In the next few days, plenty of ink was spilled over that teacher, Bob Scroggs. A special-ed instructor, he was in the library when the lockdown was announced over the intercom, and moved other students out of harm's way before returning to the kid with the gun. After he grabbed the weapon, Scroggs gave it to the principal, who hid it in a locked classroom until the cops showed up.
Meanwhile, the 16-year-old student--who was immediately expelled and arrested for bringing a gun onto school grounds--remained essentially anonymous. In the post-Columbine era of hypervigilance over guns in schools, and fascination with what motivates kids to brandish weapons in the halls, local news organizations didn't bother to explore why the Newport student brought a 9mm Smith & Wesson to school that Tuesday. The student was dismissed as simply suicidal.
His fellow Newport classmates, however, didn't waste any time discussing the incident. On campus that day, students reportedly chatted by cell phone during the lockdown, trying to piece together the puzzle of who had brought the gun to school, and why. After school, dozens of students logged on to their Internet diaries and wrote about the incident in teenage shorthand, sharing the student's name, and their thoughts about the lockdown.
Plenty of students typed comical anecdotes about being barricaded in a locker room or English class, with much of their commentary involving bathroom stories: "[U]ltimate test of my bladder today... came really close to peeing in a Coke bottle," one guy joked.
A handful of students, however, took their analysis further, speculating on what drove the sophomore to nearly take his life in the hall. According to their accounts, the student who brought the gun to Newport was being harassed at school, possibly for being gay.
"So, we had a lockdown today at school," one 17-year-old, headed for UW in the fall, wrote Tuesday evening. "Someone brought a gun to school and the SWAT team was here and all the television news channels were here and I was stuck in English for 3 hours with no food and no bathroom... the kid who brought the gun was a loner who liked to wear black and chains and stuff like cat ears. Well, he is expelled now, kinda sad since I think [if] someone was friendlier to him, it might've not escalated to this."
That senior wasn't the only one who reported that the student body was mean to the now-expelled classmate: "[I'm] assuming one of the reasons why the kid brought the gun to school was harassment from a couple of ASSHOLES at my school," wrote a 16-year-old girl who also writes that she hates pre-calc. "[Especially] this one kid that talks shit bout other people.... Jesus. Get a life."
Why were students giving the 16-year-old boy a hard time? Besides accounts of a unique personality--"He has pink highlights in his hair and always wore black trench coats," one student wrote, and another reported, "He had a tail (a fake tail). I KNOW HIM!! [He's] in my bio class"--there was plenty of speculation around the halls that the boy was gay. "Apparently... people were constantly giving him shit after he came out that he was gay," wrote a 15-year-old boy from Newport's track team. "It was quite obvious... since he went to homecoming with a guy. I certainly wouldn't go tell a gay person that they were a fag."
There's no confirmation the 16-year-old boy is gay, and if so, that he actually told his fellow students--it may just be a case of the high-school rumor mill running amuck. Still, the fact that so many other students believed their classmate was gay could have pushed him over the edge. "If someone is DIFFERENT, strange, or unique... people automatically start talking... gossiping... why is this so?" one girl, a self-described Christian into tennis and volleyball, asked in her journal on xanga.com. Her friend's entry concurred: "He's been feeling like an outkast in our society cuz he's different... but that's so sad. I think ppl shouldn't tease others about their differences. Life and this world would suck if we were all the same."
An attorney representing the student--who spent several days in juvenile detention--did not return calls seeking comment, though she told a juvenile court judge the student had been taunted at school and the school did nothing to protect him, according to the Seattle Times.
The Bellevue School District is looking into the matter. "Whether the student was harassed for being gay is still up in the air," says district spokeperson Ann Oxrieder. "We haven't heard from the student himself, so it's hard to say with absolute certainty." His parents haven't returned adminstrators' calls, Oxrieder notes, and other students aren't being forthcoming.
In response to an e-mail sent to another Newport student whose journal indicated she knew the 16-year-old boy personally, an anonymous girl called The Stranger and demanded nothing be printed about her friend. "The things people are writing online are practically bullshit at this point," she seethed, though she would not respond to specific things students had written. "Anyone who knows him is not going to talk to you."
Kids who know him continued the conversation online, though, defending their friend and wishing him well. "Don't let me catch you saying, 'And you know that guy? He was gay!" one 14-year-old boy wrote. "What matters is that he felt like an outcast. Why? Because people keep on hating gays and lesbians. Stop!! Leave them alone."
"[He] is the most amazing person I know, he is super sweet and soooo awesome," a girl who was apparently friends with the 16-year-old boy commented in her friend's journal. "I hate everyone that has ever made fun of [him] just because he isn't like everyone else. He deserves just as much respect as anyone else and I hope him bringing a gun to school made everyone realize how much words really do hurt."
