Parents warned gun was fake, lawyer says

Organs from the clinically brain dead boy were being harvested Saturday.
LONGWOOD, Fla. (AP) -- The parents of a 15-year-old boy accused of terrorizing classmates with a pistol warned authorities the weapon likely was fake before police shot him in a middle school bathroom, a family attorney said Saturday.
Christopher Penley, of Winter Springs, was accused of pulling a pellet gun in a classroom Friday and pointing it at other pupils. When he later raised the weapon at a deputy, a SWAT team member shot him, authorities said.
Officers who had responded to the 1,100-pupil 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.
The boy's parents, Ralph and Donna Penley, were in contact with authorities during the episode and told them they believed Penley did not have a real gun, said family attorney Mark Nation. Ralph Penley went to the school to attempt to talk his son out of the situation.
"When he got to the school, they would not let him in and he was later told Christopher had been shot," Nation said.
Christopher was clinically brain dead Saturday, Nation said. "His organs are in the process of being harvested."
Friends and investigators say Christopher was bullied and emotionally distraught and went to school that day expecting to die.
Patrick Lafferty, a 15-year-old neighbor who has known Christopher about six years, said he wasn't surprised by what happened. He said Christopher 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, Patrick said.
History as runaway
Kelly Swofford, a family spokeswoman and neighbor of the boy's parents, said the boy had run away from home several times. Her 11-year-old son, Jeffery Swofford, said Christopher had said he had something planned.
"He said 'I hope I die today because I don't really like my life,"' Jeffery Swofford said.
Maurice Cotey, 13, told WKMG-TV in Orlando that he struggled with Christopher over the gun after everyone else left the classroom.
"He got me towards the closet door, he turned me around, and ... started to point the gun at me, so I started to grab for it. And he pulled it away and then I grabbed for it one more time, ... twisted it and I pointed it at him."
Maurice said after he put the gun to Christopher's legs, the gunman kicked him into the closet, where the two scuffled further, before Christopher ran out of the classroom.
The school went into lockdown.
From there, Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger said, Christopher traversed the Milwee Middle 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.
Jeffery Swofford said Christopher 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.
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