Wisconsin Gunman Says Bullying Drove Him to Bring Pellet Guns to School
The teen said he was “tired of being picked on” and hoped the guns would make the bullying stop.
The Wisconsin student shot by a school resource officer (SRO) after he allegedly pointed a pellet gun at the officer claims he brought two pellet guns to school because he was bullied.
According to criminal charges filed on Monday, the suspect, identified as Tyrone Smith, 18, said he was “tired of being picked on,” reports ABC News. Smith told officers that “he wanted to use the gun to scare” his bullies, so that “other kids would hear about this and be scared.”
Smith is accused of pointing the pellet gun at a classmate’s head in a classroom at Waukesha South High School on December 2. He then allegedly turned the gun on the responding SRO, who shot Smith three times after he refused police demands, reports NBC15.
“The suspect would not remove his hands from his pocket and continued to ignore officers’ commands,” Waukesha Police Chief Russell Jack said. “The suspect removed his handgun from his waistband and pointed it at the officers.”
No one else was injured during the incident.
Smith faces second degree recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon; obstructing an officer; disorderly conduct, use of a dangerous weapon; and dangerous weapons on school premises, reports NBC 15.
In the complaint, the suspect said he was sorry, knew it was wrong to bring the gun to school and wouldn’t do it again, reports ABC News.
Only a day after the Waukesha ordeal, another SRO shot an Oshkosh West High School student after the boy stabbed him in his office. Both the officer and the student were hospitalized but are expected to recover. No one else was injured.
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About the Author
Robin Hattersley, Editor-in-Chief
Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
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One small correction. According to Waukesha PD, the SRO did not shoot the student. He was shot by another police officer.
Thank you for the correction.
It’s really sad for a student to take matters into their own hands. I myself went through the same thing back in the mid 80’s of being bullied. It was not only limited to the confines of campus, the bullies also waited for me at the bus stop. My High School really didn’t do anything to stop it, instead I brought a pellet gun to school and began to think how stupid it was. My next course of action was to avoid school altogether. I currently work for Public Schools in California, specifically for a smaller district which experienced a more horrific incident in 2008, which sparked our district to adopt a zero tolerance policy. Recently, in 2017 our new Superintendent adopted PBIS and Restorative Justice methods resulting in more bullying and narcotics incidents on campus; definitely not an environment conducive to learning. In my 12 years of Public Schools, this is the worst that its been with children sexually assaulting others without major recourse; at times I often have to reevaluate leaving my own children in public schools and I’m in Security.