news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060114/ap_on_re_us/school_evacuated

LONGWOOD, Fla. - A reportedly suicidal teenager who was shot by police while brandishing a pellet gun in his middle school has died of his injuries, his family's spokeswoman said Saturday.



Kelly Swofford, a neighbor who had been with the family all morning, stood outside their home and confirmed that 15-year-old Christopher Penley had died.

"They want to donate his organs because that is what Chris would want," Swofford said. "The family is devastated, just devastated."

Penley, of Winter Springs, was accused of pulling the pellet gun in a classroom Friday and pointing it at other students before forcing one into a closet, then leading deputies and SWAT team members on a chase that ended in a school bathroom.

When he raised the gun at a deputy, a SWAT team member shot him, authorities said.

Officers who had responded to the 1,100-student school in suburban Orlando believed the gun was a Beretta 9mm, and didn't learn until after the shooting that it was a pellet gun.

Police had said Friday night that the boy was on "advanced life support." The hospital refused to release any information Saturday.

"Everybody in the whole neighborhood is really upset," Paul Cavallini, who lives across the street from the Penleys, said Saturday. "He was a quiet kid — polite and everything. He was just a normal teenager."

However, friends and investigators say he was also bullied and emotionally distraught, and went to school that day expecting to die.

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."

"He would put his headphones on and walk up and down the street and he would work out a lot," preferring to keep to himself, Lafferty said.

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.

At a news conference following the shooting Friday at suburban Orlando's Milwee Middle School, authorities put the pellet gun side-by-side with a Beretta. It appeared to have black paint covering the red or pink markings on the muzzle that may have indicated to officers that it was a nonlethal weapon.

"As you can see, it doesn't take a professional to see how close this looks to the real thing. I would not be able to tell the difference," said Joyce Dawley, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent in charge of the investigation.

Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said the incident began about 9:38 a.m., when another student saw Penley with the weapon and struggled with him for it. Pointing the gun at the other student's back, Penley directed him to a closet, dimmed the lights and left the classroom, Eslinger said.

The school went into lockdown.

From there, the sheriff said, Penley traversed the school campus before ending up in a bathroom. By then, more than 40 officers, including SWAT and negotiators, were on scene. He refused to drop the firearm, Eslinger said, and was shot after pointing it at a SWAT deputy.

"The student said he was going to kill himself or die," Eslinger said.

Jeffery Swofford said Penley had been in a disagreement with someone, allegedly over a girl. There was going to be a fight Friday, he said. "I heard a rumor that he had a BB gun, but I didn't think he really had one," he added.

At the school Friday, Marie Hargis, whose son and daughter attend Milwee, held a sign that read "Stop the violence."

"My youngest daughter is just very emotionally messed up," she said. "She started crying and said, `Mommy, I don't want to go back.' They should not fear having to go to school."

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"Everybody in the whole neighborhood is really upset," Paul Cavallini, who lives across the street from the Penleys, said Saturday. "He was a quiet kid — polite and everything. He was just a normal teenager."

uh...normal teens don't do this.

aww that poor thing

Point a gun at a cop (real or otherwise) and end up getting shot.  I like that program.  If you are stupid enough to point a weapon at a cop you are stupid enough to get shot and hopefully be removed from the gene pool.

Sounds like a good call to me.  

Little shit deserves it for being such a fucktard.

Bum deal any way you cut it, but I feel a lot worse for the cop who had to shoot him.

He deserved it no question about that, but it sucks for the cop.

Quoted: Point a gun at a cop (real or otherwise) and end up getting shot.  I like that program.  If you are stupid enough to point a weapon at a cop you are stupid enough to get shot and hopefully be removed from the gene pool.

+1

Sounds like he got what he was looking for.

ETA: Who the fuck is still in 8th Grade at 15 years old?

I would still like to know more about his past, like why he is in the 8th grade at 15?

I bet that cop feels like shit though, but he did the right thing given the situation.

