Third student dies in shooting; gunman said to have fired randomly(updated)

Law Enforcement and school officials speak in Chardon, Ohio,  where one student was killed and four others were injured in a shooting incident at a high school.

By NBC News, msnbc.com and news services

Updated at 5:25 p.m. ET  Feb 28,2012
CHARDON, Ohio -- The death toll in an Ohio high school shooting rose to three students Tuesday as the suspect, 17-year-old T.J. Lane, appeared at a preliminary hearing where a prosecutor said Lane had confessed to investigators and that he said he fired at students randomly.
A Cleveland hospital spokesperson said Demetrius Hewlin, who had been in critical condition, died Tuesday morning. That news came shortly after Chardon Police Chief Tim McKenna said Russell King Jr. was declared brain dead. Both were 17.
Another student, 16-year-old Daniel Parmertor, died hours after the Monday shooting, which sent Chardon High School students screaming through the halls and led teachers to lock down classrooms as they had practiced doing so many times during drills.
King and Parmertor were students at the nearby Auburn Career Center, a vocational school, and were waiting for a bus for their daily 15-minute ride when they were shot.
By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

Updated 1:46 p.m. ET: CHARDON, Ohio - A teen gunman opened fire inside a high school cafeteria at the start of the classes on Monday, killing one student and wounding four others, police said.
The suspect was taken into custody near his car a half-mile from the suburban Cleveland school after a teacher chased him from the building, according to FBI officials. The suspect is a juvenile who was not immediately charged. His name was not released.
FBI agent Scott Wilson would not comment on a possible motive for the attack.
The injured students were rushed to area hospitals where a boy identified as Daniel Parmentor, 17, died at MetroHealth System in Cleveland. Parmentor, a high school junior, went to a nearby vocational school where he studied computer science, and was waiting in the cafeteria for a bus when the gunman opened fire."We are shocked by this senseless tragedy," said a statement from Parmentor's family, provided by MetroHealth. "Danny was a bright young boy who had a bright future ahead of him. The family is torn by this loss. We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time."

Ohio officials hold a news conference on the shooting at Chardon High School that left one person dead and four injured.

Two of the wounded were listed in critical condition, and another was in serious condition.
Police Chief Tim McKenna said authorities "have a lot of homework to do yet" in their investigation.
The Ohio shooting is the worst at a U.S. high school in 11 months and the worst in Ohio since late 2007, according to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Suspect in custody following Ohio school shooting

‘In shock’

Panicked students screamed and ran through the halls when gunfire broke out around 7:30 a.m. at the 1,100-student Chardon school, about an hour’s drive east of downtown Cleveland.
Freshman Danny Komertz, 15, said he saw one student who authorities say was killed trying to get under a table to protect himself and shield his face.
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Video from WKYC-TV in Cleveland, Ohio, shows the suspect in the Chardon High School shooting being taken into custody.

Komertz described the shooter as an outcast who had apparently been bullied.
Komertz says that there were at least 100 students in the cafeteria at the time and that most fled immediately as shots were fired.
None of the wounded students or the teacher who chased down the suspect has been identified.
Three of the male students shot were believed to be from Auburn Career Academy, a vocational school with 700 juniors and seniors, taken from 11 surrounding school districts including Chardon High School, Superintendent Maggie Lynch said.  Two of the boys are 17, and a third is 16, she said.
Nate Mueller, a student who said he was sitting in the cafeteria at a table with three of the victims, told WKYC.com that his ear was grazed by one of the bullets as he turned away from the gunman.
“He didn’t say anything the entire time. He took one shot, and then that’s when we looked to see what was happening because it sounded like a firecracker almost, and at that point I looked back, I saw him shoot -- which hit one of my other friends that was sitting at the table with us. And then, as I was turning around ... that’s when he hit me.”
Mueller said the shooting didn't seem real. "It all feels like a movie. ... I am sure tomorrow I’ll be devastated."

Sketchy reports emerge on alleged high school gunman

The gunman, who used a revolver, had been a friend of Mueller's until the end of junior high school. Mueller said at that point the gunman had entered a "gothic" phase.“He still had friends. He was still a nice kid … we didn’t think he would hurt anybody,” he said.
“He was not like a jock, a popular kid," student Evan Erasmus told Channel 5. “He has friends, but he would be considered the outcast type."
Erasmus told Channel 5 that a student tweeted he was going to bring a gun to school but no one took him seriously. Other reports said it was a text.
Jonathan Sylak, a senior at the high school, said he never saw a text or tweet but had heard about it.

A student at Chardon High School in Ohio, who was grazed by a bullet when a fellow student opened fire in the school cafeteria, tells WKYC-TV he used to be friends with the shooter until he got into a "gothic phase."

 “It is a nice, safe community, and from what we have observed, very little crime... But you never know what is going on in other people’s minds,” Sylak told MSNBC TV.
"I am still in shock,” Sylak said.
 Asked about the connection of the alleged shooter and the victims, Sylak said, “I don’t think it was random.”
“They were definitely targeted, I think,” he said.

‘Distraught’

Heather Ziska, 17, said she was in the cafeteria when she heard popping noises in the hall. She said she recognized the male student as he came into the cafeteria and started shooting.
She said she and several others immediately ran outside, while other friends ran into a middle school and others locked themselves in a teachers' lounge.
"Everybody just started running," said 17-year-old Megan Hennessy, who was in class when she heard loud noises. "Everyone was running and screaming down the hallway."
Three victims were transported to MetroHealth Medical Center and two to Hillcrest Hospital, according to the News-Herald.
"I'm just distraught," Victoria, a Chardon student, told Fox 8. She said the cafeteria wasn't crowded at the time of the shooting, adding that she knew the shooter, who is a junior.  Victoria said she saw him shoot another student in the back before she and a friend fled the area.
Schools in the area were locked down.
The school system in Chardon has received an excellent rating from the Ohio Department of Education for 10 consecutive years and draws students from a number of surrounding communities.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.