givemetime

Warren Glowatski was convicted of second-degree murder in June 1999. He

received a life sentence. He was eligible for parole after seven years, since he

was a teenager at the time of the murder, but his first parole hearing was denied

in 2004 but due to the fact that Warren expressed remorse at Reena’s death, her

family did not contest his access to day parole. He was granted day parole in

2007 and full parole in 2010. When granted parole, Warren (who’d become

involved in healing circles and other forms of restorative justice while inside)

hugged the Virks and all the members of the parole board.

Kelly Ellard was tried three times. She was first convicted in March 2000 for

second-degree murder. However, this was overturned in 2003. In the second

trial, there was a hung jury and it ended in 2004. During her numerous trials, her

bail was revoked at one point when she was charged with assault. The attack

came on a 58-year-old woman in a park in Vancouver. A conviction was made

on her third trial, but it was set aside and an appeal was made to the Supreme

Court of Canada. Here, the conviction and sentencing were upheld.

Nicole Cook, who lived in a group home, claimed to have started the incident

that led to Reena’s first beating. In anger, she’d put out a cigarette on Reena’s

face. She returned to the scene of the crime and took Reena’s sweater and shoes.

However, on the MSNBC's documentary "Bloodlust Under the Bridge", despite

the fact that she continued to beat and kick Reena, she denied having anything to

do with her death and, when asked if the murder would’ve happened if she

hadn’t started the mayhem, replied, "I don't know. Maybe” (Dateline NBC).

By 2012, Kelly Ellard had still not expressed remorse or taken responsibility for

her part in Reena’s murder. Reena’s father claimed Ellard had just, “Made it

harder for herself” and stated that, “Anybody can be forgiven”; although in her

case this was proving extremely difficult since she hadn’t shown any signs of

change. (Canadian Press, 2012).

School Shootings

Over the last past twenty years, it seems like every time you turn on the TV

news there’s another new story of yet another school shooting. Many of these

result in multiple deaths and are the actions of a fellow classmate. Many of the

children involved in the shootings have a history of being bullied or made fun of,

although there are also instances of depression, bipolar disorder, and other forms

of mental illness and personality disorders that have played their part. In the

following section, we’ll discuss some of the school shootings that might not be

the most infamous, but are still equally tragic. We’ll look at what happened and

what the motivations and ramifications of them were.

#1 Andrew Golden & Mitchell Johnson

In March, 1998, 11-year-old Andrew Golden and 13-year-old Mitchell Johnson

open fired on the Westside Middle School playground, hitting fifteen people.

Andrew and Mitchell were exasperated at being turned down by the girls they

were interested in. One student, 13-year-old Dustin Cambell, claimed that

Mitchell Johnson had said, ''Everyone that hates me, everyone that I don't like is

going to die” and another student, Charles Vanoven, said Mitchell told him he

was going to shoot all the girls who’d broken up with him. (Kifner, 1998)

Indeed, all the students who died were female.

On March 24, they set off the fire alarm, which evacuated the school onto the

playground. Once outside, the two boys fired into the crowd. They killed five

(four female students, one teacher) and injured ten (nine students, one teacher).

Andrew helped Mitchell load camping supplies, weapons and snacks into

Mitchell’s mother’s vehicle the night before. Weapons included four handguns

and two semiautomatic rifles. They’d apparently planned on running off and

going into hiding after the shootings.

Classmates remembered both boys as being bullies. They talked about firearms a

lot and how they were in a “gang.” People remembered Mitchell talking about

how he wanted to kill his ex-girlfriend, Candace, for breaking up with him. Rev.

Jonny Watkins, who counseled a lot of the Westside students, stated that

Mitchell, “Wore red all the time and talked about killing animals. He was always

threatening people and getting into fights”. (Kifner, 1998) Andrew also often got

into fights and one classmate claimed he killed her cat with his BB gun. Mitchell

said it was Andrew’s idea to open fire on their classmates.

Both boys were sentenced to confinement until the age of twenty-one. Under

Arkansas law, this was the maximum sentence for juveniles. Mitchell’s lawyer

claimed he’d been sexually abused as a young child. The shootings weren’t his

first run-in with the law. Just a year earlier he’d been charged with the

molestation of a 3-year-old little girl. Due to his age, his record was expunged.

His mother was a prison guard and married to an inmate there. He was

Mitchell’s stepfather, but the people in his life claimed Mitchell had a good

relationship with him. Andrew’s parents were married to each other and postal

workers. He apparently had a good relationship with both them and his

grandparents.

While he was waiting for his trial to begin, Mitchell composed the following

letter: “"Hi. My name is Mitchell. My thoughts and prayers are with those

people who were killed, or shot, and their families. I am really sad inside about

everything. My thoughts and prayers are with those kids that I go to school with.

I really want people to know the real Mitchell someday. Sincerely, Mitchell

Johnson”. (The New York Times, 1997)

Both Andrew and Mitchell were released upon their 21

st birthdays. However,

Andrew was arrested in 2007 during a traffic stop. He was carrying a loaded

9mm and possessed some marijuana. He was convicted but just a few days after

the conviction he was arrested again, this time for marijuana possession and for

using a stolen credit card. He was sentenced to twelve years. The US District

Judge Jimm Larry Hendren was shocked that Andrew hadn’t used his second

chance at life in a more productive way, stating, "No matter your sentence, you

still have a life, those killed in 1998 do not” (Associated Press, 2008).

#2 Barry Loukaitis

At Washington School, in 1996 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis killed three and

injured two in his math classroom. As he watched one of the children die, he

allegedly stood over them and said, ''This sure beats algebra doesn't it.” (Egan,

1998)

Barry, who was dressed as a “wild west gunslinger” (Vigil, 2014) possessed

eighty-nine rounds of ammunition and several guns when he went on his killing

spree. Barry was known for enjoying violent video games and movies with a

dark theme. Jon Lane, Barry’s former math teacher, was able to subdue him and

keep him from killing and injuring even more people. When asked why he

thought Barry had acted as he did he answered,