Adventist principal killed in Academy

[phkrause]

I got a email from my former pastor at the AUC church asking for prays on this situation. From what he mentioned this 17 year old has admited to killing the principal and that he had been planning this for a while now. Actually here are his exact words: "Secondly, we ask for prayers for the KY-Tenn church family regarding yesterday's tragedy at Memphis Junior Academy. (You probably have heard that the principal was murdered at school and one of her 17-year-old students has confessed that he'd planned this since last school year.) There is more than enough pain to go around, isn't there? Our hearts grieve for our family down there... the students, the staff, her family, the killer's family... we grieve for them all."

[Dr. Shane]

I hope the church family can reach out to the killer's family in a way the really endears them to the church and ministers to their needs.

[teresaq]

I got a email from my former pastor at the AUC church asking for prays on this situation. From what he mentioned this 17 year old has admited to killing the principal and that he had been planning this for a while now. Actually here are his exact words: "Secondly, we ask for prayers for the KY-Tenn church family regarding yesterday's tragedy at Memphis Junior Academy. (You probably have heard that the principal was murdered at school and one of her 17-year-old students has confessed that he'd planned this since last school year.) There is more than enough pain to go around, isn't there? Our hearts grieve for our family down there... the students, the staff, her family, the killer's family... we grieve for them all."

Thanks PK. I really appreciated the pastor's statements. A very insightful person.

[teresaq]

Yes, I agree. I'm sure you apply it to both families. Such a tightrope to walk, giving the one family its due sympathy while maintaining a reaching hand to both the youth and his family!

I couldn't do it without God. And I would barely be able to do it then.

[Dr. Shane]

Watch the movie End Of the Spear. It is awesome about how a group of women ministered to the men that killed their husbands. I have heard similar stories come out of Rwanda. That is real Christianity. Returning evil with good. It doesn't have to be so extreme either. When someone hurts me, I should try to see how I can give that person a blessing in exchange for the pain they gave me.

[james423]

A FEW COMMENTS:

1. When my wife and I heard about this tragedy, she made the comment that she wondered if the student was upset that family members were pushing him to attend that particular school.

2. Schools we are familar with have lost two or three buildings to fires set by juveniles who were upset with something the staff had "done" to them. To me, given the fact that Memphis has been experiencing record temperatures (100 degrees plus)the past month or so, leading to shortened tempers (usually), it would be no little stretch to find a teenager going beyond setting a building on fire and murdering a teacher or administrator.

3. I would not wish to be in this particular boy's shoes. If he had thought about committing this crime beforehand (which he has admitted to doing), this means the deed classifies as "premediated murder" or "1st degree murder", which carries the death penalty, I believe still, in Tennessee.

Just a few thoughts.

[james423]

At least one news commentator is wondering of there was a language barrier involved.

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/local/language-barrier-in-principal-stabbing-case-rpt-20110812

Another news source said that the 17-year-old suspect is to be evaluated and that the case may be moved to a regular adult court instead of a juvenile court.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/12/us-tennessee-principal-killed-idUSTRE77B4PV20110812

[John317]

... To me, given the fact that Memphis has been experiencing record temperatures (100 degrees plus)the past month or so, leading to shortened tempers (usually), it would be no little stretch to find a teenager going beyond setting a building on fire and murdering a teacher or administrator.

True, but in this case, the reports are that he confessed and said that he had planned this killing since May.

Most teens will "cool down" during that long a period, but this time the boy carried it out after almost 3 full months. That is some anger!

But of course it also means that if these reports are true, the boy will almost certainly be tried as an adult.

I'm wondering about the boy's background-- whether from an SDA family and what race he is, whether English is a secondary langauge, whether he was on either prescribed or unprescribed drugs.

[teresaq]

Being out of touch with one's self certainly affects all we do and say, doesn't it?

[teresaq]

Thanks for the additional well-balanced perspective. those of us not going through that ong-term heatwave probably didn't think of that. It would affect ones's rationality which is probably why Satan asked permission to cause it.

I pray there are true Godly souls to hopefully reach that young man before/if he receives the death penalty. Oh that poor child! (In the sense of, what has he done to his life, his future?!)It makes me want to cry over the helplessness of not being able to prevent it.

A FEW COMMENTS:

1. When my wife and I heard about this tragedy, she made the comment that she wondered if the student was upset that family members were pushing him to attend that particular school.

2. Schools we are familar with have lost two or three buildings to fires set by juveniles who were upset with something the staff had "done" to them. To me, given the fact that Memphis has been experiencing record temperatures (100 degrees plus)the past month or so, leading to shortened tempers (usually), it would be no little stretch to find a teenager going beyond setting a building on fire and murdering a teacher or administrator.

