Charges filed in school-gun incident
18-year-old faces four felonies
By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Justin C. Barrett, 18, made a first appearance Wednesday in Lyon County District Court on allegations that he brought a gun onto Emporia school district property and also endangered the life of a child under 18 years of age.
The charges were read to Barrett by Magistrate Judge John Conklin. Barrett, who is being held in the Lyon County Jail, appeared alone in court and told the judge that he would be represented by an attorney.
Conklin set the preliminary hearing for 9 a.m. on Feb. 13 before District Judge Lee W. Fowler.
Two of the charges — aggravated endangering a child and criminal threat — against Barrett are Level 9 person felonies and carry sentences of 17 years in prison, or fines ranging up to $100,000 on each count, or both.
Barrett also is charged with two counts of criminal possession of a firearm on school property. Both are Class B non-person felonies, punishable by six months in jail or a $1,000 fine, or both on each charge.
Assistant Lyon County Attorney Amy Aranda told the court that based on information in the affidavit filed in the case, “the defendant did pose a significant risk and potential harm to himself and to the community as a whole” and to students because of the threats.
She asked that Barrett’s bond be set at no less than $75,000, because of those risks.
“I’m going to set bond at $100,000,” Conklin said.
Barrett was returned to the jail after the hearing.
An affidavit filed in the case by Emporia Police Officer Doug Stump stated that he was called to Emporia High School about 7:15 a.m. on Dec. 5 after a report of a student possibly going to the school with a gun. The call, made by Emporia Middle School Assistant Principal Brian Pekarek, came through the 911 system. Pekarek said that he had been told “Barrett was armed with a shotgun and was going to Emporia High School to kill some people.”
Stump stopped Barrett’s vehicle in that area. Barrett said he did not have a gun in the SUV and that he had put it the gun in his dad’s truck.
Sgt. Ed Owens stopped Barrett father, Michael Barrett, who also was driving in the area, and recovered a Remington 870 Express shotgun.
Stump wrote that during an interview at the police department, Barrett said he had planned to kill only himself and no one else.
Police obtained tapes of the parking area of Emporia Middle School and a tape from the interior of EHS. Each showed J. Barrett on school property, Stump wrote in the affidavit.
A witness who had ridden to school with Barrett told police that after Barrett picked him up, he returned to his home and came out with a shotgun and shells that he put in his SUV. En route to school, the witness said Barrett talked about killing people and killing himself, and seemed to be hallucinating.
The witness said he had told him “see you the next life, he was going to kill people and himself, a bunch of kids were picking on him and he was going to kill a bunch of Mexicans,” the affidavit states. “(The witness) also told Officer (Mark) Lake, J. Barrett pointed the shotgun at some cars. ...
“J. Barrett came up behind a slow moving vehicle on W. 24th Ave. He said J. Barrett put the shotgun out the window, pointed it at the vehicle, and said get out of my way or I’ll shoot,” Stump wrote in the affidavit.
The affidavit states that officer Jeff Illk interviewed school officials and another student, who told Illk that Barrett had approached him at EHS and had been “upset, crying, and mentioned something about a gun.” That witness said that Barrett left after kicking a chair and throwing a trash can.
Comments
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Posted by slipandslide (anonymous) on December 20, 2007 at 7:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
the gazettes story that was printed when this happened said there was no gun involved it isnt right that the school told the kids not to make a big deal out of this and the paper printed a vauge story of it. the community has a right to know when there are potential troubles at the school, its the best way to protect the kids.
Posted by lewisbailbonds (anonymous) on December 20, 2007 at 8:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
as far as i am concerned, the little brother is a hero, it must have been hard for him to report this and he did, it may not have happened on the day in question, but i do believe sooner or later it would have if the brother had not come forward then justin would still be free, walking around, attending school, building up more anger, that little brother deserves an award. hugs to him. thanks to the prosecuters office and judge conklin for setting the bond so high, that justin cannot afford to get out of jail.
