School killer should be tried as an adult, says DA
LAFOLLETTE, Tenn. - There was anguish and shock on display as mourners lined up for the funeral of Ken Bruce, an Assistant Principal at the 1,400-student Campbell County Comprehensive High School, who was shot dead by a student named Ken Bartley Jr.
Bartley was a freshman at the school and was called to the office when several students said that he was carrying a gun on the campus. Principal Gary Seale and Assistant Principals Jim Pierce and Ken Bruce confronted him and asked him about the gun. He then allegedly opened fire and in the process Bruce was killed. Seale and Pierce were shot in the thigh and chest respectively and are in the hospital.
Some administrators and an unnamed assistant teacher quelled the boy. Schools director Judy Blevins lauded their efforts and said, "The courageous efforts of Gary and Jim and Ken probably saved many other lives and the lives of our students. So we have to think about what they have done and how they reacted and what they possibly saved this community."
Campbell County Sheriff Ron McClelland, who attended the funeral of Bruce said, "Children loved him. He wasn't the type to intimidate kids or anything. They knew they could come to him with anything."
It is being thought that Bartley, who is currently being held without bond in a juvenile detention facility in Knoxville, should be tried as an adult since he alone was responsible for the gun being in his possession. "It is appropriate that he be tried as an adult and subject to adult penalties. No one else is criminally responsible for the fact that this young man had this gun," District Attorney Paul Phillips said.
The school is to reopen on Monday after being closed for two days.
|
