UPDATE: Suspect T.J. Lane appeared in court at 3:30 Tuesday. The prosecutor said Lane did not know his victims or choose them deliberately, according to the Associated Press.
Officials said Chardon High School senior Joy Rickers, who had been at Hillcrest Hospital, was released Tuesday, according to a news conference on WKYC.
ORIGINAL STORY: Though they were 230 miles away, about 70 Ohio University students who attended Chardon High School couldn’t avoid the shock waves that came from their hometown Monday morning after a deadly shooting spree.
“Chardon is the last place on Earth I would expect a shooting like this to happen,” said Dan Hildebrand, an OU sophomore studying video production and a 2010 Chardon High alumnus, in an email.
Monday morning’s violent attack began when a gunman opened fire in the cafeteria at Chardon High — home to about 1,100 students. By about 12 p.m., one student, junior Danny Parmertor, was dead and four were injured.
Later Monday evening, Chardon High School students’ and alumni’s Facebook and Twitter posts reported that two more students, juniors Russell King and Demetrius Hewlin, had died.
Both King and Hewlin were confirmed dead Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
Chardon students identified the shooter as T.J. Lane.
“Danny was a bright young boy who had a bright future ahead of him. The family is torn by this loss,” Parmertor’s family said in a statement.
Cassie Ciarlillo, an OU sophomore studying communications and 2010 alum of Chardon High, said she will always remember Parmertor as a “goofy kid.”
“He was smaller than everyone else, but he had a really big personality,” Ciarlillo said. “That’s how I remember him.”
King was enrolled at the Auburn Career Center in Concord Township and was interested in alternate forms of energy such as wind and solar power, according to The Plain Dealer.
Hewlin enjoyed working out and had hoped to make the football team, according to The Plain Dealer.
Students described Lane as an outcast, and video surveillance showed Lane as he silently and systematically shot King, Hewlin and a third student, junior Nick Walczak, in the cafeteria. The video did not capture the shooting of Parmertor or the fifth student, senior Joy Rickers. Walczak and Rickers are both at Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, according to The Plain Dealer.
As word of the attack spread, the Facebook profile pictures of Chardon students and alumni changed from their smiling faces to their high school’s logo, recalling the school’s unofficial “one heartbeat” motto.
Students and alumni alike pledged to wear red Tuesday to show their support — and OU students will take it a step further, holding a vigil for the victims at 8 p.m. Tuesday on College Green.
Though the small town of Chardon, Ohio — home to only 5,100 people — was brought to a horrified standstill by the attack, Chardon High facility and staff had prepared for this kind of scenario.
For the past few years, the school had simulated shootings in several emergency drills, with students acting out the parts of the shooter and victims while SWAT teams, firefighters and police officers were brought in to ward off the fabricated attacks.
“The reactions at the time were negative,” Ciarlillo said. “People didn’t see the point of doing it. Some parents kept their kids at home.”
But the teachers knew exactly how to respond — locking classroom doors while math teacher Joseph Ricci and Frank Hall, the football team’s offensive coordinator, chased Lane from the building. Ricci also ventured into a hallway to help an injured student to safety, according to the Associated Press.
Lane will appear in court at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday and will be represented by Bob Farinacci.
“The family wanted me to convey to the citizens of Geauga County and Northeastern Ohio that the family is devastated by this most recent event,” Farinacci said in a statement released late Monday night. “This is something that could never have been predicted. T.J.’s family has asked for some privacy while they try to understand how such a tragedy could have occurred and while they mourn this terrible loss for their community.”
—The Associated Press contributed to this article
rm279109@ohiou.edu
