• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Police: Minnesota teen planned school massacre

TheNextEra

Banned
DP Veteran
Joined
Jun 14, 2006
Messages
16,575
Reaction score
6,767
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Libertarian - Left
A teenage boy had a plan.
According to authorities in Waseca, Minnesota, John David LaDue, 17, was going to kill his family, start a diversionary fire, set off bombs at an area school, kill the resource officer there and then shoot students.

Police were tipped off to the case two days earlier. Someone called about a suspicious person at a storage facility. When officers arrived, they saw what looked like bomb-making materials in a locker: a pressure cooker, pyrotechnic chemicals, steel ball bearings and gunpowder. LaDue went with officers to the police station for an interview. There, police say, he told authorities of his plan to kill his mother, father and sister and start a fire in rural Waseca to distract first responders. Then, they say, he would go to Waseca Junior and Senior High School, where he planned to set off various bombs during lunch, kill the school resource officer, set fires and then open fire on students. A journal recovered from his home detailed his plan and preparations, said police, who believe he meant to carry out the attack in the next week or two.


Police: Minnesota teen planned school massacre - CNN.com

Glad this nutball was stopped before he could act on his plan. Not sure what is going on with kids in schools today.
 
That is ****ed up man...

Who's got time for this ****?

I mean really.

When I was his age I was waaaaaay too busy with crap to have the time to come up with such a convoluted scheme... Or the inclination mind you... Almost makes you believe in the more literary Idea of evil.
 
Police: Minnesota teen planned school massacre - CNN.com

Glad this nutball was stopped before he could act on his plan. Not sure what is going on with kids in schools today.

I want to know if this kid was on psychotropic drugs and what his status was in that regard. Just stopped them? Just started them? What's different today?

The National Center for Health Statistics says that 5% of American 12- to 19-year-olds use antidepressants, and another 6% of the same age group use medication for ADHD—in total, about four million teenagers.
 
I want to know if this kid was on psychotropic drugs and what his status was in that regard. Just stopped them? Just started them? What's different today?

I would be curious on that as well. The medication parents use on kids to battle ADHD seems to be creating mass killers later.
 
The governor of Minnesota is a Democrat. Might as well get that out of the way, someone's going to bring it up.:roll:
 
Jesus… his plot was multilayered and if successful, would have resulted in many deaths, casualties, extensive property/environmental damage and lots of resources being deployed that costs a lot of money.

I'm glad this teenage terrorist was stopped before he could harm another human being.
 
Pointless fact from the article:

In a photo, he can be seen picking an electric guitar with a skull on its shoulder strap; his preferred bands -- more than 190 of them in total -- are predominantly heavy metal.

Oh, he liked metal. That explains it....:roll:
 
Of all the millions of kids in the U.S., some of them are going to be misfits. Some people are just screwed up from nature and or nurture. We can try and not aggravate them, have the best mental health system we can, but in the end there will always be outliers that are just a ticking time bomb lurking in the shadows.
 
Pointless fact from the article:



Oh, he liked metal. That explains it....:roll:

The media likes to create a profile for the student. They like to "know how a young 17 year old would go down this path." The long history of media using metal and or violent films (which would have been another unrelated factoid of this student to you) to point to criminality should be noted though.
 
Pointless fact from the article:
Oh, he liked metal. That explains it....:roll:

Yeah I noticed that as well, they also mentioned he liked guns.
 
The medication parents use on kids to battle ADHD seems to be creating mass killers later.

Let's not get hasty with this stuff guys.
 
I would be curious on that as well. The medication parents use on kids to battle ADHD seems to be creating mass killers later.

ORRRR a tiny fraction of those who needed medication go on to do bad things when off their meds. I wouldn't be too quick to blame the medication- there was a reason for the medication. :peace
 
ORRRR a tiny fraction of those who needed medication go on to do bad things when off their meds. I wouldn't be too quick to blame the medication- there was a reason for the medication. :peace

I sometimes wonder about the so called "need" for the medication. Why is it that people grew up just fine without it and now it seems many parents want to "medicate" their children?
 
I would also like to point out that there's plenty of things they used in the report to create a composite image, almost any of which people would justifiably be able to say is used to promote fear of the activity or the people involved.

*Likes guns*

*Likes violent movies*

*Likes scary books and stories*

*Likes metal music*
 
I sometimes wonder about the so called "need" for the medication.

Depends on the person.

Why is it that people grew up just fine without it and now it seems many parents want to "medicate" their children?

Just because society had many individuals without medications does not mean that they were "fine without it."

Over-reliance on medications and over diagnosis can be legitimately argued and has been argued by legitimate sources, but there are significant qualifiers involved. That being said, arguing that there was no prior need is merely looking at it through the lens of those who had been far less exposed to such topics or without exposure to the individuals who would have benefited from medication.
 
Yeah I noticed that as well, they also mentioned he liked guns.

Guns at least are a little relevant. Not that liking guns makes one a mass murderer, but guns were related to his plan.
 
Guns at least are a little relevant. Not that liking guns makes one a mass murderer, but guns were related to his plan.

One could also say the same about dark thoughts from reading materials, film, and music.
 
