Nevada Shooter Parents to Face Charges? Prosecutors to Consider if Parents Were Responsible
The parents of the 12-year-old student who shot and killed a teacher and wounded two students before turning the gun on himself could face charges.
Should police determine that the parents were negligent in preventing the boy to obtain the firearm charges could be filed.
"The potential is there [for charges to be filed]," said Sparks Police Department Deputy Chief Tom Miller.
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The decision however, would be left to the local prosecutor's office.
Miller said investigators believe the 12-year-old obtained the Ruger 9mm semi-automatic handgun from his home, however authorities are still trying to confirm the origin of the firearm.
The 12-year-old boy, whose name has not been released, first shot a fellow student in the shoulder and then shot and killed teacher Mike Landsberry before shooting a second student in the abdomen, Washoe County School District Police Chief Mike Mieras said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Landsberry, an 8th grade math teacher, is being hailed a hero by colleagues and survivors, who said he died while protecting students in the deadly incident.
"We have a lot of heroes today, including our children ... and our fallen hero, an amazing teacher," Washoe County School District Superintendent Pedro Martinez said, according to The Associated Press.
"We've got video we have to review, people we've got to talk to," added Tom Robinson, deputy chief of Reno police, USA Today noted. "But in my estimation, he is a hero. We do know he was trying to intervene."
A lone gunman, a student, opened fire on Monday morning on the school's campus outside the building, though motives for the attack have not yet been established. The shooter killed himself after taking the life of the 45-year-old former serviceman and wounding two 12-year-old classmates.
"No words of condolence could possibly ease the pain, but I hope it is some small comfort that Nevada mourns with them. I stand by to be of any assistance if there is anything that can be done," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement shortly after the incident.
