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Lawyer: Authorities were told student's gun was fake
CNN ^ | 1/14/06 | CNN

Posted on 01/15/2006 1:51:35 PM PST by wagglebee

LONGWOOD, Florida (CNN) -- The father and brother of a teenager shot at school Friday while brandishing a pellet gun told authorities before an officer opened fire that Christopher Penley's gun was not real, the family's attorney said Saturday.

The eighth-grader is clinically brain dead and being kept on life support to harvest his organs, attorney Mark Nation said.

When Ralph Penley arrived at the school Friday to help police and school officials defuse the situation, he wasn't allowed inside, Nation said.

Nation said Ralph Penley was "angry" because he had spoken to police before he arrived at the school and told them Christopher did not have a real gun. Christopher's younger brother told school officials the same thing, Nation said.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: fakegun; schoolshooting
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To: Chanticleer

That is going back to the way things used to be. In more recent times the schools just promote them and finally push them out.


281 posted on 01/15/2006 4:47:03 PM PST by NY Attitude (You are responsible for your safety until the arrival of Law Enforcement Officers!)
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To: Supernatural

Hope your not my police officer protecting me!!!


282 posted on 01/15/2006 4:50:45 PM PST by Hotdog
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To: Hotdog

Do what I do, protect yourself. If you ever have to depend on the police to save your life, you are probably as good as dead. And that's just the way it is. Read the newspapers and watch the news and see how many people get killed all the time.


283 posted on 01/15/2006 4:55:15 PM PST by Supernatural (All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie! bob dylan)
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To: Supernatural
If you killed a 13 or 14 year old child in exactly the same situation, you would be in jail on murder charges. End of story.

Is that a fact? You'd have self-defense available to you and it would be up to a jury. But that wasn't the scenario here, was it? This deranged little brat pointed a gun at a cop. The only injustice is that a civilian would probably have to deplete his savings to defend himself while the cop will face a hearing. The only tragedy here is that anyone would have to defend their actions for shooting this nut case.

You point a gun at someone, the ultimate act of aggression (a.k.a.-"You asked for it, moron."), don't be surprised if you get shot.

284 posted on 01/15/2006 4:57:20 PM PST by N. Beaujon (http://www.nbeaujon.com)
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To: wagglebee

From what I have read this sounds like a case of " Suicide by Cop". A very sad event, but police have mere seconds to make decisions involving deadly force. They must assume that any gun that does not have the obvious appearance of a toy is a weapon. They don't have times for could bes and maybes.


285 posted on 01/15/2006 4:59:02 PM PST by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: lastchance

I agree, I think he wanted to die and knew that the police would shoot him when he pointed the gun at them.


286 posted on 01/15/2006 5:00:05 PM PST by wagglebee ("We are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom." -- President Bush, 1/20/05)
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To: NY Attitude

Obviously, he had "issues." So, that begs the questions, since it appears the parents were aware of these "issues," why did he even have a realistic looking pellet gun?

Earlier, it was said the Police would not let him into teh school, an understandable move, I feel. Even if he did tell the Police "OUTSIDE" it was 'only a pellet gun' (which also can be lethal)did word of that reach the Officer standing before the kid?

Some replies here are ludicrous. If Police don't respond fast and strong enough, we run the risk of another Columbine. If they respond fast and strong and it turns out to be a 'pellet gun', even though very realistic, they get castigated by do gooders.

Before these people that condemn the Police so fast do so, maybe they should be the one responding to these calls and see how well they react, provided they survive the first one.

Police are as human as we are, they are not supermen with master psychology degrees for every situation.


287 posted on 01/15/2006 5:00:12 PM PST by DakotaRed
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To: DakotaRed

You said it all in the first paragraph.


288 posted on 01/15/2006 5:03:45 PM PST by NY Attitude (You are responsible for your safety until the arrival of Law Enforcement Officers!)
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To: Myrddin

Along with my more lethal weapons, I also have a low velocity BB pistol that, to the untrained eye, could appear fairly realistic. It's slow enough I can actually see the BB fly through the air before it hits the racoons in my back yard (I only wish to scare them away, not kill them. Besides, neighbors get upset if I shot at them with a 30.06 or a .357). Still, it stings when it hit and from 20 feet away, it also left a real good sized dent in a stainless steel blowl I have in the backyard.

I have to imagine it could cause injury to a human also if I aimed and hit them right.


