[url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/06/14/school.suicide.ap/index.html]Student kills himself at school with father's gun[/url]

Saturday, June 14, 2003 Posted: 9:18 AM EDT (1318 GMT)

[url]http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/US/06/14/school.suicide.ap/vert.suicide.jpg[/url]
Davey Roby is shown in an undated family photo. Roby, 12, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

WELLSBORO, Pennsylvania (AP) -- As he waited with his tractor-trailer to pick up a load of coal from a mine, David W. Roby used his cell phone for what would be his last conversation with his 12-year-old son. Before they hung up, he made sure Davey was getting ready for school and said he loved him.

An hour later the camouflage-clad fifth-grader was dying on a school bathroom floor of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Seven of his father's guns and hundreds of bullets were strewn around him.

Although relatives said they saw no warning signs, Davey's classmates told police that he was picked on by other pupils and had talked for months about killing students and teachers at the 548-student Rock L. Butler Middle School.

Roby, 44, is left with a heartache that won't go away and, like others in this picturesque community 15 miles south of the New York state line in central Pennsylvania, more questions than answers.

"We wonder if there was something going on inside that we just couldn't see," the father said Thursday, three days after the funeral.

The shooting, the third school suicide in Pennsylvania in two months, took place shortly before the start of classes on June 4. Three friends who had been in the bathroom with Davey left when they saw the guns, and school officials say one of them went to tell staff members.

After a fifth-grade teacher looked into the bathroom and confirmed Davey had the guns, the school started an emergency lockdown. A police officer responding to the call was about 30 feet from the bathroom when the boy put a Colt .45 handgun to the side of his head and pulled the trigger.

"We all heard a gunshot but everyone thought it was thunder," said 13-year-old sixth-grader Kristen Smith, who said Davey was "really shy" and got picked on because he weighed nearly 170 pounds.

The three other boys were stunned to see the arsenal Davey pulled from his father's scuba-diving bag that morning, said Tioga County District Attorney John F. Cowley. Authorities believe the other boys had not signed on to any school-attack plan, he said.

"I think in the end a scared little boy took his life because he was just cornered and he didn't know what to do," Roby said.

Roby believes that his son was acting out a child's fantasy and didn't intend to hurt anyone. He also suspects the other boys had indeed been part of the planning, citing the number of weapons involved as well as an incident in his own office the night before.

Davey and another boy were role-playing an espionage game with toy guns and ski masks. The game may have been practice for an assault on the school the next morning, the father said.

Roby said he does not blame the other boys for Davey's death. "These kids are devastated. I took time (at the funeral) to hug them and tell them that there's no hard feelings."

A hunter like many others in Tioga County, Roby enrolled his son in a hunter-safety course and made sure his own weapons were locked up. But in a fateful twist, he hung the key on a wall hook after finding it underneath the couch just two days earlier.

Roby speculated that after he left the house, Davey used the key to take the two handguns, three rifles, two shotguns and ample ammunition.

"He chose what I would say were his favorite firearms. He wasn't afraid to shoot the big guns and he liked them," Roby said.

The father felt he could trust his son, who he described as an obedient boy who spent the night before his death doing laundry and other chores.

But the file from his parents' 1997 divorce at the county courthouse indicates Davey received psychiatric treatment and that his mother expressed concerns about "psychotic" and "uncontrollable" violent outbursts.

The mother, Sharon Peet of Middlebury Center, did not return several telephone messages this week. Phone messages left with Roby on Friday seeking comment on the divorce records were not immediately returned.

Father and son lived alone in an unincorporated village known as Broughton Hollow, next-door to remnants of a propane business that Roby's father once operated.

An average student, Davey played sports, was active in a church youth group, loved fishing, and had recently discovered a passion and talent for go-cart racing. He won a third-place trophy during his first race.

Although Davey enjoyed playing "Metal Gear Solid," a commando-themed video game, his interests had lately evolved toward car-racing and flight-simulation games, his father said.

Davey did not leave a note, and a police examination of his computer and reading habits turned up no obvious clues about his reason for killing himself.

"You never can (tell) with a suicide, really," said Tioga County Coroner James Wilson. "Somebody's pretty desperate."


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Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Guns in the home has no correlation to violence.

racing enthusiast propane retailes with guns?  boy, does that hit too close to home.........

[:(]

[V]






Lock up your guns and don't leave the key hanging where anyone can get it.  That's the point of locking them up.  What a fucking shame.  And another black mark against gun owners.  More proof that we can't be trusted with firearms.

I have to ask this question, as sad as this story is:

If he "received psychiatric treatment" does that mean he was on one or more of the various mind-altering chemicals we feed our children today when they begin to exhibit a personality?

Call me crazy, but I don't think you need 7 guns and hundreds of rounds of ammo to plug yourself. This kid was thinking about taking a few people with him, and chickened out (thankfully).

Bad parenting.

Kids are really mean at that age, and the dip-shit educators are too busy teaching why Christ is bad and heather has two mommies to control the meanness in the schools.

That is why we see so much stuff like this.

The death of a child is always a tragedy regardless of the circumstances.

That said, what effing moron leaves firearms unlocked or with a child accessible key? If not to secure them from youngsters in the home, at least from theft in case of a break-in.

Camo. Almost as scary as a US Postal Service uniform....

Happyshooter has it. Although you must give a little credit to the kid for thinking better of it. Educators these days telling little Billy one of his fathers is here...

Darwin junior?

I am sad that he made the wrong decision yet happy that he didn't make an even worse one.

Why would heather have two mommies.....er oh.....never mind.

Preach it brother!!

As posted by KODoc:




This is just more press generated tripe.

We seem no longer to be able to understand that sh*t happens.

I have no problem with my kids having access to all of my firearms.

This is just one of those unfortunate circumstances that has, does, and will continue to happen..it's a fact of life.

If ever there comes a time that I feel I have to lock up my guns to prevent my KIDS from stealing them, it's time to re-evaluate my kids and/or parenting skills.

As to the camo vs. postal uniforms...??????

I guess I don't get that one.

lets blame everyone...blame the video games! blame the parents! blame the medicine!




he put the bullet in his head, people....

I got picked on a bit in elementary, middle and high school.  At least until about my Junior year.  By then, I had gotten bigger than most of the bullies and realized it.  Didn't put up with their crap anymore after that.  Anyway, I had access to guns growing up and never once thought about bring them to school to shoot someone or myself.  A big difference between those kids and me...I wasn't drugged for being a boy.  My parents understood that boys just act a certain way growing up and you don't need to drug them to get them through life.  I knew of a few guys I went to school with that ended up on various mind controlling drugs because the school recommended it to their parents.

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You're right, being a guy is NOT fashionable and PC today. The establishment wants all guys to be femine and gentle types.

Also I think this is part of a subtle campaign on behalf of the news media to renew the '94 AWB. Wait until we get closer to the renewal date, and these stories will be coming from the news media fast and furious. Thing will get outright blatant & furious and not so subtle.