ERIE Suit over slaying brings proposal

ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- The family of a middle school teacher gunned down by a boy at a school dance would receive $189,000 as part of a proposed settlement to resolve lawsuits stemming from the shooting five years ago.
Relatives of John Gillette, a science teacher at James W. Parker Middle School in Edinboro, have asked a judge to approve a $300,000 settlement that would end their 1999 lawsuit against the parents of Andrew Wurst and a similar suit by a fellow classmate wounded in the 1998 shooting. The Gillettes would then agree not to seek the Wursts' personal assets.
The Gillettes alleged that Catherine and Jerome Wurst were negligent because their son, Andrew Jerome Wurst, then 14, got the handgun and ammunition used in the April 24, 1998, shooting from an unlocked dresser drawer. They also said the Wursts failed to control the boy or adequately attend to his mental and emotional well-being.
Wurst, now 19, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and other charges and is serving a 30- to 60-year sentence in state prison. He abandoned an insanity defense and admitted killing Gillette, shooting two other classmates and threatening to kill his principal.
One of the classmates, Jacob Tury, shot in the abdomen, also sued.
"This has been a very painful process for all the parties," said Dale Huntley, who represents Jerome Wurst. The Wursts have been in divorce proceedings since November 1998, Huntley said.
A hearing is scheduled Tuesday.