289 posted on 01/15/2006 5:04:13 PM PST by DakotaRed
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To: Supernatural

If I had a 13 or 14 year old point a gun at me and if I had a gun and felt my life was endanger yes I would shoot him.
Now if the DA decided to he could charge me with Homicide but I think a reasoned argument for self defense could be used. Especially if the 13 or 14 year old was behaving erratically (sp)
Bottom line if the cop says " put down the gun" you damn well better put the gun down or you have just upped the consequences a very big notch.


290 posted on 01/15/2006 5:05:21 PM PST by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: Supernatural

If you condemn the Police for shooting this armed kid, how do you expect to live with yourself if you ever had to defend yourself?


291 posted on 01/15/2006 5:05:42 PM PST by DakotaRed
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To: Larry Lucido

Oh what joy it is when we can give our days meaning.
Truly though I hope you never had to face the situation the police in Longwood did. And I thank you for your years of service.


292 posted on 01/15/2006 5:17:14 PM PST by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: DakotaRed
Student was bullies' target

Serious issues. Highlighting is mine.

Students at Milwee Middle School liked to bully Chris Penley.

"He never talks at school," said 14-year-old Mary Medlock. "You can poke him with a stick, and he won't talk."

His father, Ralph Penley, 49, a carpenter, pleaded no contest to aggravated assault in 1992 and was placed on probation, state criminal records show.

The teen returned to Milwee two weeks ago. He left last spring after he threatened to blow up a school bus and everyone on it, said Adrianne Medlock, who also is a school-district employee.

Fla. Teen Shot by SWAT at School Brain Dead

Patrick Lafferty, a 15-year-old neighbor who has known Penley about six years, said he wasn't surprised by what happened. He said Penley was a loner who "told me he wanted to kill himself dozens of times."

Swofford said the boy had run away from home several times. Her 11-year-old son, Jeffery Swofford, said Penley had said he had something planned.

"He said `I hope I die today because I don't really like my life,"' Jeffery Swofford said.

293 posted on 01/15/2006 5:17:40 PM PST by Chanticleer (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. Lewis)
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To: Supernatural


I don't think so, Scooter.
294 posted on 01/15/2006 5:18:59 PM PST by Xenalyte (Can you count, suckas? I say the future is ours . . . if you can count.)
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To: benjibrowder

They may show it differently on TV but the only way to assure another gunman is not going to be a threat to you is to kill him. I believe that is how SWAT and HRT members are trained. I may be wrong. I go by the old adage never pull a gun unless you are willing to shoot it and never shoot a gun unless you are willing to kill.


295 posted on 01/15/2006 5:20:37 PM PST by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: Chanticleer

Maybe the father has more to do with this kids 'issues' than we realize?

Nearly all of us have had to deal with bullies at one time in our lives. Standing up to them by as many as you can muster worked for me.

Still, a father with an aggravated assault charge and what the neighbor says tells me this kids issues were set very early on and he chose a very sad, permanent and tragic way out.


296 posted on 01/15/2006 5:24:12 PM PST by DakotaRed
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To: DakotaRed
That's a hypothetical situation. The real question is, how will the cops who killed this kid now live with themselves?
297 posted on 01/15/2006 5:24:32 PM PST by Supernatural (All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie! bob dylan)
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To: Supernatural; DakotaRed
It would not surprise me, even if it is ruled that he conducted himself properly, if the deputy had major problems with this for the rest of his life. Not because he is guilty, but because he was put in the position of taking a life, the life of a troubled 15 year old boy. I find this sad, especially because with the information I have heard, he is the last I'd blame.

I have three sons, (including a Chris), and I can't conceive the pain the Penley family must be feeling. My heart does go out to them. But Chris's history looks like a textbook case for a school shooter -- a loner, uncommunicative, angry. Threatens to blow up a bus. Father must have anger issues (history of aggravated assault). Problems in school. Suicidal.

If one of my children was in the school, if my child had the barrel of that pellet gun shoved in his back and forced into a closet, I would be livid if the authorities didn't take him seriously.

298 posted on 01/15/2006 5:34:28 PM PST by Chanticleer (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. Lewis)
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To: Xenalyte
I don't think so, Scooter.

Yep. too bad fer Scooter.

299 posted on 01/15/2006 5:41:27 PM PST by ARealMothersSonForever
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To: frankjr
If the father knew the gun was fake, why didn't he walk up to the kid and take it?

Because no cop is going to let a civilian take charge of the situation.

300 posted on 01/15/2006 5:44:33 PM PST by Oztrich Boy (Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering)
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