chardon shootings Teen had violence in life from start

By Rachel Dissell

Plain Dealer

CHARDON

It appears that T.J. Lane had violence in his life from the beginning.

Geauga County court records show the father of the teen who authorities say shot five students at Chardon High School on Monday had been arrested many times for violent crimes against women in his life, including Lane’s mother. More than once, police or courts warned him to stay away from the boy and his mother.

Authorities said the teen walked into the high- school cafeteria early Monday morning, took out a gun and aimed it at several boys. In the end, four students were seriously wounded and one was dead. He is to appear in Geauga County Juvenile Court today.

Fellow students said the 17-year-old junior was quiet. Some said he was sweet, while others said he had a simmering temper.

His Facebook page, now deleted, had one picture that showed him bare-chested, glaring down toward the camera. In another picture, dated 11 days ago, he is sitting on a bed peering out from behind a giant teddy bear with a heart that says, “Be Mine.”

He listed his interests as anime and primitive hunting.

For his high school, he listed the Pink Floyd lyric, “We don’t need no thought control.”

T.J. Lane attended Lake Academy, an alternative school in Willougby for students in Lake and Geauga counties. A woman who answered the phone there declined to comment Monday.

The teen had one prior case in Geauga County Juvenile court two years ago. Officials declined to give out information on the case. But several at the court said the family’s troubles were known to social workers in the county.

The father, Thomas Lane Jr., was known to county authorities because of a series of arrests for abusing women he had children with, court records show. It’s not clear how much contact the father and son had.

But between 1995 and 1997, both the boy’s father and his mother, Sarah A. Nolan, were charged with domestic violence against each other.

The father later was charged with assaulting a police officer, and he served time in prison after trying to suffocate another woman he married several years after his son was born, according to court records.

He held the woman’s head under running water and bashed it into a wall, leaving a dent in the drywall, the court records said.

But soon after he went to prison, the woman wrote a letter asking that he be released early.

She had divorced Thomas Lane but said in the letter that he was always a good father to their twin daughters and a son she had before they married.

Some kids, who attended a vigil at a church on Chardon’s square Monday evening, said that the teen lived with his grandparents and had multiple step- and half siblings. His grandmother, Carol Nolan, declined to comment.

One young lady said he attended a church youth- group several years back while he was dating a girl.

Many students said he was heartbroken when she broke up with him and later began dating another boy, who was shot Monday.

“He seemed like a nice boy,” said Anna Mullet, who met T.J. when he attended the youth-group meetings.

Anthony Gracco, a junior at Chardon High School, said he and T.J. Lane played basketball together after school several years ago.

He said Lane seemed pretty happy when he was around him.

“I was shocked,” he said. “I didn’t think he would do something like this. He wasn’t a violent kid. I’m sad about it.”