"goths" plot high school massacre in New Jersey

[chelseagirl]

Massacre scenario


Friday, April 7, 2006

By JASON NARK and ERIK SCHWARTZ
Courier-Post Staff

The chaos was supposed to start during fourth-period lunch.
It would have begun with a relatively harmless food fight, something that one teacher said happens often. But authorities said things would have escalated quickly -- chairs would have been hurled across the cafeteria and the bang of a single gunshot would have sent everyone to the floor.
That's when three Winslow Township High School students would have begun executing specific students and teachers, one by one, authorities said. The teens, who are accused in juvenile court of a conspiracy to commit murder, planned to kill 25 people in the school and elsewhere in the area, police said.
"Like Columbine'
Nick Lotierzo and Chuck Sigwart, both 16-year-old sophomores at the school, said they had been hearing rumors of their classmates' alleged plot to kill students and teachers for up to two weeks but didn't know whether to take them seriously. They eat lunch during fourth period.
"We heard it was going to be like Columbine," Sigwart said after school Thursday. "We heard they were going to do it Friday at the pep rally and then it was supposed to be in the cafeteria."
Sigwart said he even heard the shooting would take place on the April 20 anniversary of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.
In addition to the murder conspiracy, police have accused the Winslow students -- a 15- and a 16-year-old from the Sicklerville section, and a 14-year-old from the Waterford section -- of making terroristic threats and conspiracy to make terroristic threats.
In court, it was brought out that one of the boys had prior court contact, which isn't necessarily an indication of arrest.
On Thursday, police charged a fourth boy, a 15-year-old Hammonton High School student, for his involvement in the plot, and authorities added what is perhaps the first use locally of a new state crime called "terrorism."
Additionally, the 14-year-old is charged with a second count of making terroristic threats and one count of simple assault for grabbing the neck of a fellow Winslow student in school March 15 and threatening to kill her. That alleged offense came to light during the police investigation of the alleged plot, said Bill Shralow, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.
The names of the four teens were not released because of their ages.
No weapons were recovered and no weapons charges have been filed. The prosecutor's office has 30 days to decide whether to move part or all of the case to adult court.
At Hammonton High School, Principal Jim Donoghue said he would meet with teachers, staff and counselors Thursday afternoon to discuss what he called an "unsettling" situation.
"We want the teachers to keep their ears open. Also, if people have any questions, students have any questions, we want to be able to handle them," Donoghue said. "At this point, there was nothing directly involving Hammonton High School. Just that this boy was apparently in contact with the other boys in some fashion."
Students described the Winslow suspects as "Goths" who were often harassed because they wore black trench coats, nail polish and makeup and hung chains from their pants. Both Lotierzo and Sigwart are members of the school's lacrosse team and believed some of their teammates were targeted.
"It's a good thing someone came out and finally said something," said Lotierzo.
Evan DeMarco, 15, heard his name was on the students' alleged hit list but said he was not aware that Winslow police and members of the prosecutor's office, including victim-witness counselors, notified all potential targets. DeMarco also shared a lunch period with the suspects.
"I knew who they were, but I didn't know them," he said.
DeMarco said he felt that many students didn't take the situation seriously.
"I think a lot of kids think it's some kind of joke," he said. "All I know is that this stuff is not supposed to happen in high school."
Pushed to the edge
Anthony Mitchell, chairman of the Winslow Township Human Relations Commission and a special education teaching assistant at the school, said deep-rooted problems at the high school and the community brought this situation to a head.
"This thing isn't going away. This was just an incident within a bigger picture of problems," said Mitchell. "All the symptoms were there -- they cried out for help. I'm disappointed in the school community."
"What would it take to drive a kid to that point? What do you think it's like in this school -- these kids are so fragile. There's so much peer pressure," said Mitchell, who is running for the Winslow Township Committee.
Students knew about the plot "for at least a week" Mitchell said.
Authorities said the leader of the group, the 15-year-old from Sicklerville, tried twice, including last week, to buy guns from underground dealers. One took his money without supplying a weapon. Another was arrested on a drug charge before a sale was reached, authorities said.
As school let out Thursday afternoon, a Winslow police cruiser patrolled the senior parking lot. The school's absentee rate was about 8 percent to 14 percent, twice the normal rate, said Assistant Superintendent Daniel M. Swirsky.
"My daughter's been scared all week, freaking out," said Kathy Laverty, parent of a Winslow High senior and a sophomore. The senior showed more emotion, she said.
"She's crying. She said it's horrible. She said there's cops all over the place. It's just scary for the kids. I encouraged her this morning. I said, "You know, it seems to be under control.' So she decided to go today, but now she's even worse than she felt yesterday," Laverty said.
"So I said, "You could stay home.' But now there's the district policy where they can only have so many days off and they don't graduate. So, hopefully, this will be an excused day," Laverty said.
Swirsky said absences in excess of 16 days during a year are "problematic. But we're flexible because of the circumstances."
Laverty, who is president of the school district's paraprofessionals union, said her daughter and other students believe that today is "supposed to be the day." I said, "Don't you understand that it's a terroristic threat?"
Taking control
Township resident Esperanza Santos, 60, has two grandchildren in the middle school. She told both of them them to drop to the ground if they ever heard gunshots in school.
"I don't want to scare them too much, but this is not the first time something like this happened in this country," she said.
Sandra Barnes, also 60, has a grandson in middle school and found news of the plot "nerve-racking."
"I think they have it under control, though," she said.
Superior Court Judge Angelo J. DiCamillo Thursday ordered the four boys held in the Camden County Youth Detention Center in Blackwood and that they undergo psychiatric and psychological testing before a hearing Thursday.
The Winslow students have been suspended from school, interim Superintendent Michael E. Schreiner said.
One expert said the atmosphere of a school can contribute to students' behavior problems.
"The most important issue is the climate of the school," said Rutgers University psychology professor Maurice Elias. "If we're talking about a school where kids feel warm, nurtured and safe and this happened, that's one thing. If we're talking about a school with lots of tension, that's another."
Winslow High has received considerable criticism recently, including harsh words in Schreiner's "State of the District" report last month.
He said that before he replaced the principal earlier this year, the school was "chaotic and disorganized (and) rapidly becoming an embarrassment to all concerned."
Things are better under new Principal Michele Ferner, he said, and "the creation and enforcement of a strict Zero Tolerance Policy addressing areas of substance possession, assault, terroristic threats/false alarms, and firearms violations is scheduled for Board of Education approval."
Elias said there "can be subsets of kids in a school that feel really neglected. You talk about the rhetoric of the (federal) No Child Left Behind (law). This is what happens when kids are left behind, and they feel hopeless. They feel like the adults don't care about them."
School board members Robert Bartolone, Robert Pupchik and John Tomasello visited Winslow High and the adjacent Winslow Middle School on Thursday morning.
"There's a plan in place to ensure security," said Bartolone, school board vice president. "Everything's been very controlled."
Swirsky said the district would make available counseling today "both at the middle school and the high school, providing support to students, staff and parents who are interested."
Elias said that was a good idea.
"I think the school has to leave time for kids to talk about this issue, perhaps large group meetings, classroom meetings," Elias said. "There's a definite need for
kids to talk about all this. It may
clue them in to whether this is a
complete aberration or if there
are other kids feeling similarly."
CourierPostonline.com


