School shooting stuns Michigan
community

MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
MOUNT MORRIS TOWNSHIP, Mich.,
Mar. 1 - As family and friends on
Wednesday grieved the death of
6-year-old Kayla Rolland, the classmate
who admitted shooting her was described
as a victim himself, a child "of the drug
culture and a home that is in chaos." The
local prosecutor urged the local
community to "put our arms around"
both Kayla's family and her killer.

THE 6-YEAR-OLD boy, whose name has not been
released, is in the custody of a relative, prosecutor Arthur
Busch told NBC's "Today" show.

Busch said it's still not clear if the boy even had a motive.
He and Kayla had quarreled the day before, Busch noted,
but before shooting her he had pointed the gun at another
boy, suggesting it might have been random.

Classmates and a teacher looked on in horror at Buell
Elementary near Flint as the boy fired a single bullet from
a .32-caliber gun, striking Kayla. She died a half-hour
later.

Busch noted that the boy's father is serving time in the
county jail and that the boy lived in a "flophouse" with his
mother, a man referred to as an uncle and a younger
sibling. Busch didn't know what the father was charged
with.

Prosecutors did not say how they think the boy got the
gun, though they said it had been reported stolen in
December and was in the boy's home.

On Tuesday night,
investigators searched the
home and found another
stolen firearm - a 12-gauge
shotgun - and "some other
evidence we're in the process
of sorting through," Busch
said.

Busch said whoever had left the gun in the home will be
prosecuted. "We will get to the bottom of how that gun got
into that little boy's hands," he vowed.

The boy himself is "a victim in many ways," Busch said.
"He is really a victim of the drug culture and a home that
is in chaos."

"We're a community that's very hurt by this," he added.
"But we're a strong community, and we'll rebound. We'll
put our arms around this little boy and the family of this
little girl and do our best."

ONLY ONE BULLET
At the time of the shooting, most of the 22 students in the
class had filed into the hallway to head to the library and
just five students remained, Busch said. The teacher,
Alicia Judd, was standing in the doorway when the boy,
who had the gun tucked in his pants, took it out and
pointed it at another youngster, Busch said. The boy then
turned toward Kayla and fired the only bullet in the gun,
the prosecutor said.

The boy ran into a bathroom and dropped the gun into a
trash can, Busch said. School personnel held him until
authorities arrived.

State law allows for adult prosecution of young offenders,
but Busch said he thinks charges are unlikely in this
case.

"You have to be old enough to form criminal intent to
commit the crime of murder," Busch said Tuesday night.
"The common law of our country says that a child under
the age of 7 is not criminally responsible - cannot be
convicted of a felony."

"There's not much I can do to him," he added, "other than
make sure he's safe and in an environment where he's
not inclined to do such hazardous behavior."

'WHERE DOES IT STOP?'
The boy is by far the youngest gunman in a series of
deadly school shootings that have rocked communities
around the country over the past three years. In 1998,
two boys, 11 and 13, opened fire at a middle school in
Jonesboro, Ark., killing four girls and a teacher.

"Where does it stop? First-graders shooting first-graders.
The culture of violence is manifesting itself here with what
occurred," said Sam Riddle, a spokesman for the family
of Isaiah Shoels, who was among 12 students killed by
students Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris at Columbine High
School last April.

President Bill Clinton challenged Americans to take gun
safety into consideration during this year's presidential
elections.

"How did that child get that gun? Why could the child fire
the gun?" Clinton asked. "If we have the technology today
to put in these child safety locks, why don't we do it?"

"The accidental gun death rate of children in America is
nine times higher than that in the other 25 biggest
countries combined," he added. "... So we know what to
do. We just don't have any excuses."

'I THOUGHT IT'D BE SAFER'
About 500 children attend Buell Elementary, which is in
an area of neat, small single-family homes. Other parts of
the Flint suburb, which has a population of about 25,300,
are run-down, with dilapidated homes and boarded-up
storefronts.

"I moved out here because I'd thought it'd be safer for my
grandkids," said Katherine Sutton, who has lived in the
area for five years. "I thought things would be better, but I
see it's not."

Classes Wednesday were canceled, but the school will be
open for anyone in the community who wants counseling.
Flowers and stuffed animals were left at the front door of
the school. A sign over the door reads: "We (love) our
children and we care for their safety."

Debra Jones, who said she is a friend of Kayla's parents,
went to the family's home after learning of the shooting.

"She smiled all the time. she was just a sweet, sweet little
girl," Jones said, tears rolling down her cheeks. She said
Kayla loved the TV character Barney.

Jana Nicks, 6, said she and Kayla were friends and liked
to play duck-duck-goose and freeze tag in recess. "She
was real nice and laughed a lot," said Jana, who was in a
separate first-grade class.

Third-grader Corey Sutton, 9, said he heard a bang
Tuesday morning and thought a desk had fallen. Then,
"the principal came over the PA system and told teachers
to shut their doors and lock them," he said. "I was scared,
my heart was pounding."

The teacher told students to line up and get their coats on,
and when the kids were lined up "she told us what
happened. A girl got shot, and the teacher started
crying."