I think if I were 15 and still in the 8th grade, I'd want to end it too.

I'm glad the SOB is dead.
At least he didn't take anyone else with him.

Quoted: Sounds like he got what he was looking for. ETA: Who the fuck is still in 8th Grade at 15 years old?

No kidding I was 15 in the 11th grade  The kid must have been a real overachiever, a regular Einstein.  

Too bad.  Given what we know now, fully justified, but a sad thing to have happen for everyone including the poor cop who's only reasonable choice was to do his job.

Quoted: Point a gun at a cop (real or otherwise) and end up getting shot.  I like that program.  If you are stupid enough to point a weapon at a cop you are stupid enough to get shot and hopefully be removed from the gene pool.

Hell yes!!

Wow! No JBT comments yet......I'm shocked!

Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like he got what he was looking for. ETA: Who the fuck is still in 8th Grade at 15 years old? No kidding I was 15 in the 11th grade  The kid must have been a real overachiever, a regular Einstein.

You graduated when you were 16?

If people around him had cared half as much about him while he was alive as dead, I doubt this would have happened. I'd imagine the parents are talking with several lawyers right now figuring out just $$$HOW$$$$ much he meant to them. It was a good shoot by the cops but it'll end up a media nightmare. Why didn't the kid who seems to have had an idea it was a pellet gun beforehand tell someone?

on the cops side on this one.....

good shoot

Should have strapped a couple of poodles to himself, the cops would have shot him sooner...

Quoted: "Everybody in the whole neighborhood is really upset," Paul Cavallini, who lives across the street from the Penleys, said Saturday. "He was a quiet kid — polite and everything. He was just a normal teenager."

Really????

Sorry for the kid's family, sorry for the officer (though it was a clean shoot).

Nothing good here.  Nothing.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like he got what he was looking for. ETA: Who the fuck is still in 8th Grade at 15 years old? No kidding I was 15 in the 11th grade  The kid must have been a real overachiever, a regular Einstein.   You graduated when you were 16?

I was 15 in 11th grade too; Graduated at 17.
11th grade-15/16
12th grade-16/17

Quoted: Quoted: Point a gun at a cop (real or otherwise) and end up getting shot.  I like that program.  If you are stupid enough to point a weapon at a cop you are stupid enough to get shot and hopefully be removed from the gene pool. Hell yes!! Wow! No JBT comments yet......I'm shocked!

cause the kid actually deserved to get shot

Quoted: I think if I were 15 and still in the 8th grade, I'd want to end it too.

Someone can be 15 and in the 8th grade and only be held back once.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Point a gun at a cop (real or otherwise) and end up getting shot.  I like that program.  If you are stupid enough to point a weapon at a cop you are stupid enough to get shot and hopefully be removed from the gene pool. Hell yes!! Wow! No JBT comments yet......I'm shocked! cause the kid actually deserved to get shot

Definitely, but I'm sure someone will be along to bitch, moan and cry about how the cops could have handled it better.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like he got what he was looking for. ETA: Who the fuck is still in 8th Grade at 15 years old? No kidding I was 15 in the 11th grade  The kid must have been a real overachiever, a regular Einstein.   You graduated when you were 16? I was 15 in 11th grade too; Graduated at 17. 11th grade-15/16 12th grade-16/17

Yup I was the youngest in my class.

*generate your own tombstone here

Darwin wins.

Oh well

Mark left.

sorry for his family.
I hope that harvesting his organs saves someone who then leads a good life.

ktm500

Sounds like a good dose of chlorine for the gene pool.

Quoted: Bum deal any way you cut it, but I feel a lot worse for the cop who had to shoot him.

Agreed.  Sad for everyone involved....especially for the cops, the students, and for Penley's family.

Quoted: was accused of pulling the pellet gun in a classroom Friday and pointing it at other students before forcing one into a closet, then leading deputies and SWAT team members on a chase that ended in a school bathroom.

