Posted on 02/05/2010 5:47:09 PM PST by Bodleian_Girl
Caption: First Sgt. Robert Fearn escorts his daughter, Janelle Lawrence, from the school. She was standing next to the shooter when he pulled the trigger. Photo Dave Dieter.
MADISON, AL -- A Discovery Middle School student said she was a few feet away when Todd Brown was shot and initially mistook the sound of the gunshot for a popped balloon.
Janelle Lawrence, 15, a ninth-grader, said late Friday afternoon she was a few feet away from the shooting in the ninth-grade hall. Brown, 14, was talking to friends and Lawrence was talking to a girlfriend.
"I looked over and heard this big 'pow,' like a balloon popping," Lawrence said, adding that she and her friend both saw the gun.
The students Brown was talking to immediately ran away. Lawrence said she went over to Brown, who was lying motionless in the floor. She thought he might have passed out, but a girl standing next to her said he had been shot.
She said the girls yelled for a teacher, and teachers ran out of their rooms and pushed the students out of the hall.
Lawrence said the shooter went in a boys bathroom.
"He walked into the bathroom and put the gun in the last stall, is what a lot of the students said in their statements to the police," Lawrence said. "He just sat in the stall until police came and got him."
Lawrence said she shared a lunchroom table with the shooter last week. She said Brown, with whom she had a math class, was smart, funny and played on the football team. Lawrence said she thought she was in danger after the shooting.
"School is supposed to be a safe place," she said.
Lawrence said she doesn't know if she can return to school Monday.
"I'll be nervous," she said. "I know when I pass that spot in the hall that I'll cry."
They've gotten so busy teaching liberalism in journalism school they've forgotten the ol’ who, what, when, where and why.
The victim had died. :.(....... So sad. I’ve been following it since the news broke.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Praying-for-Todd-Browns-Family-and-Discovery/289010432516?ref=mf
The family friend said Brown played football at one time, but quit mid-season to focus on his academics. Brown is still listed in critical condition at Huntsville Hospital.
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2010/02/student_shot_at_discovery_midd.html
In a different update, they stated that the victim was in extremely critical condition.
Ok, I see that the victim has died.
I have family very near there. Prayers...
Ping! Another “gun free zone” murder........
Intrepid freepers, please stay on this story!
There are all kinds of rumors about this kid, but nothing concrete.
I don’t have a good feeling about this.
You obviously don’t get my point. See my tag line.
I was adding my comment to the thread, not responding to your comment.
I’m hearing that the shooter was Pakistani, but that could be incorrect.
Well—you addressed it to me—LOL!
I read his name on a Topix discussion forum.
Basil, for the record, I completely agree with your tag line- it’s one of the reasons I moved from Illinois to Alabama.
The story being advanced is that this was gang related and retaliation. But a number of people have said the shooter, Hammad Memon, was Muslim. I just want to make sure that PC isn’t getting in the way of the “facts”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.