Posted on 09/14/2017 6:39:28 PM PDT by narses
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich blamed a breakdown of society, the media and problems with the mental health system for Wednesdays tragic shooting at Freeman High School.
Knezovich opened a news conference Thursday afternoon by offering his condolences to the Freeman community. He quickly shifted gears, however, pointing to a host of catalysts that he said were responsible for the violence.
Where did we go sideways in raising our kids? he said. All of this violence they consume perhaps has caused a major crisis.
Knezovich accused people dressed in black who commit all types of violence in the name of getting their own way, and violent video games for influencing Caleb Sharpe, the 15-year-old sophomore at Freeman who is accused of shooting four students, mortally wounding one. Knezovich said investigators were increasingly convinced a preoccupation with school-shooting culture played a large part in precipitating the shooting, as opposed to bullying, which was the explanation offered by Sharpe.
Knezovich said that Sharpe will likely be charged as an adult for premeditated first-degree murder.
On Wednesday, Michael Harper, 15, one of Sharpes friends, said Sharpe would often watch school shooting documentaries, which he sent to friends via Snapchat, a popular photo and video sharing app. Harper also said Sharpe sent out notes to his friends, saying he planned on doing something stupid.
Special Coverage: Freeman High School shooting
Knezovich also placed blame on the media, saying it had furthered the school-shooting culture that played into Sharpes fixation.
This young gentlemen got sucked into a counterculture, a culture of violence, he said. And you media, youre to blame for it. You keep using headlines. You keep giving them names.
The sheriff also offered more details about Sharpe, specifically about his history with depression. According to court documents, Sharpe told arresting deputies hed been in the care of a school counselor for suicidal ideations after suffering from bullying from fellow students. The sophomore told deputies he shot fellow student Sam Strahan, partly because he was bullied.
When asked if warning signs were missed by parents, teachers and counselors, Knezovich again accused society and the media for dissuading people from speaking up when they see something is wrong.
Theyre always missed, he said. Heres a message to those who see it coming: You need to prevent that. Heres the problem though, we have made doing what is right wrong So we need to teach those kids that if you see something like this, we need to know Were not mind readers, folks.
When interviewed by deputies, Sharpe said the guns he used in the shooting were from his fathers gun safe, to which he had access. When asked if a 15-year-old should have access to his fathers guns, Knezovich said someone that young shouldnt be in possession of a handgun, but access to other weapons was at the discretion of the parents.
It all depends on the 15-year-old, he said. I can tell you, folks, I carried a gun all my life. I hunted, I shot. My friends and I, when its hunting season back home, when I was in high school, every one of those rigs had a gun in the gun rack. Why? We went hunting on the way home. None of those guns ever walked into a school. None of those guns ever shot anybody.
Knezovich said guns havent changed over the years, and arent to blame in shootings. He said society is.
You started glorifying cultures of violence. You glorified the gang culture, he said. You glorified games that are actually giving you points for raping and killing people. A gun did not change, we changed.
Several questions asked of Knezovich by reporters focused on Joe Bowen, a custodian at the school who helped disarm Sharpe in the hallway after he shot four people. Knezovich called him a hero and hailed his quick decision-making in saving students lives.
He also praised Spokane County Sheriffs deputy Ron Nye, Freemans school resource officer, who was in the middle school when the shots rang out.
He did what he was trained to do Knezovich said. He ran into gunfire and helped Joe take that suspect into custody.
He said the school and the deputy have a special relationship.
They love each other and thats the way it should be, he said. Maybe thats what we need to teach our kids: that old-school stuff. Love one another.
“Guns didn’t change. We changed.”
EXCELLENT.
Kids are taught that proper self esteem is: “only I and my feelings matter”.
Which is nihilism.
Ozzie also blamed antifa and rap music but they do not show this quote. These are also the officers on Live PD.
Mods...the source name is NOT “Socialist Review.”
It is “The Spokane Spokesman-Review.”
LOL...what an autocorrect typo. Of course with all the Hillary stories lately, FR does seem like a Socialist Review place.
Moral relativism...
If it feels good do it. If you want to, do.
There is no right or wrong.
It would be interesting to ask kids if they have ever heard of the Golden Rule by the time they hit 18 these days.
There are no cultures better than another culture. All are equal.
What a hot mess.
MSM jumped off this story pretty quick. I wonder why ?
Thank you for the ping.
And is clear from other countries as well as in the US, banning guns doesn’t get rid of guns, and if somehow all guns were destroyed, there are baseball bats, bricks, stones, kitchen knives, machetes, all manner of heavy metal objects, carpenter tools, poisons, and on and on to use, to kill people.
The problem is people.
Now I read the whole article.
Fantastic.
playboy philosophy....
as long as we think raping and murdering women on video games is just "fun" we are sunk as a society....
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