They were screwed up kids who were being medicated, and the dose was too low.
b) they were perfectly normal kids who were given drugs that made them crazy.
I don't have enough info/expertise to be sure either way, but I'm biased toward "a".
b) they were perfectly normal kids who were given drugs that made them crazy.
I don't have enough info/expertise to be sure either way, but I'm biased toward "a".
I will have to respectfully disagree. My bias is towards "b".
Wish his victims felt better, but I guess it's too late for them, isn't it?
Only today's liberal culture of "Just do it." and "Me. Me. Me. Me. Self-Esteem.....Don't Dis me.....whatever I want to do is right because there isn't any right or wrong. Only what I feel."
So, with no morals, with no right or wrong, and with no self-control, they are left no control at all.
Unless you'd prefer they spend their life shackled to their socialist school nurse being given drugs every four hours...... A common enough future in certain science fiction.
In this case the victims didn't die (no report however if serious maimings resulted).
Managed care has eliminated hospitalization as a treatment option. In the unlikely event this lost soul ever made it into an adolescent psychiatric in-patient unit, the managed care companies would allow one or two days of coverage. These companies then refer the kids to "medication management" with a 10 minute evaluation once every few months, explaining why they are all on unsupervised anti-depressants. These antidepressants are not for ewveryone; they can make paranoia or schizophrenia much, much worse after a few weeks.
We live in a sick Hollywood culture which glorifies mass murder for the profitable teenager and young adult male market. Hence the shootings are an inevitable part of our disturbed culture and destroyed mental health syutem.
These shootings will continue indefinitely, in my opinion.
Ritalin? It's a shame what they do to kids these days.
yup.
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