3. I would not wish to be in this particular boy's shoes. If he had thought about committing this crime beforehand (which he has admitted to doing), this means the deed classifies as "premediated murder" or "1st degree murder", which carries the death penalty, I believe still, in Tennessee.

Just a few thoughts.

[John317]

•Principal Found Dead at Memphis Junior…

•Community Reacts to School Stabbing

•Preventing School Violence

17-Year-Old Student on Stabbing Death

“She made me angry.”

Updated: Thursday, 11 Aug 2011, 8:35 PM CDT

Published : Thursday, 11 Aug 2011, 1:26 PM CDT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Eduardo Marmolejo, The 17-year old student charged with stabbing a Memphis Christian school principal to death will remain in juvenile custody pending a mental evaluation.

The teen told homicide investigators he planned to kill 49-year old Suzette York on the third day of classes. The suspect said he did not like her and that she had made him angry.

He stated that he knew that he was going to be alone with York which would give him the opportunity to kill her.

York's body was found lying in a pool of blood by a teacher at about 11:20 a.m. Wednesday. Parents were called and students were sent home after the body was discovered.

York suffered from multiple stab wounds and was pronounced deceased on the scene.

The 17-year old student has been charged with First Degree Murder and appeared in juvenile court Thursday afternoon where the judge ordered a mental evaluation.

Marmolejo's defense attorney, Autumn Chastain, spoke with reporters after the hearing.

"Definitely a difficult time for all of them," Chastain said.

In court Thursday, Marmolejo waived the reading of details of his alleged role in the heinous crime.

"It's just a very serious allegation and we need to know everything going on in the case," Chastain said.

The next court date set is for Aug. 24. The court plans to discuss his mental evaluation and whether or not he will be charged as an adult.

York is survived by her husband, who lived with her in an apartment in suburban Memphis.

About 30 friends and current and former students attended a tear-filled prayer service for York on Wednesday at Mullins United Methodist Church, located next to the school.

Peter Hunter, a former student who also has a cousin currently attending the school, said York tried hard to nurture a family atmosphere at the school.

"She was a person who was very much involved with the students," said Hunter, 25. "She cared deeply about the development of her students."

[Windsor]

According to reports this student had long been a "troublemaker" in the school. The principal was doing everything she could to help this student and in fact this was the first year Memphis Junior Academy had an 11th grade, a grade started solely for his benefit as he was the only student. She did everything she could to help this young man, going far beyond her duty. He should have been expelled long before but the principal was a very patient woman and wanted him to succeed.

[Daryl]

Being the only Grade 11 student, he obviously knew he would be alone with her.

How sad it is that her desire to help him resulted in her being murdered by him.

[BobRyan]

The student "had long been a trouble maker" !!

Parents, teachers and church school board members who view SDA schools as "reformatories for disgruntled students" have got it all wrong!

in Christ,

Bob

[John317]

...The teen told homicide investigators he planned to kill 49-year old Suzette York on the third day of classes. The suspect said he did not like her and that she had made him angry.

He stated that he knew that he was going to be alone with York which would give him the opportunity to kill her.

The statement should read, "... he had planned since the previous May to kill 49-year old Suzette York on the third day of classes."

That is what he told the investigators.

The boy knew that he would be her only student during a science class. She was known as a teacher who took great interest in the education of her pupils.

I believe they need to make changes so that female teachers in our schools are not all alone for an entire class with male students. The public schools have video of the class rooms so that they can be monitored, but our private schools can't afford to have cameras in all the classes.

[abelisle]

Bob,

This is one thing I can absolutely agree with you about!

Alex

[Lizabeth]

A retired education director told me that Mrs. York was one of the sweetest teachers he had ever known and he couldn't even imagine how anyone could be so angry at her.

Mrs. York got permission from the Conference to make MJA a senior level school. The reason for her request was that many students could not afford to go away to academy. The plan was to add the 11th grade this year and the 12th grade next year. However, with the exception of Eduardo, the rising 11th graders all went to Highland Academy or Memphis public schools. The papers say that Eduardo claimed he decided to murder Mrs. York when he found out at the close of last school year that he would be all alone in his grade.

His family is Hispanic; his parents do not speak English.

This is obviously an unmitigated tragedy. In light of the increasing frequency of such tragedies, it appears that we should make security a priority for our schools.

[John317]

Welcome to the Forum, Caroline!

I do completely agree with you. I hope the schools make some changes so that this kind of thing will never happen again in our schools.

I feel so sorry for the families, including the parents of the perpetrator. I sympathize with them in a special way because my wife and her family are from Mexico and I know what it is like to be in the US without knowledge of the language.

