Trench coat, guns, knife
Student’s mother charged on 10th anniversary of Columbine massacre
A woman wearing a trench coat outside Gulf Breeze High School was arrested Monday after police found she had brought two guns and a knife to campus.
Judy Hall’s arrest came on the 10-year anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings that left 12 students and a teacher dead in suburban Denver. The two students who carried out the massacre were dressed in trench coats.
Police are not sure why Hall, 61, brought the guns to campus on the anniversary of the Columbine shootings.
“The mother did not identify that she was trying to make a connection to Columbine,” Gulf Breeze Police Chief Peter Paulding said. “But it did involve a trench coat and guns, and this is the 10th anniversary.”
Hall of Finch Drive in Gulf Breeze was booked into Santa Rosa County Jail on Monday on charges of carrying a concealed gun, bringing a gun to a school, and resisting arrest without violence. She still was in custody Monday night.
No one was injured at Gulf Breeze High, and no weapons were fired in the incident.
Paulding said Hall was arrested after going to the school to talk with Gulf Breeze school resource officer Kerstan Tatro about an incident at the school Friday involving Hall’s son, who is a freshman.
Hall was concerned about some students confronting her son about postings he allegedly made on the Web sites YouTube and MySpace that made reference to students at the school being hurt, according to a police report.
“The rumor was he was posting a hit list,” Paulding said. “I believe it is unlikely it would have been up for that length of time and someone would not have caught it.”
Paulding said the department checked both Web sites and could not find any postings about Gulf Breeze students. The last time Hall’s son logged into his MySpace account was Jan. 6, the chief said.
Trench coat
After Tatro initially met Hall in the school parking lot Monday morning, he told her to meet him in his office to discuss her concerns. At the time, she was not wearing a trench coat, according to a police report.
Later, from his office window, Tatro saw Hall put on a trench coat. Paulding said it appeared that Hall’s son tried to talk to his mother out what she was doing.
Tatro immediately left his office to confront Hall after seeing her put on the trench coat. Tatro approached Hall in the parking lot and the two started discussing the Internet posting rumor, the report said.
The officer told Hall the rumor came up Friday, but it did not concern her son. Tatro told Hall that a student with a similar name to her son’s was the subject of the Internet rumors, according to a police report.
Hall told the officer that “anyone could walk in the school with a trench coat on and a gun in their pocket and start killing people,” Gulf Breeze police said in a news release.
Hall then told the officer that she had a handgun in her coat pocket. Tatro searched her and found an unloaded .22-caliber gun.
The officer also found a folding knife on Hall, police said.
Other officers went to the school to help Tatro, and a loaded .380-caliber gun was found in Hall’s truck. Hall’s home was searched, and two handguns, two rifles and a shotgun were found, police said.
Students on edge
The incident had parents and students worried about safety at the school.
About 170 students were checked out of school by parents Monday, said Becky Brown, assistant principal for student services. The school has about 1,500 students.
Denice Brown picked up her son at his request. Brown’s 16-year-old son is a friend of Hall’s son, and he was upset.
“We know the family and don’t know what brought (Hall) to this point,” Brown said. “This is not a part of her normal character.”
Doris Platt received an e-mail about the incident from Gulf Breeze middle and high schools. She has children who attend both schools.
“I wonder what the lady was thinking,” she said. “I understand you want to prove a point, but this is not the way to go about it.”
Initially, sophomore Casey Platt, thought talk of the incident was a joke.
“Then, I was kind of scared,” she said. “People were saying random stuff, but the teachers talked to us about it and said everything was OK. Then, I was at ease.”
Gulf Breeze High School Principal Sylvan Ladner said in his 35 years with the school this was the first time he recalls a parent being arrested for having a gun on campus.
“Our school is safe, and we are always looking for measures to make it even safer,” he said. “Most of our exterior doors are kept locked from the start of first-period class until the afternoon.”
http://www.pnj.com/article/20090421/NEWS01/904210308/1006/NEWS01
Thyrie Bland • tbland@pnj.com • April 21, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw
Ufocrossing 