Showing posts with label student. Show all posts
Showing posts with label student. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

10-year-old girl's death in fight with student ruled homicide

Joanna Ramos, 10, died after getting into a fight with another schoolgirl.

The death of a 10-year-old Southern California schoolgirl after a fight with another student has been ruled a homicide, the coroner said today.

Investigators said Joanna Ramos, a fifth-grader at Willard Elementary School in Long Beach, died from blunt-force trauma to the head.

"They did surgery on her brain because she had a blood clot, and after surgery the doctor said she was still alive, and then a few minutes later he comes back and tells us that her heart stopped and they couldn't bring her back," Joanna's sister, Vanessa Urbina, told the Associated Press.

Joanna died at 9 p.m. Friday. Earlier that afternoon, she and another fifth-grade girl had planned to fight in an alley near the school.

"They were fighting over a boy, just for a boy," classmate Stephanie Soltero told ABC News affiliate KABC, crying. "It's just stupid."

Police said there were seven witnesses to the fight, which lasted less than a minute and didn't involve any weapons. No arrests have been made, the AP reported.

After the fight, Joanna returned to her after-school program with blood on her knuckles from wiping a bloody nose. She also complained of a headache, prompting the school to call her parents. Joanna was unconscious and not breathing when family members took her to the hospital at about 5:50 p.m., according to police.

"There are times when words do not convey a sense of sadness and loss that we feel. This was one of those times," Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster said Saturday. "It's hard to understand how this can happen. If you're like me, you're also thinking of your own children, perhaps your daughter or your granddaughter, and you get a sense of how precious life really is."

Outside Willard Elementary School, friends left balloons, candles, stuffed animals, flowers and letters to Joanna.

Olivia Katrandjian, the Associated Press and  ABC News affiliate KABC contributed to this report.

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Monday, March 5, 2012

10-year-old girl's death in fight with student ruled homicide

Joanna Ramos, 10, died after getting into a fight with another schoolgirl.

The death of a 10-year-old Southern California schoolgirl after a fight with another student has been ruled a homicide, the coroner said today.

Investigators said Joanna Ramos, a fifth-grader at Willard Elementary School in Long Beach, died from blunt-force trauma to the head.

"They did surgery on her brain because she had a blood clot, and after surgery the doctor said she was still alive, and then a few minutes later he comes back and tells us that her heart stopped and they couldn't bring her back," Joanna's sister, Vanessa Urbina, told the Associated Press.

Joanna died at 9 p.m. Friday. Earlier that afternoon, she and another fifth-grade girl had planned to fight in an alley near the school.

"They were fighting over a boy, just for a boy," classmate Stephanie Soltero told ABC News affiliate KABC, crying. "It's just stupid."

Police said there were seven witnesses to the fight, which lasted less than a minute and didn't involve any weapons. No arrests have been made, the AP reported.

After the fight, Joanna returned to her after-school program with blood on her knuckles from wiping a bloody nose. She also complained of a headache, prompting the school to call her parents. Joanna was unconscious and not breathing when family members took her to the hospital at about 5:50 p.m., according to police.

"There are times when words do not convey a sense of sadness and loss that we feel. This was one of those times," Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster said Saturday. "It's hard to understand how this can happen. If you're like me, you're also thinking of your own children, perhaps your daughter or your granddaughter, and you get a sense of how precious life really is."

Outside Willard Elementary School, friends left balloons, candles, stuffed animals, flowers and letters to Joanna.

Olivia Katrandjian, the Associated Press and  ABC News affiliate KABC contributed to this report.

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View the original article here

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Second student dies as gunman is identified

A second victim of the teenage gunman who opened fire at Chardon High School in Ohio has died.

Russell King, Jr. was pronounced brain dead at 12:42 a.m. at Ohio's MetroHealth Medical Center, according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office.

The gunman who opened fire killing two and wounding three others has been identified as T.J. Lane, according to a fellow student and witness, and ABC News' Cleveland affiliate WEWS.

His alleged fusillade of bullets left "friends laying all over the place" in puddles of blood, one student told ABC News.

Nate Mueller, a junior at the school, was having breakfast with three friends when he heard a loud pop like a firecracker about 7:45 a.m., he told ABC News.

