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Spokane Sheriff: lays blame for Freeman High School shooting
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a425couple
2017-09-14 22:12:55 UTC
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SPOKANE
Spokane County Sheriff: breakdown of society, media and problems with
mental health system to blame for Freeman High School shooting
Thu., Sept. 14, 2017, 3:04 p.m.

By Jonathan Glover
***@spokesman.com
(509) 459-5013
Twitter Facebook Email Reddit
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich blamed a breakdown of society,
the media and problems with the mental health systems for the tragedy at
Freeman High School.

Knezovich started a news conference Thursday afternoon by giving his
condolences to the Freeman community, but then offered catalysts that
caused the violence, for which he offered multiple scapegoats.

“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 as opposed to bullying,
which was the explanation offered by Sharpe.

On Wednesday, Michael Harper, 15, one of Sharpe’s friends, said Sharpe
would often watch school shooting documentaries and send his friends
videos of them on 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.”

Knezovich on Thursday pointed the finger at the media for furthering
“school shooting culture” that played into Sharpe’s fixation.

“This young gentlemen got sucked into a counter culture, a culture of
violence,” he said. “And you media, you’re to blame for it. You keep
using headlines. You keep giving them names.”

The sheriff also offered more detail about Sharpe, specifically about
his history with depression. According to court documents, Sharpe told
arresting deputies he’d 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.

“They’re always missed,” he said. “Here’s a message to those who see it
coming: you need to prevent that. Here’s 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. We’re not mind readers folks.”

Several questions asked of Knezovich by media members 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 Sheriff’s deputy Ron Nye, Freeman’s
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 that’s the way it should be,” he said. “Maybe
that’s what we need to teach our kids: that old school stuff. Love one
another.”

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2017/sep/14/spokane-county-sheriff-breakdown-of-society-media-/
benj
2017-09-14 23:24:04 UTC
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Post by a425couple
SPOKANE
Spokane County Sheriff: breakdown of society, media and problems with
mental health system to blame for Freeman High School shooting
Thu., Sept. 14, 2017, 3:04 p.m.
By Jonathan Glover
(509) 459-5013
 Twitter     Facebook     Email     Reddit
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich blamed a breakdown of society,
the media and problems with the mental health systems for the tragedy at
Freeman High School.
Knezovich started a news conference Thursday afternoon by giving his
condolences to the Freeman community, but then offered catalysts that
caused the violence, for which he offered multiple scapegoats.
“Where did we go sideways in raising our kids?” he said. “All of this
violence they consume perhaps has caused a major crisis.”
In other words, all the fantasy violence Libs create for all the media
are responsible. Libs must say they are sorry for all the violence they
have created!

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