SuccessTech Academy shooting

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SuccessTech Academy shooting
Location Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Date Wednesday, October 10, 2007
c. 1:06 p.m.[1] (EST)
Attack type
School shooting
Weapons
Deaths 1 (the perpetrator)
Injured 5 (4 from gunfire)
Perpetrator Asa H. Coon

The SuccessTech Academy shooting was a school shooting that occurred on October 10, 2007, at the SuccessTech alternative high school in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Fourteen-year-old freshman Asa H. Coon shot two students and two teachers before committing suicide on the fourth floor of the building.

The shooting

On Wednesday, October 10, 2007, Asa H. Coon entered the five-story school building shortly before 1:00 p.m. EST, armed with two handguns (.22-caliber revolver and .38-caliber revolver),[2][3] and a box of additional rounds of ammunition for each pistol; three folding knives were also in Coon's possession, which were all stocked together in a duffel bag.[4] Wearing a Marilyn Manson concert shirt, black jeans, and black-painted fingernails,[5] Coon walked into the fourth floor of the building and entered a men's toilets where he loaded the two revolvers.[6]

Shooting victims[7]
1. Michael Peek, age 14, student.
2. Darnell Rodgers, age 17, student.
3. Michael Grassie, age 42, social studies teacher.
4. David Kachadourian, age 57, math teacher.

The shooting began at approximately 1:06 p.m. on the fourth floor of the building, after 14-year-old Michael Peek punched Coon in the face for bumping into him. When Peek walked away, Coon shot him in the abdomen.[2][8][9] Another student, 17-year-old Darnell Rodgers, suffered a graze gunshot wound to the elbow in the same hallway. Michael Grassie, a social studies teacher, was shot in the chest after Coon entered his classroom. A second teacher, David Kachadourian, was shot in the back of his shoulder while in a hallway evacuating his students to safety.[2][10] During the entire shooting, Coon was said to be cursing.[5] The shooting ended when Coon entered another room and fatally shot himself in the right side of his head.[6][11][12]

The school was placed on Code Blue lockdown shortly after the shooting. The two injured teachers were treated at MetroHealth Medical Center, and the two students injured were treated at the Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital.[1][13] A 14-year-old student, Trinnetta McGrady, was also hospitalized for knee and back injuries received from being trampled in a hallway by fleeing students.[14] Kachadourian and Rodgers were discharged later that day, while Peek and McGrady were released the following day.[15] Grassie was discharged from MetroHealth Medical Center on October 15.[16][17]

Motives

Asa Coon had been placed on a three-day suspension two days prior to the shooting for an altercation with another student regarding the existence of God.[18][19] According to Coon's uncle, Larry Looney, Coon said he was upset because the teachers would not listen to what he had to say regarding the fight.[20] According to fellow students and teachers, Coon had apparently been the target of bullying by students at the school for his Gothic-styled appearance and eccentric behavior, and had made threats of violence in front of students and teachers the week before the shooting.[3][12][21] Joseph Fletcher, a friend of Coon, said he had been "pushed too far" and that teachers were unable to help with his problems.[22] Michael Grassie, one of the shooting victims who was one of Coon's teachers, said that Coon was frustrated because he was given a failing grade in his World History class,[23] and had made attempts to urge him into a fight.[17] Juvenile Court records show that Coon had a criminal history and mental health problems since 2005, and threatened to commit suicide while in a mental health facility in summer 2006.[12][24]

Aftermath

At 2:50 p.m., an hour and a half following the shooting, Cleveland Mayor Frank G. Jackson announced in a news conference that five people, including three students, were hurt in a shooting at the SuccessTech Academy, four of them being shot; the students being in a "stable" condition and the adults being in a more "elevated" state.[25]

Classes throughout the Cleveland Metropolitan School District were canceled the following two days (resumed on Monday, October 15), and classes at SuccessTech Academy did not resume until Tuesday, October 16.[26] Cleveland's public school system established an anonymous hotline for students to report threats and dangerous behavior. The school system also announced plans to install metal detectors in all its schools and hire additional armed security guards to patrol the campuses, which would cost the district US$3.3 million.[26] Schools were instructed to implement additional security precautions, to be reviewed by a professional security firm.[27]

A controversial crime scene photo taken of Coon after his suicide was allegedly leaked to the public via a Cleveland radio disc jockey from Rover's Morning Glory show.[27] Cleveland police officer Walter Emerick, who took the picture using his cell phone camera, was suspended from duty for eight days for his responsibility in sending the photo to other people, which eventually led to its leak on the Internet.[28]

References

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