Posted by slipandslide (anonymous) on December 20, 2007 at 8:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
applause to the school, police and justins brother for preventing a school shooting
Posted by louwho (anonymous) on December 20, 2007 at 10:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I guess I am confused. If he went to get the gun and placed it in his SUV, how and when did it get transfered to his dad's vehicle? Especially when he was driving down 24th pointing it at people? And why didn't the other person that he pointed it at come forth, unless that other person didn't notice it? I'm confused.......
Posted by jc1968 (anonymous) on December 20, 2007 at 7:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The gazzette printed what Deputy Cheif Mike Williams told them. "There was no credable threat to anyone." The incident was "unfounded" Shame on him for covering up the great work done by the Patrol Division of the Emporia Police Department.
Posted by amber_b (anonymous) on December 21, 2007 at 3:22 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by MisterO (anonymous) on December 21, 2007 at 6:03 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by glarson (Gwen Larson) on December 21, 2007 at 6:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Because I know that faithful readers will ask... here's why the two previous posts were removed.
One came from a family member of Justin Barrett who shared her belief that school officials didn't do enough to those who were picking on Justin.
The second post was a response asking why the family didn't do more. Although no questionable language was used in either post, it seemed apparent to me that this assignment of blame was quickly getting too personal.
I hope we can all agree that, based on the facts available right now, this situation looks like a potential tragedy that was averted. There is, of course, plenty of blame to go around.
But, remember, not all the facts have yet come out (and may never). As a parent let me say that our children do not always tell us what is bothering them, despite all our questions. And school officials may not have been aware of the situation if Justin hadn't shared his problems with his parents or officials. This is information we don't have.
I encourage all of us to remember when we were 16, 17, 18. I can attest that I didn't share with my parents even 10 percent of the problems I believed I was having with fellow students in high school. Instead, I just counted down the days until I was out.
Now, 25 years later, I know those perceived problems were minor. Teens, of course, don't have that perspective.
Posted by tmt (anonymous) on December 21, 2007 at 12:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow - that's about all I can say- WOW. This is an eye opener for Emporia. It’s been said before with other tragedies and unfortunately will probably be said again, but IT CAN HAPPEN HERE.
I think the thing that disgusts me most is the cover-up. This happened weeks ago and we are just now hearing the seriousness of the situation? I can understand not wanting to create panic, but what about the missed opportunities? The missed opportunity to sit down and talk with our kids about the dangers of guns. The importance of reporting bullying. The obligation they have to report potential problems and help others who are having issues or are in need. The opportunity to create an emergency plan with your children.
Aside from missed opportunities, what about the chance for kudos. Everything worked in this situation. Everything went right. Why not celebrate the fact that everyone acted and followed procedure correctly and a tragedy was adverted? !!
IMO it’s pitiful and sad this situation was downplayed to the extent that it was. Even more pathetic is the placement of the article in the printed paper. Since when does Holiday Fitness, take priority over our children’s welfare in a tax funded school? Page 2? What a joke.
I see this as another example of how our government leaders try and pull the wool over our eyes to improve their image instead of taking the public best interest into consideration.
Kudos to those who did a great job of preventing the situation from escalating. Boo to the cover-up job done by city, & school officials and missed opportunities that it created.
Posted by tmt (anonymous) on December 21, 2007 at 4:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
* are kids taught and practice lock down procedurces within the Emporia School district for such incidents?
* How are parents notified?
* Where would one go to get ACCURATE information about your child if there ever was an issue?
can we learn anything from this incident or will it continue to take a backseat to - gasp - Holiday fitness and Somalis?
Posted by slipandslide (anonymous) on December 22, 2007 at 9:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
i have been thinking about this since the kids came home upset and saying an 18 year old had been arrested at school for having a gun and making threats. i am so grateful for the coordination between the police and the school that morning, i believe there almost was a school shooting. i have had several kids in the emporia schools for a number of years and i can say there are bully problems, some are easier to correct than others, the schools need to quit pretending there are no bully issues, they do exist here.emporia schools have the potential to be excellent schools. instead of letting bully troubles persist, the schools need to find an effective way to address the issue. its much better than waiting till a kid turns into a walking time bomb and blows. i am in no way defending justins actions, if the school was not providing him with a safe, harrassment free education, then instead of picking up a shotgun, he should have picked up a phone book, got a lawyer and sued or tried taking his complaint to the superintendent.
