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

[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.

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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?