*SIGH*

[WolfMoon]

Like we need more supposed 'goths' running around giving us a bad name!

[Corpus_Draconis]

Yeah really.
But compare this article:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/app...604080355/1006

with this one:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...cal&id=4069760

The former is still negative, but better than the latter...

[gruel]

It seems as if it's always the same:
Wearing all Black+the "Occult"+'strange' music and/or hair=Gothic killer.

[Icarian Decoding]

I'm just thinking:
Damn fuckers. They stole my idea.

[Icarian Decoding]

Right.
I'll be carrying the shotgun with Barney's head on it.
And remember. The codeword is "Farfegnutentinklewinkelsnifferwifferlifferbiffert anglesmooch".

[Icarian Decoding]

That's two words, dumbass.
CODEWORD.
W-O-R-D.
A secret word used as a code name or password.
WORD!!!!
MOTHER FUCKER!!!!!

I really need to stop drinking mountain dew. =)

[Icarian Decoding]

The fact that there are no spaces.
Making it one word!
HA!!!!

[Pathogen.]

Originally Posted by WolfMoon

Like we need more supposed 'goths' running around giving us a bad name!

Can you say "Denver"? Can you say "Harris & Klebold"? Can you say "Trenchcoat Mafia Shootings Revisited"?, boys & girls? I know you can.

Like we need any more horrible incidents to further demonise our subculture to outsiders.
I'm just going to leave it at that.

[Corpus_Draconis]

Originally Posted by Icarian Decoding

The fact that there are no spaces.
Making it one word!
HA!!!!

There is a space.
"Farfegnutentinklewinkelsnifferwifferlifferbif ferta nglesmooch".

[mephistopheles]

black nail polish and dropchains and teen angst?

sounds like no more than some angry emo kids. curse the emos.

