Ohio school shooting suspect "not well"

CHARDON, Ohio - The 17-year-old suspect in a deadly shooting rampage at an Ohio high school appeared briefly in juvenile court as residents of the shaken community offered sympathy and support for families and friends of the three students who were killed and two who were wounded.

A prosecutor described suspect TJ Lane as "someone who's not well" and said the teen didn't know the victims but chose them randomly.

Lane admitted taking a .22-caliber pistol and a knife to the 1,100-student Chardon High School and firing 10 shots at a group of students sitting at a cafeteria table Monday morning, prosecutor David Joyce said.

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Authorities offered their own condolences Tuesday and shared a nugget of welcome news, announcing that an 18-year-old girl who was hurt in the shootings had been released from the hospital and was home with family. The second injured teen remained in serious condition at a suburban Cleveland hospital.

Those trying to understand what prompted the shootings got few answers from the court hearing, which came hours after the death toll rose to three.

Lane, a thin young man described by other students as extremely quiet, spoke little in court, where a judge ordered him held for at least 15 days.

Lane has told investigators he stole the gun he used from his uncle, who had legal ownership of the firearm, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr. Sources tell CBS News there were, in fact, lots of guns around - about two dozen legally-owned weapons were discovered in FBI searches of Lane's relatives' homes.

Lane's grandfather, who has custody of the teenager, and two aunts joined him in court. The women lightly embraced the older man as the hearing began.

Prosecutors have until Thursday to bring charges and are expected to ask that Lane be tried as an adult. He will probably be charged with three counts of aggravated murder and other offenses, Joyce said.

Ohio has a death penalty, but CBS Radio News legal analyst Andrew Cohen says Lane would not be eligible for capital punishment if he were to be convicted of murder, as the Supreme Court precluded that sentencing option for people who are under 18 when they murder.

The prosecutor appeared to rule out rumors and speculation that the young gunman lashed out after being bullied or that the shooting had something to do with drug-dealing.

"This is not about bullying. This is not about drugs," Joyce said. "This is someone who's not well, and I'm sure in our court case we'll prove that to all of your desires and we'll make sure justice is done here in this county."

Joyce would not elaborate. Both sides in the case are under a gag order imposed by the judge at the prosecutor's request.

The judge also barred media outlets from taking photos of the faces of the suspect and some of his relatives. The Associated Press transmitted photos and video of Lane that were shot before the hearing. The AP and at least one other media outlet, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, plan to challenge the judge's order Wednesday.

Meanwhile, area schools offered grief counseling to students, staff and others shocked by the rampage.

"We're not just any old place, Chardon," Chardon School Superintendent Joseph Bergant II said. "This is every place. As you've seen in the past, this can happen anywhere, proof of what we had yesterday."

In an emotional interview with CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller (Click player at left to see full interview) Parmertor's mother, father and brother said they wanted an opportunity to talk about the young shooting victim.

Danny's parents say they want their son to be remembered as "a funny, loveable kid who would help you with anything."

"He was 16 years old. He doesn't get to live his life. It was taken. He didn't do anything to anybody. He just didn't deserve it," Danny's mother Dina told CBS News.

Hewlin attended Chardon High. King and Parmertor were students at the Auburn Career Center, a vocational school, and were waiting in the Chardon High cafeteria for their daily bus when they were shot.

Lane's family is mourning "this terrible loss for their community," Lane's attorney, Robert Farinacci, said in a statement.

Fifteen-year-old Danny Komertz, who witnessed the shooting, said it appeared that the gunman singled out a group of students sitting together. He said Lane was known as an outcast who had apparently been bullied. But other students disputed that.

Farinacci told WKYC-TV that Lane "pretty much sticks to himself but does have some friends and has never been in trouble over anything that we know about."

Lane did not attend Chardon High but waited there for the bus to Lake Academy, a school for students with academic or behavioral problems. Authorities would not say how and why he ended up at Lake Academy.

Student Nate Mueller said he was at the cafeteria table where the victims were shot, and a bullet grazed his ear. Mueller told The Plain Dealer that King — one of those killed — had recently started dating Lane's ex-girlfriend.

Lane "was silent the whole time," Mueller said. "That's what made it so random."

Kala Day, 18, said she rode the morning school bus with Lane and knew the victims.

"He always sat by himself and, like, looked out the window. So I sat with him a few times, because I felt bad for the kid," she said. "He didn't talk. He just stared out the window."

The shooting sent students screaming from the building in panic, and some of that chaos and fear was captured in 911 recordings released Tuesday (audio).

"We just had a shooting at our school. We need to get out of here. Oh, my god," one crying female caller told a dispatcher.

"Everyone's running away," the caller added.

Another caller, a male student, instantly identified the gunman as Thomas Lane, a student, and said he appeared to be shooting at random.

"What was his beef with these kids? Do we know?" the dispatcher asked.

"I have no idea," he said, adding: "He's very quiet and he doesn't really talk to anyone."

Frank Hall, an assistant high school football coach who has been hailed as a hero by students who say he chased the gunman out of the cafeteria, told a Cleveland TV station that he couldn't discuss what happened, but added: "I wish I could have done more."