Ohio teen pleads not guilty to school shooting

Asso­ci­ated Press

CHARDON — A teenager pleaded not guilty Fri­day to shoot­ing and killing three stu­dents and wound­ing three oth­ers in the cafe­te­ria of a high school in sub­ur­ban Cleveland.

T.J. Lane, 17, told a judge that he under­stood the charges dur­ing his first court appear­ance since being indicted this week on charges of aggra­vated mur­der, attempted aggra­vated mur­der and felo­nious assault.

Lane will be tried as an adult in the Feb. 27 shoot­ings at Chardon High School. He could face life in prison if convicted.

Geauga County Com­mon Pleas Judge For­rest Burt set Lane’s bond at $1 mil­lion on Friday.

Pros­e­cu­tors have said Lane has admit­ted tak­ing a .22-caliber pis­tol and a knife to the high school and fir­ing 10 shots at a group of stu­dents sit­ting at a cafe­te­ria table at the start of the school day.

A sheriff’s deputy tes­ti­fied at a hear­ing in May that Lane was wear­ing a T-shirt with the word “Killer” when he was found about a mile from the school.

Killed in the attacks were Demetrius Hewlin, 16, Rus­sell King Jr., 17, and Daniel Parmer­tor, 16.

Lane isn’t eli­gi­ble for the death penalty in Ohio because he is under 18.

No motive has been estab­lished for the shooting.

Lane attended an alter­na­tive school for stu­dents who haven’t done well in tra­di­tional schools. He was at Chardon wait­ing for a bus.

Posted by AP News on Jun 8 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.