Student killed in shooting at Tenn. school - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080821/ap_on_re_us/tennessee_school_shooting

A student fatally shot a 15-year-old classmate during a dispute Thursday at a Knoxville high school, as other teenagers watched in horror as the victim clutched his chest and fell to the floor.

Police identified the victim as Ryan McDonald, a sophomore who lived with his grandmother and had alopecia, a condition that left him bald and the target of endless teasing as a child.

"He tried to have a tough exterior, like a shield, to fit in," his uncle Roger McDonald said. "He was a good kid ... who was dealt some bad cards in life."

The shooting happened shortly after 8 a.m. at the Central High School cafeteria, Chief Deputy Bill Roehl said, and the suspected shooter was taken into custody minutes later on a nearby street. The suspect and victim knew each other, Knox County School System Superintendent Bill McIntyre said.

Authorities hadn't identified the suspect, who was to be charged in juvenile court and represented by the public defender's office.

"This wasn't a shooting that was a random act," Roehl said. "It was an individual directing his aggression toward another individual, not the school or the students inside the school."

The cafeteria was a popular place to gather before classes started at 8:30 a.m., students said. Chad Griffin, 15, and Josh Matthews, 14, said that they were sitting about 10 feet away from the victim and talking when they heard a sharp noise.

Griffin at first thought someone had dropped a book and then looked around.

"He got shot and started walking and he was holding his chest. There was blood everywhere. And then he fell and his arm hit me," Griffin said.

Matthews said he thought it was a fake at first but then realized the shooting was real.

"I took off running and ran outside and called my mom," Matthews said.

Students in the cafeteria began crying and scrambling to leave, while others tried to get in the room, thinking they had missed a fight, witnesses said. Students began to gather around the victim, said freshman Jared Wohlford, 14. "Everybody started running out real fast saying, 'He got shot,'" he said.

The school, which has about 1,400 students, was placed on lockdown after the shooting. Classes were dismissed and students were bused to a nearby church so they could be picked up by their parents.

FOXNews.com - Ex-Gym Teacher Gets Jail Time for Having Sex With Student, 14, and Leaving Dirty Voicemails - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,407744,00.html

A former gym teacher who had sex with a 14-year-old student and sent him erotic cell phone messages was sentenced Wednesday to up to three years in prison, in part because she called the boy after she was charged.

The boy's family had been willing to settle for a sentence less than prison until they found out Beth Ann Chester had contacted him, prosecutor Laura Ditka told the judge.

Chester, 27, was led away in handcuffs after apologizing and pleading guilty to statutory sexual assault, corruption of a minor and criminal use of a cell phone.

"I know this is the punishment I deserve," she said of the 1 1/2- to 3-year prison sentence she received.

The boy was a freshman when Chester met him last fall at Moon Area High School. The ninth-grade teacher and volleyball coach resigned unexpectedly in December citing "personal reasons." She was arrested in early January after she confessed to having sex with the boy, including once in a school parking lot.

"We were obviously hoping for something less than jail, but there was undeniably an episode of contact there. She called him on the phone," defense attorney Robert DelGreco Jr. told The Associated Press. "The condition of her bond was there to be absolutely no contact with the boy."

DelGreco didn't excuse Chester's behavior, but sought to explain it by noting that her marriage was troubled when she met the boy. That caused her to become closer to her students than she should have been, DelGreco said.

"She treated them more as her classmates than a teacher-student relationship," DelGreco said.

Chester's divorce is pending.

Authorities said the boy and Chester began exchanging text messages in October after she got his cell phone number from a member of her volleyball squad. The boy told police he fell in love with Chester as their text messages and other contacts became more frequent. The two also exchanged nude pictures of each other.

The boy's parents found some text messages Chester sent the boy in December and confronted her. They agreed not to press charges if she resigned.

After Chester resigned, another teacher told the school's principal about the her relationship with the teen. School officials referred the matter to police.

A former gym teacher who had sex with a 14-year-old student and sent him erotic cell phone messages was sentenced Wednesday to up to three years in prison, in part because she called the boy after she was charged.

The boy's family had been willing to settle for a sentence less than prison until they found out Beth Ann Chester had contacted him, prosecutor Laura Ditka told the judge.

Chester, 27, was led away in handcuffs after apologizing and pleading guilty to statutory sexual assault, corruption of a minor and criminal use of a cell phone.

"I know this is the punishment I deserve," she said of the 1 1/2- to 3-year prison sentence she received.

The boy was a freshman when Chester met him last fall at Moon Area High School. The ninth-grade teacher and volleyball coach resigned unexpectedly in December citing "personal reasons." She was arrested in early January after she confessed to having sex with the boy, including once in a school parking lot.

"We were obviously hoping for something less than jail, but there was undeniably an episode of contact there. She called him on the phone," defense attorney Robert DelGreco Jr. told The Associated Press. "The condition of her bond was there to be absolutely no contact with the boy."

DelGreco didn't excuse Chester's behavior, but sought to explain it by noting that her marriage was troubled when she met the boy. That caused her to become closer to her students than she should have been, DelGreco said.

"She treated them more as her classmates than a teacher-student relationship," DelGreco said.

Chester's divorce is pending.

Authorities said the boy and Chester began exchanging text messages in October after she got his cell phone number from a member of her volleyball squad. The boy told police he fell in love with Chester as their text messages and other contacts became more frequent. The two also exchanged nude pictures of each other.

The boy's parents found some text messages Chester sent the boy in December and confronted her. They agreed not to press charges if she resigned.

After Chester resigned, another teacher told the school's principal about the her relationship with the teen. School officials referred the matter to police.