Free Republic

Student gunman in Ohio warned of attack, By JOE MILICIA, Associated Press Writer Thu Oct 11, 7:42 AM ET CLEVELAND - A 14-year-old student who opened fire at his high school, wounding four people before killing himself, had a history of mental problems and was known for cussing at teachers and bickering with students. Asa H. Coon, who had been suspended for fighting, warned classmates of an attack — but none took him seriously. "When he got suspended, he was like `I got something for you all,'" said student Frances Henderson, who said she often got into arguments with Coon....

A Utah teenager has admitted creating a fake Asa Coon Web page on the social networking site Myspace.com. Posing as the gunman in Wednesday's shooting at Success Tech Academy in Cleveland, the 19-year-old creator of the fake Web site said in an email exchange with the Plain Dealer: "I don't generally give out personal information ... I, like many others (search for any famous person) make fake profiles on MySpace for the sole purpose of giving people a place to vent their thoughts and feelings." Several national television news organizations and Web sites have quoted from Coon's page as real....

Some of the kids called him Jack Black, the loud, chubby, long-haired actor in the movie "School of Rock." He could be loud sometimes, all right, and his appearance cried for attention: his shock of wavy brown hair, his fingernails painted black, the dog collar around his neck, his faded rock concert T-shirts under a trench coat. But there was another Asa Coon, an Asa Coon far more menacing than the loopy kid with the unkempt hair and faux Gothic look. This was the Asa who always seemed to be in fights at school. This was the Asa who slapped...