Longwood, Fla.
Police officers shot and killed a 15-year-old boy who had brought a realistic-looking pellet gun to his middle school. Christopher Penley pulled out the gun in class and fought off another student who tried to wrestle it away from him. Sheriff’s deputies and a SWAT team cornered Penley in a school bathroom, where they say he raised his weapon toward them. “The student said he was going to kill himself or die,” said Sheriff Don Eslinger. Penley’s classmates described him as an emotionally troubled loner. “He told me he wanted to kill himself dozens of times,” said 15-year-old Patrick Lafferty.
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