'I Felt Numb': Mother Outraged Over Dracut High School Yearbook Message Of Support For Son's Accused Killer
DRACUT (CBS) - As if the pain of losing her 20-year-old son Adrian to a shooting in Lowell last September wasn't enough, Heidi Kimborowicz is feeling the wound reopened with a Dracut High School yearbook post from two students that reads "Free Mello".
"I felt numb because I couldn't believe the school would allow something like that to pass through," said Kimborowicz. "Mello" is the nickname of 18-year-old Christian Lemay, a friend of Adrian's and the teen charged with the shooting on Sutherland Street in Lowell. He's now under house arrest charged with armed assault with intent to murder and awaiting a court date.
The yearbook message of support for the former Dracut High School student has Heidi Kimborowicz demanding the yearbook be reprinted. "Saying 'Free Mello' is saying they want him free from doing something. He's accused of killing my son and that's not OK," she said.
Kimborowicz says she received an email from the principal with an apology, and claimed it was an oversight. "He's obviously not going to take full blame, pass it on to advisers, but higher ups should be taking a look at the yearbook to see if there is something that shouldn't be in there," she said.
She's protested outside school committee meetings and an online petition has generated hundreds of signatures in support of a reprint. Adrian's brother Alex says he's trying to understand it all. "I wasn't surprised at how some kids are. They would do anything for some attention," said Alex Kimborowicz.
Attention is what this mother and her family are now trying to raise so soon after losing her son. "It's only been months but the pain is still fresh. We're trying to grieve and this isn't helping," Heidi Kimborowicz said.
Lemay is out on bail and due back in court July 16. There has been no response from the Dracut Superintendent of schools.
