"School shooter"
On May 20, 1999 at age 15, T. J. Solomon shot and wounded 6 fellow students at Heritage
High School, a school of approximately 1,300 students, in Conyers,
Georgia. All 6 wounded
students recovered from the shooting.
Solomon stole a .22
caliber rifle and a
.357 Magnum from his
stepfathers gun cabinet walked calmly into the school and began shooting students. The incident took place in the student break area known as the School Commons. After the shooting spree Solomon ran outside and put the handgun to his mouth and began crying. The motive is unknown but it is known that he had broken up with his girlfriend a few weeks prior to the shooting and had said he had no reason to live. T.J. was active in
church,
baseball and
boy scouts and appeared to be an average student prior to this shooting.
Ironically this school shooting took place as President
Bill Clinton was in
Littleton, Colorado, addressing the students at
Columbine Highschool.
He pleaded guilty but
mentally ill to all 29 charges against him and was
sentenced to 40 years in
prison and 65 years of
probation. Serving his sentence at Arrendale
State Prison, he will be
eligible for
parole in 2018.
He was under
medical care and taking the drug
Ritalin at the time of the
school shooting.
Note: This school shooting was one month to the day of the Littleton, Colorado massacre at Columbine Highschool by "school shooters" Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.