The 15-year-old freshman who opened fire on his Oregon high school Tuesday wanted to kill "sinners," the teen wrote in his diary.
Jared Padgett, an active member of an Gresham, Ore., Mormon church, shot and killed a student and injured a teacher during the attack on Reynolds High School before turning the gun on himself, police said.
While searching through the teen's home, officers found his journal, Portland's KGW reported.
In the diary, Padgett detailed plans to kill the "sinners" at his school, police said.
No specific students or teachers were named as targets. His writings did not outline how or when the killings would occur, police said.
Well I guess when you are surrounded by a culture that labels guns "tools" that can be used to solve problems, it might make sense to give God a helping hand with those you consider "sinners."
This young man was pumped full of religious fairy tales, allowed to arm himself, and then sent to school. It is a miracle these things don't happen more often.
And there is at least one teacher from his high school who has had enough of this kind of lunacy.
Courtesy of Americans Against the Tea Party:
Seth Needler teaches science at Reynolds High School, where America saw the 74th school shooting since Sandy Hook. After the shooter, Jared Padgett, killed one of his classmates last week, Needler wrote a lengthy post on social media describing his terror as he and his students huddled in their darkened classroom, fearing for their lives.
Now, he is calling for action. Needler has even offered his own outline for tightening security on gun sales. He was critical of the NRA for not allowing such common sense steps to be taken already, stating:
“I’m sick and tired of hearing gun enthusiasts claim that any kind of gun regulation is an attack on the second amendment, or that the solution to gun violence is more guns” he wrote. “I completely fail to understand how one organization, which is the lobbying arm of one industry, can control every politician in Congress to the extent of preventing any action at all on gun control, even after polls show that 90% of Americans are in favor of it.”
"But every time another shooting happens, and undoubtedly this will be no exception, people (including me and my family and friends) sigh, groan, bemoan the incident, talk about how awful it is, criticize the NRA and its lopsided influence, and then do…nothing. The only constituency that responds with any energy to incidents of gun violence is gun enthusiasts, who declare that it just provides more proof of their hypothesis that schools need to be staffed with U.S. Marshalls and teachers need to be armed and carry loaded weapons. Rather than stricter gun regulation, we get weakening of the existing regulation, and states literally pushing each other out of the way to be the most liberal when it comes to who can carry weapons into how many different venues, including churches, schools and even bars."
Mr. Needler then goes on to lay out a very reasonable gun control proposal which includes letters of recommendation, extensive background checks, and gun safety course.
Mr. Needler also says he is going to start aggressively contacting his representatives and ask them to sign a "No Gun Pledge." He reminds naysayers that there was a time when big tobacco was considered too big to take on, until the government and people did just that.
Personally I think what he says sounds more than reasonable. And as someone who has gone through extensive background checks, including letters of recommendation, I don;t see why anyone who wants to own a firearm should not have to go through a similar experience.
Don't you work in the mental healthcare field, Gryphen? It's shocking that you would be so disingenuous and biased with your analysis of this. It is clear to me that mental illness probably had more to do with this young man's actions than his religion did. In your eagerness to slam religion, you are seeing connections that are probably not there. I say this as an atheist. It doesn't help our cause when you publish blatantly biased rather than objective thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThe impulse to kill your fellow human beings might be attributed to mental illness though none has yet to be identified.
DeleteOn the other hand his church elder said that he was "highly regarded for his spirituality." And he DID target those he regarded as "sinners."
So to dismiss the influence of religion would seem to be disingenuous on my part.
… mental illness probably had more to do with this young man's actions than his religion did.
DeleteI challenge you to set out an objective way of differentiating these two afflictions.
I'm sick of everyone blaming all of these shootings on mental illness. It's ducking shitty. These same people are, generally, NRA shills which meant that they literally -- LIT-ER-ALLY-- are supporting an organization that does everything in its power to allow crazy people to keep buying guns.
DeleteSo fuck off, NRA, mental illness concern troll!!
FUCK OFF!
A combination, Whoa Baby. I live in the area, and his cousin wrote that he used to be so affable and fun at family get-togethers, but last Thanksgiving was sitting apart and silent. He was also heavily into violent video games. Doesn't sound religious to me.
DeleteMy daughter married a Mormon, of whom she is now divorced, and we begged her not to but she was of age. My young grandchildren have been the target of physical, mental, and sexual abuse from the "Good Mormon" father and family that they will live with for the rest of their lives thanks to them. The courts do nothing. Believe you me, in the Mormon religion, the man is KING and "taking out sinners" was of no surprise to me.
If it weren't for the heroic efforts of Coach Rispler, there would have been many more dead. Why such a "deeply religious" family had an AR-15, albeit locked up, in the house is beyond me.
I'm with you on this one, Gryphen. IMHO, extremely religious people are mentally ill.
DeleteOn his now locked Facebook page, he also listed himself as a sargent in the US Army, of which he was not. He had issues.
DeleteStupid arguments. The mental illness would compell him to kill. The religion helps him choose his victims. Mormonism does not promote violence. If he weren't religious, he would have chosen others. Violent behavior crosses all borders of religion, culture, atheism, etc.
DeleteExtremists may not be mentally ill, but they can be very dangerous regardless of what they are extreme about.
Many, many, many people are highly regarded for their spirituality and are not killers. That's a false connection.
DeleteReligion=Mental Illness.
