Lawyer: Authorities were told student's gun was fake

CNN ^ | 1/14/06 | CNN

[wagglebee]

LONGWOOD, Florida (CNN) -- The father and brother of a teenager shot at school Friday while brandishing a pellet gun told authorities before an officer opened fire that Christopher Penley's gun was not real, the family's attorney said Saturday.

The eighth-grader is clinically brain dead and being kept on life support to harvest his organs, attorney Mark Nation said.

When Ralph Penley arrived at the school Friday to help police and school officials defuse the situation, he wasn't allowed inside, Nation said.

Nation said Ralph Penley was "angry" because he had spoken to police before he arrived at the school and told them Christopher did not have a real gun. Christopher's younger brother told school officials the same thing, Nation said.

[Clara Lou]

You think that you have the truth on your side--like DUers, like Sheehan...you get my drift. You don't know all of the facts, but you say you know the truth.

[DakotaRed]

Next time you are faced with trouble, be sure to call a Hippie, not the Police.

Better yet, reply to a criminal facing off agaiinst you with a chorus of Kumbaya.

[pillut48]

Jon-Erik Hexum
http://www.answers.com/topic/jon-erik-hexum

[ARealMothersSonForever]

Yeah, I'd like to know a few more facts before calling this shooting justified.

I need more facts before I call it un-justified. The presence of weapons (BB guns and firearms) contributed.

Has anyone thought about the fact that we used to prohibit armed officers in our schools? This will be litigated for years. Bottom line: teach your children better conflict resolution than taking a (bb) gun to school. Zero tolerance will bring more of this.

[Larry Lucido]

Yep, patton, for 19 years I woke up every day saying, "This is the day I will finally ruin my life and reputation and my family's lives and reputations and take out some random kid. All I need is an excuse, dammit!"

[Steamburg]

First, the information comes from a lawyer. That makes anything said less than true.
Second, If you brandish an object that looks like a gun, you are expecting to be treated like you have a gun.
Third, suicide by cop is far too common. I don't recall any age restrictions on bad behavior.
Finally, I am offended that people seem to have become so convinced that the BS that passes for entertainment on TV has anything to do with reality. Cops are people too and they are often put in some no win situations by citizens.

[oxcart]

I know...he should be ZOTED for acting like a troll.

[teenyelliott]

And the truth on my side

And what truth is that? That all cops suck? That they are all trigger happy, child killing lunatics?

[1rudeboy]

Not only that, how is an officer to know whether the father is actually telling the truth or not.

Moreover, how is the officer to determine whether the father actually knows?

[italianquaker]

Maybe better tried by 12 then carried by six, that might be what the cops son is saying we just dont know

[Larry Lucido]

ROFL!!!

[benjibrowder]

I don't disagree with that. What makes this so controversial was whether he really did intend to kill anyone seeing as the gun was fake. Second, receiving a tip off that the gun may be fake, the fact that I was wearing a kevlar vest, I'd think about my shot before hand in case I did have to squeeze the trigger. I'd shoot him in the chest, rather than the head. If it had been a thirty year old man, I probably would have taken the shot in the head approach. But that's just me. Reading this article however draws lots of questions, mainly because of how it all went down seems a little fishy.

[mosquewatch.com]

Supernatural..

[Racehorse]

I need more facts before I call it un-justified.

So long as the facts do come out, I'm perfectly agreeable to seeing it your way.  :-)

[mosquewatch.com]

That was for Supernatural, so much for my excellent previewing skills. :)

[patton]

??? Larry, I said the notion was silly. Or are you being sarcastic?

[ops33]

Exactly. When, in the sequence of events, did the father tell the police the gun was fake? Who did he tell, 911 operator or police on the scene? What type of command and control was established? What was the young boy saying, was he making threats, shouting, etc? Can't make a judgment on the officer's firing until all questions are answered. Unfortunately, our press publishes statements such as "The Father told the police the gun was not real" implying that statement should have ended the standoff and paints the police in a negative light. It may well be that the police made a mistake and should not have fired but right now it is too early to make that determination.

[Concho]

The truth is, that the squad sent into the school was not Barney and the Beat Cops. It was a SWAT team. They have one job. Cause activity to cease. They are blessed with the power of lethal force. They used it.

Take this as a lesson to the rest of the yuppie teen punks who terrorize schools daily across this nation.

[Right Wing Assault]

Jon Erik Hexum. Yes, blanks can kill, too. An experiment NOT to try. Take a shotgun shell and remove the pellets. Shoot yourself in the head with it. Result? No head. The gases short range can do hugh damage. Pistol blanks can do a lot of damage, too. (I know it's not exactly related to this shooting, but it's something good to know.)

Didn't some guys recently put a cigarette in a pistol with blanks and shoot their buddy at short range and he died?

[fieldmarshaldj]

Hexum did something really stupid, he put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger, and even without a bullet, the blank cartridge wad was enough to shatter his skull. You don't screw around with guns like that, period.