One could also say the same about dark thoughts from reading materials, film, and music.

I suppose, but I know a lot of metalheads and none of them are murderous. Most of them are perfectly normal people with day jobs, etc.

If it turned out a serial killer liked Beethoven, would we hear about that? That guy's stuff was full of as much angst as most metal.
 
I suppose, but I know a lot of metalheads and none of them are murderous. Most of them are perfectly normal people with day jobs, etc.

If it turned out a serial killer liked Beethoven, would we hear about that? That guy's stuff was full of as much angst as most metal.

I love metal. That being said, metal has a self-conscious atmosphere to it, however.
 
I want to know if this kid was on psychotropic drugs and what his status was in that regard. Just stopped them? Just started them? What's different today?

It's one of those paradoxes that aren't so paradoxical when you realize what is going on. Why do people have an increased suicide risk (or other anti-social behavior) while on Anti-Depressants? Because anti-depressants do very little to remove the bad thoughts of the person, it just numbs their emotions. People still contemplate suicide while on anti-depressants, they just are less afraid to follow through.

I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out something similar is happening with some of these school shooters. ADHD and depression drugs simply help them focus on the task that is dominating their mind.
 
I suppose, but I know a lot of metalheads and none of them are murderous. Most of them are perfectly normal people with day jobs, etc.

If it turned out a serial killer liked Beethoven, would we hear about that? That guy's stuff was full of as much angst as most metal.

Your friends are nice, quiet neighbors and never bother anybody? :2razz:
 
I sometimes wonder about the so called "need" for the medication. Why is it that people grew up just fine without it and now it seems many parents want to "medicate" their children?

I sometimes wonder as well, however it is false to claim that kids 'grew up just fine without it'. There is a LOOOONG string of mass murderers BEFORE Zoloft, look that up.

For the Zoloft link to have weight there would have to be a majority of kids on Zoloft out killing folks, not a number of the mass murderers on Zoloft.

The better question might be what indicators are there for mass murder and how effective are drugs like Zoloft in combating it. Idle speculation isn't helpful. Just using the last few incidents is junk.

1991, same year as Luby's- 28 yo Gang Hu kills 5 wounds 1- no known mental issues or prescribed medication.

1992 Eric Houston(20) blames his school for a failure to hold employment- 4 dead, 10 wounded- no known prescription, or diagnosis of mental problems

Kip Kinkel, aged 15, was never on Zoloft but was very disturbed- he killed his parents, 2 students and wounded 25 others.

Mitchel Johnson(14) and Andrew Golden(12) killed 5 and wounded 10- no meds. that was 1998.

1999 had Columbine with one of the two on medication and 4 adults between 36 and 47 committing mass murder in the same year.

You have to go to 2004 for the next kid, but you walk over quite a few bodies from other mass murderers. Jeff Weise, who was on Prozac, but not because his parents wanted to medicate him. His life prior to the shootings and suicide is such a crapfest- dad commits suicide at a police standoff, mother a drunk is badly injured and in a nursing home... he bounced from place to place until he killed his grandfather and then 8 more people.

2007 and the Virginia Tech murderer Cho(20), while he had been diagnosed with several mental problems in grade school I can't find any report of being medicated.

Robert Hawkins(19) had been in and out of mental healthcare since age 6, threatened to kill a relative at age 14- difficult to blame any meds for his violent nature.

Sulejman Talovia(18) never took zoloft but killed 5, wounded 4.

2008's Wesley Higdon had no record of mental illness or prescribed drug use.

I can't find any record of Jared Loughner ever being prescribed medication for his mental problems.

So I'd say it isn't medication causing mass murderers but it seems people with a mental defect do most the killing- i have to wonder how many other mass murderers are not killing due to proper treatment- and how many will 'turn' if taken off their meds.... :peace
 
I would be curious on that as well. The medication parents use on kids to battle ADHD seems to be creating mass killers later.

If you have ever had any real experience with seriously ill people you will realize it's almost always when they go OFF the meds that bad things happen. My sister is severe bipolar. Getting her meds right is a continual dance. When they're right, she is fine, when the meds aren't right, she's a mess.
 
It's one of those paradoxes that aren't so paradoxical when you realize what is going on. Why do people have an increased suicide risk (or other anti-social behavior) while on Anti-Depressants? Because anti-depressants do very little to remove the bad thoughts of the person, it just numbs their emotions. People still contemplate suicide while on anti-depressants, they just are less afraid to follow through.

I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out something similar is happening with some of these school shooters. ADHD and depression drugs simply help them focus on the task that is dominating their mind.

This is entirely false.
 
It's one of those paradoxes that aren't so paradoxical when you realize what is going on. Why do people have an increased suicide risk (or other anti-social behavior) while on Anti-Depressants? Because anti-depressants do very little to remove the bad thoughts of the person, it just numbs their emotions. People still contemplate suicide while on anti-depressants, they just are less afraid to follow through.

I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out something similar is happening with some of these school shooters. ADHD and depression drugs simply help them focus on the task that is dominating their mind.

Boy that was pretty stupid.
 
Back
Top Bottom