A friend yelled, "Duck!" and Mueller told ABC News he turned to see fellow student Lane standing by his table. Mueller said Lane took a second shot and saw a friend get hit.

"He was over the table in a pool of blood," Mueller said, and another pal "was on the floor in a puddle of blood next to him."

A third friend "had not been hit yet as I jumped over him," Mueller said.

Mueller got on the floor and was trying to crawl away when a shot rang out and he felt a bullet graze his ear. He was not badly injured, he said, with just a small red mark left on his ear.

"It was terror. Everything had just gone tunnel vision, like, I need to get out of here," Mueller said. "You see glances of your friends laying all over the place. There's blood, there's people screaming, everybody's just running in different directions and you're just trying to get out. That's all you can do, get out of the school and not look back even though your friends are back there."

Two students were taken by ambulance to Hillcrest Hospital and three were taken by helicopter to MetroHealth Hospital, according to WEWS.

A student identified by MetroHealth Hospital as Daniel Parmertor died from the wounds. His family released the following statement through the hospital:

"We are shocked by this senseless tragedy. Danny was a bright young boy who had a bright future ahead of him. The family is torn by this loss. We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time."

The two other students at MetroHealth Hospital are in critical condition, according to police. Of the two students at Hillcrest Hospital, one is in stable condition and one is in serious condition.

Police have not officially identified Lane as the gunman, saying only that the shooter has not yet been charged and that he is a juvenile.

Mueller described Lane as "a quiet kid. Freshman year he got into a 'goth' phase and didn't talk to that many people anymore. He never egged anybody on. He just went about his business."

However, Lane's family life had been disrupted by divorce and violence, WEWS reported. His parents divorced in 2002, and his father later served time in jail on assault and other charges, according to the station.

Classmates described Lane as a outcast who'd been bullied. In late December he posted a poem on his Facebook page that read: "He longed for only one thing, the world to bow at his feet," and ended ominously: "Die, all of you."

Lane allegedly opened fire with a handgun just before 8 a.m. in the school cafeteria where students were eating breakfast, authorities and witnesses said.

The shooter was chased out of the building by a teacher and later turned himself in to a passerby, authorities said.

The suspect is in custody at Geauga County Safety Center, according to WEWS.

"Our prayers go out to the five victims and their families," a choked up School Superintendent Joseph Bergant said at news conference. "It's a horrible tragedy."

In the wake of the shooting, perhaps in a sign of solidarity, many of Lane's classmates -- including many in the "friends" column on Lane's Facebook page -- had the Chardon High School "Hilltoppers" logo as their Facebook profile pictures.

Geauga County Sheriff Daniel McClelland praised the reaction to the shooting.

"A prompt entry was made into the school. They went into the school and located the victims. It became readily apparent that the shooter had fled already," McClelland said. "The individual was apprehended some distance from the school and had fled on foot."

The officer said police created a security perimeter to make sure the gunman could not return and a search, including a K-9 unit, was launched for the suspect.

Parent Teresa Hunt told WEWS that she was texting with her daughter during the lockdown and her daughter said she heard five shots fired in the cafeteria about 7:30 a.m. Her daughter texted that students were scared and that four people had been shot.

Chardon student Evan Erasmus told WEWS that a student had tweeted that he was going to bring a gun to school, but that no one took him seriously.

The Chardon Fire Department was called to the school at about 7:45 a.m. in response to a report of "several people shot," according to Inspector William Crowley of the Chardon Fire Department.

Multiple law enforcement agencies, including a SWAT team, rushed to the school.

The superintendent immediately canceled classes at all schools in the district. Students who were still on school buses were being dropped back off at their homes and parents were called to pick up their children that were already at school.

The Chardon School District sent a voicemail to parents that schools are closed and high school students are being moved to the middle school, according to WEWS.

Parents received the following message:

"As of 9:00 AM the alleged sole CHS gunman is in custody and Chardon High School students are being moved by safety forces to Maple Elementary. Parents or legal guardians can pick up their students up any time. Chardon Middle School students are also being released to parents."

Ohio Gov. John Kasich tweeted around 9:30 a.m., "Pls pray for wounded Chardon HS students, their families, and their community; appears things under control now."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has eight agents on their way to the scene and they are expected to trace the firearm.

Chardon is a village in Geauga County, about 35 miles east of Cleveland.

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