Murder charges for Chardon suspect

CHARDON, Ohio -- A teenager was charged yesterday with killing three students in a school shooting, the first step in proceedings that could see him charged as an adult and facing the possibility of life without parole if convicted.

The charges accuse T. J. Lane, 17, of killing the three and wounding two others in the shooting Monday morning at Chardon High School, about 30 miles east of Cleveland. He faces three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder and one count of felonious assault in charges filed in a juvenile court.

Students say the gunman was chased from a cafeteria by an assistant football coach, Frank Hall, who has been praised as a hero. Hall, speaking shortly after the charges were filed, said he wants the victims' families to know he was with their children and wiped away their tears.

"I only wish I could have done more," he said. "I'm not a hero." The emergency responders were the real heroes, he said.

No motive has been determined. Prosecutor David Joyce has said victims were selected at random and that Lane is someone "who's not well."

Students still reeling from the slayings marched by the hundreds to their reopened school Thursday. Wearing the school colors of red and black and quietly singing their alma mater, they hugged parents and one another, and marched from the gazebo.

Lane, who attends an alternative school for students who haven't done well in traditional schools, admitted taking a .22-caliber pistol and a knife to Chardon High and firing 10 shots at a group of students sitting at a cafeteria table, Joyce said.

Killed were Demetrius Hewlin, 16, Russell King Jr., 17, and Daniel Parmertor, 16. Two other students were wounded. Nick Walczak remains in serious condition. An 18-year-old girl was released from the hospital Tuesday.