More than $25,000 raised for family of boy who triggered Orono (MN) lockdown

[question everything]

More than $25,000 has been raised to help the family of a boy who posted the social media threats that triggered Wednesday’s lockdown at Orono public schools.

Claire Berrett, an Orono parent, started a GoFundMe page to help the family of the boy, who was arrested at Orono High School on Wednesday. “We just felt a lot of compassion and wanted to lift up a family that’s going through an incredible challenge,” Berrett said Sunday.

On the GoFundMe page, Berrett wrote that the boy has autism, a fact that she said “is an overriding piece that everybody needs to keep in mind” when considering his social media posts. Police put the city’s public schools on lockdown for several hours after threats on Facebook and Twitter said the school would be shot up. The boy was arrested at school and taken to Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center, facing charges of making terroristic threats.

(snip)

In the GoFundMe posting, she said verbal and physical threats made by people with autism are usually an attempt to express the severity of the person’s distress. “It is not necessarily a true indication of a desire to hurt themselves or others,” she wrote.

More..

http://www.startribune.com/18-000-raised-for-family-of-boy-who-triggered-orono-lockdown/475108703/

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Thus, asked my spouse, shall we accept it if an autistic kid starts shooting using an assault weapon? Not from this story, I replied. Yet, I kinda remember that the Sandy Hook shooter (Adam Lanza?) did have mental difficulties and his mother decided that using guns would be the appropriate approach..

Perhaps this is another thing that needs to be addressed: when a parent brings a child to a shooting range, should someone notice and at least ask questions?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. This story is amazing to me. So much grace and compassion. It's a start.

It's remarkable in how seldom it happens, and why it doesn't. But still. A start.

[Nevernose]

2. Initial reports said Parkland shooter was autistic

And it will be months, at minimum, before we know the “official” report. The first report that is, not the many reports that will surely follow.

I guess I’m lucky in that — when my kid was only SIX — the Internet was still young enough that monitoring even a bright SIX year old wasn’t unreasonable.

Also, in my state (and I assume most), whatever a six year old does isn’t the responsibility of the six year old, but the person in charge of that six year old. In loco parentis.

[question everything]

3. And this is what surprised me about Parkland

The couple in whose house he was staying, "thought" that the husband was the only one with a key to the gun locker.

If they knew that he was disturbed, they called authorities several times, why did they allow him to keep all the guns in the house? Locks are a joke.

[Nevernose]

4. I agree

Although there is a giant difference between autistic and disturbed.

I don’t let guns in my house anymore period and haven’t in years, regardless of psychopathy. The danger is too great. Shit, I’m depressed and know the risks of a firearm in the home and have never had a suicidal thought in my life. No way in hell am I letting a fucking kid have a gun, locked up or otherwise.

Also, initial reports ALSO claimed that the family knew he had a key and that they changed their tune later.