3rd student dead in Ohio high school shooting: CNN

Xinhua, February 29, 2012

A third student has died from the shooting rampage at Chardon High School in the U.S. state of Ohio, CNN reported Tuesday.

MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, said that Demetrius Hewlin, student at Chardon High School, succumbed to his wounds Tuesday morning, according to the report. He had been in critical condition.

"We are very saddened by the loss of our son and others in our Chardon community," family of Hewlin said in a statement. " Demetrius was a happy young man who loved life and his family and friends."

The announcement came just hours after a second student was pronounced brain dead by MetroHealth early Tuesday. Russell King Jr., 17, was declared brain dead at the hospital, where he was treated after suffering serious wounds in the shooting on Monday on the school campus, about 30 miles east of Cleveland.

Two other students wounded in the shooting remained hospitalized, with one in serious condition and the other, stable.

The suspect, identified by news reports as a teenager named T.J. Lane, allegedly brought a handgun into the school cafeteria, and started shooting just after 7:30 a.m. Monday. Five students were shot at three locations.

While authorities declined to speculate the motive behind the attack, local media quoted Lane's classmates describing him as an "outcast" who has apparently been bullied. He also tweeted he would bring a gun to school, but nobody took him seriously.

The suspect was scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon.

A lawyer for the family of Lane issued a statement saying the Lane family offered "their most heartfelt and sincere condolences" to the families of the victims.

The deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history occurred in 1999 at Columbine High School in Colorado, where two senior students killed 12 students and one teacher. The pair then committed suicide.