Teen, Sam Strahan was shot in the head as he tried to dissuade best friend Caleb Sharpe, from killing classmates at Freeman High School on Wednesday.
‘How come the school did not escalate the situations after Sharpe telegraphed his intentions?’
Caleb Sharpe, 15, is the alleged shooter who murdered his friend Sam Strahan in the head when he tried persuading him not to shoot at classmates at Freeman High School, Wednesday
As he tried to talk him out of the shooting, Strahan, 15, was shot in the head and died
Three other students, all teen girls who were injured in the shooting survived surgery, all are in stable condition in hospital
The shooting took place at Freeman High School, Rockford in Spokane County, Washington, around 10.15 am Wednesday
Airforce vet turned school custodian Joe Bowen, 42, then convinced the shooter to stop shooting for long enough for police to make the arrest
Strahan’s family said he was still mourning the death of his dad, Scott Strahan who died in an auto crash barely two months ago
Cops say Sharpe was driven to murder by bullying, but friends say he was obsessed with guns and had been watching documentaries about other school shootings
He’d also passed around notes threatening to ‘do something stupid’ that would get him killed.
Sharpe has been remanded at a juvenile detention center
Is a product of schoolyard bullying or just born evil? Alleged school shooter, 15-year-old Caleb Sharpe
Caleb Sharpe was obsessed with school shootings and spent time poring over documentaries on those school tragedies.
He escalated to passing around notes threatening to ‘do something stupid’ that would get him killed. Wednesday he made good his threat. Sharpe, 15, brought two weapons to Freeman High School in Rockford, Spokane County, Washington. Around 10 am he activated his plan, but the first gun he tried to fire jammed.
His best friend, 15-year-old Sam Strahan tried to dissuade him from shooting as her turned the gun on his classmates. Sharpe dropped his pal with a single bullet to the head.
By the time school custodian Jim Bowen was able to talk him down, the kill-hungry shooter had shot three more classmates, all teenage girls.
Airforce vet Bowen, 42, managed to convince the gunman to stop shooting just long enough for him to be brought down by police.
Sam Strahan and Bowen, a married father-of-three, have been credited with saving lives with their brave efforts to stop a clearly unhinged and dangerous armed teen, intent on taking lives.
Surgeons at the nearby Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center, later said the three other shooting victims had successfully gone through surgery and were in stable condition.
Tragically the Strahan family announced their double loss as they revealed that Sam lost his dad Scott Strahan in an auto crash, barely two months ago.
Accused shooter Caleb Sharpe [center], was taken into custody after the school shooting Wednesday
The heroes : Sam Strahan, 15, [left], who was killed trying to stop his friend from committing a massacre and Joe Bowen, [right], the school custodian who talked down the shooter have been credited with saving lives
At the beginning of the school year Caleb Sharpe handed out notes to his friends saying he planned to do something “stupid where he gets killed or put in jail.”
At least one of the notes reportedly, had been handed over to a school counselor, the friend said.
With the warning signs unheeded, Sharpe unleashed hie reign of terror, The terror began shortly around 10.15 am when he tried to fire the first of two weapons he had brought to school in a black duffel bag.
That gun jammed and he moved on to the next one.
Giving an account of the incident Wednesday, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said Sam, who other students said was Caleb’s ‘best friend’, approached him and tried to talk him out of the shooting spree.
‘He tried to walk up and tell him,”this isn’t what you wanna do,”‘ Sheriff Knezovich said.
Caleb Sharpe definitely planned his assault as he can be seen pointing a gun in a YouTube video
Authorities have not revealed the custodian what exactly he said to the teenager to get him to stop shooting, but he convinced him to stop shooting, long enough for police to arrive and arrest him.
The three injured girls – Emma Nees, Jordyn Goldsmith and Gracie Jensen were taken to the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center where they are recovering in stable condition.
Sharpe gave notice of his intentions with this video of him practicing shooting in his back yard, just a month ago
Heroic Sam {left], who died saving his classmates, was still mourning the recent loss of his father. Scott Strahan [right], died in an auto crash in June, 2017
The shooter and his victims were classmates at Freeman High School [photo], in Rockford, Spokane County, Washington
A Student from Freeman High School, shared this photograph on Twitter of her class crouching on the floor before they were evacuated
Sheriff Knezovich stressed that Bowen’s efforts saved the lives of other students who were in the gunman’s firing line.
After the shooting, all of the school’s students were evacuated. They immediately identified Sharpe as the shooter and described how he’d been acting strangely in the weeks which preceded the shooting.
According to some of the teen who said they were friends, he had been watching documentaries about other school shootings and had passed around notes threatening to ‘do something stupid’ that would get him killed or land him in jail.
Sharpe was described by his school mates as funny and weird. He had been watching documentaries about school shootings and told friends he was going to ‘do something stupid that might get him killed’
Friends said Caleb Sharpe was also obsessed with the violent TV series ‘Breaking Bad’. He had uploaded odd videos to YouTube in which he practiced shooting with a toy gun.
On social media, he shared self-loathing posts about depression and anxiety.
He was taken into a juvenile detention center after the shooting and remains in custody.
The Strahan family is fundraising for Sam’s mother and sister, through a GoFundMe page.
Anxious parents gather in the parking lot behind Freeman High School in Rockford, Wash., at the height of the shooting incident on Wednesday
In all one student died and three more were injured in the latest school tragedy, but it could have been worse police said. Authorities have credited the efforts of both Strahan and Bowen to stop the shooter, as well as, the happenstance of the jammed first weapon with saving lives.
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