On Wednesday morning, a gunman entered the Freeman High School in Rockford, Washington, and opened fire on students, killing one and injuring several others. The suspect has now been identified as a sophomore who attended the school, Caleb Sharpe, as details begin to emerge about the senseless tragedy.
Sharpe allegedly brought the guns to school with him Wednesday morning in a duffel bag and even rode the bus to school, before unloading them in a second floor hallway. The first gun jammed, but as another student tried to intervene — later identified as Sam Strahan, a friend of the suspect — he was shot in the head. The suspect then opened fire in the hallway, injuring three other students before a school custodian ordered him to surrender. Even more tragic, Strahan just lost his father, 49-year-old Scott Strahan, earlier this year on Father’s Day.
Although Sharpe was described by friends as “nice” and funny,” it seems as if the warning signs had been there for quite some time now. One student, Michael Harper, who spoke to Spokane’s KXLY 4 news (above), said that earlier this year he had passed out notes to friend that said he was planning to do something stupid, where he “gets killed or put into jail.” The note was supposedly given to a guidance counselor, but there has been no confirmation to that point.
The suspect was also apparently “obsessed” with school shooting documentaries, as well as the controversial Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and Breaking Bad. Even more troubling, Sharpe had a YouTube account under the username Mongo Walker (since removed), in which he posted videos of himself playing with and shooting guns. In one of the videos, Sharpe allegedly pointed a Airsoft gun at a friend and mocked an execution.
Sharpe was taken into custody Wednesday unharmed but has yet to be charged with a crime. We’ll update as facts continue to emerge.
(Via NY Daily News, KREM 2, Spokesman Review)