Pretty much the SOP the majority of LE agencies adopted after Columbine. You dont assume its a hostage situation that you can contain and wait out or negotiate. instead the first officers on scene enter the school and kill the gunman.

This is definitely a sad situation. However, the only person that died was the perpetrator. When you point a weapon at a cop, be prepared to take the consequences.

At least none of the following happened:

1. We didn't have another Columbine where many innocent kids were murdered.

2. No cops died in the incident.

3.  We didn't give the gun-control nuts fodder to start up another AWB.

Quoted: Bum deal any way you cut it, but I feel a lot worse for the cop who had to shoot him.

Yep, I hate hearing about suicide-by-cop for that reason.

Quoted: Bum deal any way you cut it, but I feel a lot worse for the cop who had to shoot him.

Is the organ donation a ploy by the parents to gain sympathy and national attention so they can get a big settlement? Cause, I never heard of a troubled teenager worried about his/her organs going for a good cause.

[sarcasm] maybe we should start toy gun registration like they do in the UK [/sarcasm]

Quoted: Is the organ donation a ploy by the parents to gain sympathy and national attention so they can get a big settlement? Cause, I never heard of a troubled teenager worried about his/her organs going for a good cause.

That was the FIRST thing my jaudiced mind suggested. I very seriously doubt JR told his family "if I die violently, please give my organs to be used for the children".

Quoted: Quoted: Is the organ donation a ploy by the parents to gain sympathy and national attention so they can get a big settlement? Cause, I never heard of a troubled teenager worried about his/her organs going for a good cause. That was the FIRST thing my jaudiced mind suggested. I very seriously doubt JR told his family "if I die violently, please give my organs to be used for the children".

Whatever.  The parents of minor children children can donate at will.  

Don't you EVER watch ER?  

I'de be willing to lay 50 to 1 odds that he was on ridilen or some sort of anti depressant.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Sounds like he got what he was looking for. ETA: Who the fuck is still in 8th Grade at 15 years old? No kidding I was 15 in the 11th grade  The kid must have been a real overachiever, a regular Einstein.   You graduated when you were 16?

Not uncommon, I am graduating when I am 17. Kid deserved it.

Successful suicide by cop. Kid played them like a piano.

I am Jack's complete lack of sympathy...

Quoted: This is definitely a sad situation. However, the only person that died was the perpetrator. When you point a weapon at a cop, be prepared to take the consequences. At least none of the following happened: 1. We didn't have another Columbine where many innocent kids were murdered. 2. No cops died in the incident. 3.  We didn't give the gun-control nuts fodder to start up another AWB.

Wrong on #3.  The logic will be that an innocent child would not have been killed if guns were illegal, since kids can't obtain things which are illegal.  Just like drugs.

Quoted: Quoted: Bum deal any way you cut it, but I feel a lot worse for the cop who had to shoot him. Agreed.  Sad for everyone involved....especially for the cops, the students, and for Penley's family.

Exactly.

The kid was mental.  It's not that he deserved to be taken out like our snot-nosed immanure  member or our godless Darwin supporters think.  The poor fuck was mental.

Any of you bastages watch someone you care for go downhill?  Oh yeah, they wanted their brains to get scrambled by God knows why.  Especially to be personally miserable.  Yeah, right.

People that are rational but put themselves in a position to have to be taken out deserve a bullet by anyone.  Mental people in the same position don't deserve it... just has to be done sometimes.

Dave S

Okay, Hannibal Lector deserves one right between the eyes.

Serves him right, parents didnt teach him right from wrong.  

Society minus one nutcase equals a better night's sleep for me.

Quoted: Oh yeah, they wanted their brains to get scrambled by God knows why.

Anyone up for a friendly wager that the kid was on Ritalin and/or other anti-depressants(aka mind control soul sucking dope) for ADD?
Double or nothing that he had just quit cold turkey?

Call it in the air.

wganz
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