We need to pray for them, for sure. I hope SDAs there are showing them love and understanding.

I wish I could visit their boy. I used to work with Juvenile Delinquents just like him. No doubt he will be tried as an adult, and that will put him among the worst and "baddest" criminals in the system. They will not treat him nice. They hate anyone who kills innocent women.

[nuff sed]

Welcome to the Forum, Caroline!

I do completely agree with you. I hope the schools make some changes so that this kind of thing will never happen again in our schools.

He planned this for three months. What kind of changes do you believe are necessary to prevent this from happening again?

Nuff Sed

[John317]

It's like the assassination of the president. If someone wants to kill you badly enough and are willing to die for it, you may not be able to stop them from doing it. But there are certain precautions you can take to make it less likely to happen.

In the case of this boy, it is almost certain that he wouldn't have killed her if he'd known that he wouldn't be alone with the teacher. It was his knowledge that he would be alone with her that caused him to plan her murder.

That means if he'd known that someone was watching what he was doing or if he knew that his activities were being recorded, it's very likely he wouldn't have planned to kill her. Perhaps the school could simply have had students from another class sit in the same classroom during that period. For instance, a study hall while the science class is being taught.

Usually in the case of a boy like this, there would be some signs that he was angry or that he had a problem with anger.

There are times when a child won't show his anger or won't talk about it, but normally the teacher knows when she's made a student angry over something.

Teachers need to be taught how to be proactive in heading off any kind of anger problem. I wonder if she had been trained in dealing with angry students or with fending off an attacker. It's also possible that the parents of the boy knew he was angry at the teacher or at least did not like her. Did they communciate this? Are teachers communciating openly with parents enough so that they would pick up on this aspect of a student's personality?

There's also the possibility of schools having psychological testing by which they can identify children who are capable of committing violent crime.

It may be a good thing to provide teachers with mace that they can keep attached to their clothing where they can use it quickly if need be.

It's obvious the school did not check students for weapons. He somehow got a knife into class. This also needs to be seriously considered.

It's likely that if this boy thought the teacher was prepered and would be able to fight him off, he almost certainly wouldn't have committed this attack. Sometimes merely appearing to be ready for something like this is enough to prevent the child from going through with a plan of attack.

As I said, it's possible that nothing would have kept this tragedy from happening, but on the other hand, in most cases, there are ways of preventing such crimes in the school.

[teresaq]

The papers say that Eduardo claimed he decided to murder Mrs. York when he found out at the close of last school year that he would be all alone in his grade.

It sounds like he felt that was his only option.

[Dr. Shane]

Sounds like he was struggling with a mental illness.

[teresaq]

There are those who believe we are all mentally ill to some degree. They equate it with sin.

[BobRyan]

Originally Posted By: John317

Welcome to the Forum, Caroline!

I do completely agree with you. I hope the schools make some changes so that this kind of thing will never happen again in our schools.

He planned this for three months. What kind of changes do you believe are necessary to prevent this from happening again?

Nuff Sed

Well there is the "easy change" -- there is always that one.

Put simply - "do not use SDAs schools as a forceful reformatory for wayward teens". Often desperate parents who have real hard-case rebels living at home will "force" the teens to go to an Adventist school. The Adventist school will tend to sympathize with the parent and will also be tempted by the fact that they are doing something to maintain enrollment numbers.

Adventist schools were not created as a means of forcing the wicked to become Christians.

In the case above - the teen was already well known as an influence for evil at the school long before he planned to kill anyone.

Should have been a "clue" for someone.

in Christ,

Bob

[John317]

Adventist schools were not created as a means of forcing the wicked to become Christians.

In the case above - the teen was already well known as an influence for evil at the school long before he planned to kill anyone.

Should have been a "clue" for someone.

True. Kind of common sense, isn't it.

It reminds me, though, of when I was a student at Loma Linda Elementary, there were boys sent to the school that had been in the LA gangs and loved to fight. Why they allowed them in, I don't know. They only caused terrible trouble there. What's the sense of parents sending their kids to a Christian school because of the good influence the parents hope they'll be exposed to there, when their kids will learn evil habits from the other children and even have to protect themselves from them.

Ellen White talks about the importance of keeping our children from the evil influences of children who have demonstrated they have no intention of doing right. How can this be done as long as they are being made to go to school with those children?

I think it's one reason that some parents home-school their kids, and I can't blame them.

Personally I sent my kids most of the time to public schools, and while I really enjoyed SDA schools myself, I found that I ran into worse kids and far worse situations at SDAs schools than I did in public schools. I frankly don't know why. I hope my experience that way is far different from most SDAs. I know my experience was totally different from my sisters, but then they are girls, of course.