Ohio School Shooter Confesses

UPDATE: Prosecutors say T.J. Lane has confessed to opening fire at an Ohio high school on Monday but that the 17-year-old has given no reason for the shooting rampage that killed three students and injured two others.

CNN reports that prosecutor David Joyce says that Lane, a high school sophomore, is likely to face three counts of aggravated murder, "as well as other counts." Under Ohio law, Lane will likely be tried as an adult for his crimes.

Speaking to reporters, the prosecutor said the incident was an "abberation," and that Lane "chose his victims at random" and appeared to lack a clear motive.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, meanwhile, reports that one of the two injured victims has been released from the hospital. The other is still in serious condition. 

Wednesday, Feb. 29: The death toll from Monday's school shooting in northeast Ohio climbed to three on Tuesday afternoon.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Demetrius Hewlin, a junior at Chardon High School, was pronounced dead at the MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. He was one of three students airlifted to the hospital following the shooting.

"We are very saddened by the loss of our son and others in our Chardon community," his family said in a statement released by the hospital. "Demetrius was a happy young man who loved life and his family and friends. We will miss him very much but we are proud that he will be able to help others through organ donation. We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time."

Russell King Jr., 17, died earlier Tuesday. Daniel Parmertor, 16, died Monday. Two other students are reportedly recovering at Hillcrest Hospital.

Tuesday, Feb. 28: A student wounded in Monday's deadly school shooting at Chardon High School in northeast Ohio was pronounced dead Tuesday morning, one day after another student was killed and three others injured.

The Associated Press reports that 17-year-old Russell King was declared brain dead at around 1 a.m. Tuesday and was later pronounced dead. Student Daniel Parmertor, 16, died hours after the shooting.

Although authorities haven't named the suspect, who is in custody, they say that he is not actually enrolled at Chardon High but instead is a student at nearby Lake Academy. Numerous witnesses as well as a family lawyer have identified the suspect as T.J. Lane, a 17-year-old student. While several students have suggested Lane may have been motivated by a recent breakup, police said Tuesday that they have not yet determined a motive.

Monday, Feb. 27: A Chardon High School student tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the gunman who opened fire in the cafeteria on Monday morning was T.J. Lane, a 17-year-old former classmate.

Nate Mueller, a junior who was struck in the right ear during the shooting, told the paper that he and his friends were sitting at their regular cafeteria table when Lane approached them at around 7:30 a.m. and then opened fire.

"My friends were crawling on the floor, and one of my friends was bent over the table, and he was shot," Mueller said. "It was almost like a firecracker went off. I turned around and saw [T.J.] standing with a gun and I saw him take a shot."

According to Mueller, one of his friends who was sitting at the table had recently begun to date Lane's ex-girlfriend.

The Daily Beast, meanwhile, believes it's found Lane's Facebook profile online, which includes this rather disturbing post from this past December that ends with "Die, all of you":

In a time long since, a time of repent, The Renaissance. In a quaint lonely town, sits a man with a frown. No job. No family. No crown. His luck had run out. Lost and alone. The streets were his home. His thoughts would solely consist of "why do we exist?" His only company to confide in was the vermin in the street. He longed for only one thing, the world to bow at his feet. They too should feel his secret fear. The dismal drear. His pain had made him sincere. He was better than the rest, allthose ones he detests, within their castles, so vain. Selfish and conceited. They couldn't care less about the peasents they mistreated. They were in their own world, it was a joyous one too. That castle, she stood just to do all she could to keep the peasents at bay, not the enemy away. They had no enemies in their filthy orgy. And in her, the castles every story, was just another chamber of Lucifer's Laboratory. The world is a sandbox for all the wretched sinners. They simply create what they want and make themselves the winners. But the true winner, he has nothing at all. Enduring the pain of waiting for that castle to fall. Through his good deeds, the rats and the fleas. He will have for what he pleads, through the eradication of disease. So, to the castle he proceeds, like an ominous breeze through the trees. "Stay back!" The Guards screamed as they were thrown to their knees. "Oh God, have mercy, please!" The castle, she gasped and then so imprisoned her breath, to the shallow confines of her fragile chest. I'm on the lamb but I ain't no sheep. I am Death. And you have always been the sod. So repulsive and so odd. You never even deserved the presence of God, and yet, I am here. Around your cradle I plod. Came on foot, without shod. How improper, how rude. However, they shall not mind the mud on my feet if there is blood on your sheet. Now! Feel death, not just mocking you. Not just stalking you but inside of you. Wriggle and writhe. Feel smaller beneath my might. Seizure in the Pestilence that is my scythe. Die, all of you.

Monday, Feb. 27: One student was killed and another four injured Monday morning when a gunman opened fire in a high school cafeteria in Ohio. One suspect, believed to be a student at the high school, is in police custody.

Initial reports suggested that only four students were struck during the shooting, but police later said that the actual number was five. Shortly after noon, local authorities announced that one of the students who had been shot had died.

The Associated Press reports that the shooting began shortly after the start of the school day at the 1,100-student Chardon High School, which is located roughly 30 miles outside of Cleveland. Details are still scarce and the severity of the other student's injuries are not yet known, although at least two were airlifted to a Cleveland-area hospital. It was not immediately clear if one of those two students was the one who died.

According to CNN, the suspect in custody is a student. The network also reports that at least some of the children who were injured were not enrolled at Chardon High School but were instead students at another area high school who were waiting in the cafeteria for a bus.

The Akron Beacon Journal reports that schools in the district have been closed for the day, and that parents of the high school students are collecting their children from the nearby elementary school, where they were relocated to after the shooting broke out.