Students return after shooting

Last Wednesday, a
suspended student shot and injured four, then killed
himself.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Onlookers cheered as students filed calmly into their high school Tuesday for the first time since a suspended classmate walked into the school, passed a security guard and opened fire, wounding four people before killing himself.

Inside SuccessTech Academy, they filed through a newly installed metal detector and placed backpacks onto a conveyor for scanning.

“The goal for the day was to get them readjusted and attend the needs of any who needed special assistance,” said Ben Holbert, school district spokesman.

Only 15 students were reported absent in the school with an enrollment of about 250, Holbert said.

Classes had been canceled since two teachers and two students were injured in the shootings last Wednesday.

“I’m excited. Worried? Not at all,” said senior Jasmine Lawrence, 17, a four-year student at the school. “I always feel safe here. About the incident that happened [last] Wednesday, I was scared that day, but I feel that was just one person out of everyone who goes here.”

Community leaders and people from civic groups cheered encouragement as students and teachers walked past them to enter the downtown public school, which stresses technology and entrepreneurship for high-achieving students.

One of the wounded teachers, David Kachadourian, was back at work, six days after he was treated at a hospital for a minor wound near a shoulder.

Mayor Frank Jackson said the community greeting, which also involved clergy, was an effort to show students and staff there is concern for safety in schools.

Jackson said he has discussed with the schools’ administration the need to better identify troubled students and give them the help they need.

“That is a greater security measure to me than all the metal detectors and security guards you can have,” Jackson said.

“We have a great opportunity to identify children who have some problems. We need to pull together resources to assist children who bring problems into the school.”

John Thrasher, a 16-year-old junior, said he felt calm returning to class.

“I think it’s going to be much safer than the last time,” he said. “We didn’t have metal detectors. Now we have that. I’m going to be more comfortable.”

Armed with two revolvers, student Asa Coon, 14, fired eight shots last Wednesday, and he may have targeted teachers, Police Chief Michael McGrath said last week.

Police found the guns, .22- and .38-caliber revolvers, a box of ammunition for each and three tactical folding knives, all on or near Coon’s body.

Coon was a troubled youth and was angry, but he also was fond of chess and reading, said those who knew him.

Coon’s uncle said the teen was a bright student who saw his admission to SuccessTech as a new chance after being bullied for most of his life and receiving treatment for suicidal thoughts.

Students said Coon recently threatened to blow up the school and often wore a black trench coat, black boots, a dog collar, chains and a glove.

School officials said last week the 50,000-student district, with 110 buildings, is installing metal detectors in each school and making sure a guard is on duty in every building.

At SuccessTech, tapes from 26 security cameras were being checked.

Cleveland’s safety director, Martin Flask, said Tuesday that the review of the building’s security video is still under way.

But he said it shows Coon walked into the school, past an armed security guard there as a substitute.

“He was carrying a bag. He looked much like any other student. He was not confronted by the guard,” Flask said.

Coon was in the building for less than seven minutes when he took his own life, Flask said.

Cleveland police already assign 20 police officers to the city’s schools and will increase the number to 30 in April, Flask said.

Police spokeswoman Nancy Dominik said a photograph supposedly showing Coon’s dead body inside the school that was posted on a Web site is part of the investigation.

Coon’s mother, Lori Looney, turned herself in Tuesday at a Cleveland police station on a charge of obstructing justice, Dominik said.

The charge was unrelated to the SuccessTech shootings, she said.