Rocori High School shooting
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The Rocori High School shooting was a school shooting that occurred in Cold Spring, Minnesota, United States on September 24, 2003. The shooting was perpetrated by then 15-year-old John Jason McLaughlin who murdered classmates Seth Bartell, 15, and Aaron Rollins, 17.
On the day of the shooting, McLaughlin brought a loaded .22-caliber pistol to school with the intention of harming Bartell. He confronted Bartell in a basement hallway and fired two shots. The first shot wounded Bartell superficially in the chest while the second shot missed and hit Rollins in the neck. McLaughlin pursued Bartell as he fled into the gym and shot him in the forehead.
At that point, physical education teacher Mark Johnson claims that McLaughlin aimed the gun at him. Johnson said he approached McLaughlin, raised his hand and shouted "No," and that McLaughlin then removed the bullets from the weapon and dropped it. Johnson then secured the gun and escorted the boy to the school office.
Rollins died on the day of the shooting while Bartell died sixteen days later.
At his murder trial, it was claimed that McLaughlin had intended only to wound Bartell, who he thought had been teasing him, by shooting Bartell in the shoulder. Rollins was supposedly not his intended target. McLaughlin was nonetheless found guilty of first and second-degree murder. In August 2005, he was sentenced to life in prison.
Jason McLaughlin is currently incarcerated at a state prison in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He will not be eligible for parole until he is over 50 years old.
[edit] External links and sources
- Two Years After Rocori Shootings, Trial Begins - news item on the murder trial
- McLaughlin gets consecutive sentences in Rocori shootings - report following McLaughlin's sentencing