[Engulfed_in_darkness]

Originally Posted by WolfMoon

Like we need more supposed 'goths' running around giving us a bad name!

I know, poseurs need that much attention they have reinact an even more pathetic version of the columbine incident.

[burningangel]

Uh... i cant find where it refers to them as goth in the article.... Could somebody highlight it plz?

[burningangel]

thanks Xnguela

Yup, sounds like they were probably metalheads, anarchistic/genericly angry punks, or just mabey "goth". Cause god knows, genericly wearing black makes you a perfect example of goth, or any other social group.

Now whats this i hear about red velvet?

[Icarian Decoding]

Originally Posted by Corpus_Draconis

There is a space.
"Farfegnutentinklewinkelsnifferwifferlifferbif ferta nglesmooch".

....
/me puts on dunce hat.

[Miriel]

The problem goes much deeper than just "oh they are goth hence they are evil"
It is unbeliveable how much pressure the kids today have to take. If I compare my mums memories of school and my own... I feel like a hundred years have passed. Not only have the demands on students grown but also the society has changed. I for example had to fight my way through my first school (9 grades). I mean fighting literally so that in the end someones blood was flowing and I had to do it because at first I was a bit smaller than the other kids and then I developed boobs earlier than other girls.
So if one gets beat up just because being smaller or whatever than being a goth or just plain different might put you into a hospital.
And I have it easy... the school I attend right now has only 350 students and most peolpe are just too afraid of me to do anything.

Children are so mean to each other and adults refuse to accept their problems as real ones.
This is a really messy post... Im sorry... but I just havent had enough coffee yet.

[Blushing Heliophobe]

The demands that kids today in most societies have are nothing like the demands that have been around for most of mankind's existance.

Granted, bad stuff still happens, but now we have Child Protection Services and Labor Laws. In the industrial age, kids worked when they were ten years old - 14 hour days, 6 days a week.

If you let the media into your mind as a teenager, then you will probably let the media inside your head as an adult. Peer pressure doesn't go away when you graduate and even when you're not in school anymore chances are you still won't look like the women on the magazine covers.

Fuck what other people and the press label you. Life isn't all that bad.

The real world isn't that much better, Miriel - last verbal scuffle I got into at my job, I had a 250 pound weightlifting-type guy try to get me into a knock down fight with him because he didn't like the fact that I wouldn't jump to his orders. I am a 135 pound woman, and this happens in the US military, of all places, every day.

I'm not saying that just because discrimination exists that makes it right, but I do think you should realize that it's not just the way high school works, it's the world in general.

Don't put your fists down anytime soon.

[Miriel]

I didnt exactly think of high school when postin this, but more of the fact that all the crap starts at home. Mothers and fathers fighting, donig extra work so they could provide their children a good life. Meanwhile they totally abandon their children... coming home from work, being too tired to socialise...

The society is rotten to the core. I see no solution to this ongoing madness.
I think I will proceed with my world-domination plans and reorganise everything one day.:P

[mydnyght]

*a single dark tear streaked his face*

[roserougesang]

.....
We all know about the wars going on over in the Middle East but things like this are much closer to home *sigh*

Along with world peace we should add 'understanding of subcultures' onto our Hopes for the Future lists.

[Draconysius]

Yes, the news populace are a relentless and unpleasant bunch. That's why I watch FreeSpeechTV. Fight the fascists! Seriously, though, there's not much anyone can do about them. The mainstream public practically begs for their dramatized swill.

[Draconysius]

Originally Posted by mephistopheles

black nail polish and dropchains and teen angst?

sounds like no more than some angry emo kids. curse the emos.

I am seriously considering making a "words of wisdom" tee that reads "Make poetry not angst".

[Morrigan_Dubh]

Originally Posted by roserougesang

.....
We all know about the wars going on over in the Middle East but things like this are much closer to home *sigh*

Unless we happen to live in the Middle East, which some of us do.

[Engulfed_in_darkness]

I saw the news last night, They were talking about It. If they werent goth it is so obvious the media is trying to sabatoge us.

[Sobeh]

Originally Posted by Engulfed_in_darkness

I saw the news last night, They were talking about It. If they werent goth it is so obvious the media is trying to sabatoge us.

Two blatant generalizations, 'the media' and 'us', I'd be careful about using this kind of essentialist thinking often, if at all. Most of 'the media' who report this are picking it up from news feeds and relaying it if they think it's (pun!) a hot enough topic to warrant viewership of an evening. They aren't doing their own research, but instead likely just copying and pasting the first shit that hit the press.