DeleteIt's really as simply as that. One must eschew all levels of critical thinking in order to adhere to a faith, or religion. So yes, he was mentally ill because he was religious. Once a brain is "broken" it is capable of telling the body to do just about anything.
9:19 As to Mormons or any religious group that a child grows up in - it does influence their thinking - good or bad. I was raised Catholic - church every Sunday, holy days - Catholic schooling - strict parents - etc. By the time I was a teenager, I was totally anti religion and remain so today - as a senior citizen! I've not entered any church in eons and have no interest in doing so.
ReplyDeleteI have never felt it necessary to kill someone, but there are many Republicans in our country that I would love to see go away! I have felt 'hate' (towards others) for the first time in my life during the past recent years mainly because of the political and religious division in our country.
More and more folks I know have fallen away from religion - and, I suspect the USA will see more of that even though Catholics are coming across our borders.
I, too, was raised Catholic and rebelled as a young child when I started Catholic school. There I was told by the nuns that all Jews were going straight to hell and anyone who was not Roman Catholic was no good.
DeleteMy best friend in the whole world was Jewish and my family was the ONLY one on the block who would speak to hers. They were wonderful people and I just couldn't understand why they were treated so badly. The girl across the street (family so strict that only Latin mass was acceptable) wasn't allowed to play with me because I was tainted by playing with a Jew.
I couldn't reconcile my own personal experiences with the hate I was being taught every day in school and church. I left Catholic school for public school in 7th grade and stopped attending church as soon as I was allowed by my mother.
I then caused a major ruckus on my block when my high school boyfriend - who was Chinese! - showed up to take me to my senior prom. Curtains were twitching all the way up and down the street!
If we're going to blame religion in this incident then it is only fair to blame the atheistic nihilism that inspired Columbine and others. OR we could realize that there are people who are going to make their philosophy fit whatever violent fantasies they already have to justify their actions. That he was Mormon is a red herring--just like blaming it on video games--there are millions of Mormons and millions of people who play video games, most of which will never shoot people. Science and critical thinking should demonstrate that Mormonism is not a cause of school shootings.
ReplyDeleteReligion/mental illness combined. There was something in his head that made him feel the right to take people out in the name of God. His Dad wrote a very heartfelt apology letter released to the media. I can only imagine the torment within him.
Delete10:20
DeleteI agree completely. The indoctrination inherent in religion must teach violence in order to cause it. I totally reject Mormonism, but mainstream Mormonism doesn't promote violence. I'm sure we can find many atheist murderers. That doesn't mean atheism promotes violence either.
@ 10:20 wrong. first atheism =/= nihilism. And atheist don't preach exclusionary and damning doctrine about others in a weekly captive forum.
DeleteW/O religion, this kids would have had far less rationalized support for his actions.
religion, mental illness AND THE FUCKING ACCESSIBLE GUN, without which he would have been just an annoying asshole.
Delete10:20 / 11:16 correct. All the rest wrong and reaching for anything other than plain old reality.
DeleteHe has a rather thick neck and developed musculature for a 15-year old. Steroids? Roid Rage combined with crazy mor(m)on upbringing?
ReplyDeleteWhen isolated people have delusional beliefs, it's labeled mental illness.
ReplyDeleteWhen limited numbers of people have shared delusional beliefs, it's labeled a cult.
When large numbers of people have shared delusional beliefs, it's labeled a religion.
--Anonymous HuffPoster, 2012
Well Put, hrh!
DeleteIt has happened again! The NRA has been successful again! Here you all go, following the hand the magician tells you to look at, that of was it religion, or mental illness, or violent video games, or some combination of these that caused him to do what he did?
ReplyDeleteAnd so again you are diverted from the real and only issue, that of easy access to guns, and guns with multiple bullet magazines that fire dozens of bullets per second.
It doesn't matter the mental or physical or psychological state or religion of the shooter, the murderer. It doesn't change that he/she had easy access to a gun. It doesn't do anything to bring back those who have died, or to comfort the families of those left behind.
The only issue, the only thing we need to be focusing our energies on is the guns, and getting laws passed to limit easy access to them, especially anything more than a hand gun or shot gun.
This is how anyone controls a situation. They get you to focus on something else other than the real issue, to keep you off balance, and to keep themselves in control. They just keep flashing that "shiny object" off to the right and no one sees what is going on in the other direction. In this case the religion/mental stuff is the shiny object. The guns and the regulation of them, or lack thereof, is the "other direction."
Sorry to go off like that but I am so very sick and tired of the hours of excuses the media and "experts" put out over the whys, so we never look at the real issue of gun regulation, so we never demand our legislators actually do something about it all. Wish I knew what to do to start shifting the situation.
Me too, but THANKS to Dubya who lifted the ban, even if controls were put it, a huge black market will never make them go away. Like the Tawd Palin pimp prostitution trade. I am sick and tired of it as well.
DeleteHow do you quickly fix a crazy person before they do something they might regret in a saner moment? You don't. How do you quickly disarm a crazy person who might do something they won't live to regret? You make sure weapons aren't easier to get your hands on than a pack of smokes.
DeleteI'll bet he got his Shotgun and Rifle Shooting Merit badges at Camp Baldwin during Rover Week with his Scout Troop, as well.
ReplyDeleteJared the killer brought up the word "Sinner" in his journal, in his own writing. Was he stark raving mad? Yes. Was he an obedient believer? Yes.
ReplyDeleteSo we're waking around with targets on our backs because someone believes we're "Sinners". Things that make you go "hmmm"