Posted by hartford (anonymous) on December 25, 2007 at 12:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
to tmt:
There wasn't any missed opportunities from what I have read. We should talk to our kids BEFORE something like this happens. If we as parents only talk to our kids AFTER a situation as this one, then WE missed the opportunity.
I will have to agree that I am a little confused about the whole thing. If the gun was found in the fathers pickup, then we are not hearing the whole story. If he had it at one time in his posession, then he at one point handed the gun over to his father. What I conclude is, and this is my opionion, that the brother also called his father and the father found Justin before the cops did. If this is the case, then the father needs to be charged with trying to cover up a crime. It does explain why the father was found in the same area. I will give his dad the benefit of the doubt though, he probably didn't know the whole story either. What parent wouldn't try and help his child? But did he go too far is the real question.
Posted by truelovecharlie (anonymous) on February 10, 2008 at 8:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My heart goes out to Michael. I went to school with him and I too have a child that is constantly bullied aat school. It is a serious problem and always has been. Only nowadays, kids find tragic ways to try and solve this problem. Back in our day we just had a fight, got kicked out of school a few days and then life went on. Many that will post here MAY be a parent of a child that is doing the bullying. We need to instill in our children that all people deserve a certain amount of respect, no matter what station in life they have. If you don't like someone, just keep your distance, don't bully. I would encourage people to not be blaming the parent in this situation. As for the posibility Mike may have interceded; I would do the same and rush to get that gun from my child, if I were in that situation. Remember; "but for the grace of God, go I." This could easily be YOUR family in crisis. Kudo's to Ms. Larson for removing the posts she did.
Posted by yankee (anonymous) on February 10, 2008 at 9:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well said slipandslide. We are parents of a child that was bullied from K-3rd grade while attending UDS 253. Our child came home every day and talked to us. We tried several things to try to resolve this issue. We talked to the teacher, we talked with the principal, we talked with the parents, and the guidance counselor even got involved but to no avail. Our child was told not to talk to this other child and they wanted to take our child out of the classroom not the troublemaker. Fortunately, we moved out of state. The new school district has a NO Bullying policy. They just do not tolerate it and if there is a bullying incident it is addressed immediately. USD 253 open your eyes. This was caught THIS time, but what about next time!!!! My heart goes out to this family, because I have often wondered that if my child was pushed like this for a long time if I would find myself in a similar position. It saddens me to think that Justin MAY have felt that he possibly had no one to trust enough to talk to them about what he was feeling and if he did talk to some one shame on them for not helping enough to have prevented this.
Posted by jewls7969 (anonymous) on February 24, 2008 at 3:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I raised in Emporia. Went to school all my life the class of 1980. Bullying was still going on there and I was bullied in my neighborshood . Teachers, Princeples would do nothing. If I knew now what I know now, I would not have social problem. My name is Julie Stone. I live in Abilene now. My 12 year old was being bullied all the time. I went to the teachers several times, they would talk to the student but still bulllied my son. I took it further to the councilor. They would talk to the student several times. Finally I went to the princeple they did the same. Here it is Febuary. Been to the school 1-3 times a week before Febuary. I finially told my son he had my permission to lay in on the boy. I made my last visit with the councilor. I told him I told my son he has my permission to lay in the boy and he would not be held responsible for his actions because we had went to the teachers, counciler and principle and I should not have ever had to go to the shcool for any reason only for conferences. I talked to the superintendent and told the exact same thing. It's been almost a month and haven't had a problem. I found out legally through my oldest son when he was abused at the Abilene High, I could have filed charges even if the police said I couldn't I could have went to the state. People needs to know there rights.
Posted by slipandslide (anonymous) on February 24, 2008 at 6:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
its annoying when the schools wont take care of a problem. They will do a good job taking care of it when they are threatened the right way, get a lawyer and file charges. the schools have a responsibility to provide a safe, harrassment free environment for EVERY kid.
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