Parents of Teen Accused of Shootings Faced Charges
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Parents of teen accused of shootings faced charges
CHARDON, Ohio — It appears that T.J. Lane had violence in his life from the beginning.
Geauga County court records show the father of the teen who authorities say shot five students at Chardon High School on Monday had been arrested many times for violent crimes against women in his life, including Lane’s mother. More than once, police or courts warned him to stay away from the boy and his mother.
Authorities said the teen walked into the high school cafeteria early Monday morning, took out a gun and aimed it at several boys. In the end, three students were seriously wounded and one was killed. A fifth student died early Tuesday. T.J. Lane is to appear in Geauga County Juvenile Court Tuesday.
Lawyer Bob Farinacci, who is representing TJ Lane, read a statement from the Lane family, according to WKYC Channel 3.
“The family wanted me to convey to the citizens of Geauga County and Northeastern Ohio that the family is devastated by this most recent event. They want to give their most heartfelt and sincere condolences to the family of the young man who passed and their continuing prayers are with all those who were injured. This is something that could never have been predicted. TJ’s family has asked for some privacy while they try to understand how such a tragedy could have occurred and while they mourn this terrible loss for their community.”
Fellow students said the 17-year-old was quiet. Some said he was sweet, while others said he had a simmering temper.
His Facebook page, now deleted, had one picture that showed him bare-chested, glaring down toward the camera. In another picture, dated 11 days ago, he is sitting on a bed peering out from behind a giant teddy bear with a heart that says, “Be Mine.”
He listed his interests as anime and primitive hunting.
For his high school, he listed the Pink Floyd lyric, “We don’t need no thought control.”
T.J. Lane attended Lake Academy, an alternative school in Willoughby for students in Lake and Geauga counties. A woman who answered the phone at the school declined to comment Monday.
The teen had one prior case in Geauga County Juvenile court two years ago. Officials would not release information on the case. But several at the court said the family’s troubles were known to social workers in the county.
The father, Thomas Lane Jr., was known to county authorities because of a series of arrests for abusing women in his life, court records show. It’s not clear how much contact the father and son had.
But between 1995 and 1997, the boy’s father and mother, Sara A. Nolan, were each charged with domestic violence against each other.
The father was later charged with assaulting a police officer and served time in prison after trying to suffocate another woman he married several years after his son was born, according to court records.
He held the woman’s head under running water and bashed it into a wall, leaving a dent in the drywall, court records show.
But soon after he went to prison, the woman wrote a letter asking that he be released early.
She had divorced Thomas Lane but said in the letter that he was always a good father to their twin daughters and a son she had before they married.
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