Eric Hainstock

Background

Eric Hainstock was 15 years old when he shot principal John Klang at Weston High School. He lived with his father and stepmother in a two-story A-Frame farm house about four miles northwest of Cazenovia in La Valle located on a hill surrounded by farm land. Eric was born on April 4, 1991 in La Crosse, Wisconsin to Shawn Hainstock and Lisa Marie Buttke. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and in December 1995 went to court to seek custody of Eric.

In December 1995, Eric’s mother’s parental rights were terminated by court-order after she failed to pay child support. Eric’s father remarried, and Eric was adopted by his stepmother.

Eric’s father was unemployed and received disability pensions. In September 2001, the Sauk County Department of Children and Families were called to the residence after he had allegedly kicked his son. By court-order, Eric was forced to live with his paternal grandmother, before he returned to his father’s care in April 2002.

Eric submitted a letter to Madison based newspaper Isthmus in which he claimed he was treated like a slave by his father and forced to do all cleaning, including cleaning past midnight. He claimed he was severely disciplined by his father and described being made to stand in his bedroom corner with his nose touching a wall and holding one of his legs in the air for long periods. He also claimed that about 25 to 30 students bullied him at Weston High School and that when he complained to the faculty nothing was done to prevent the bullying.

In early 2006, Eric and his stepmother were involved in a physical confrontation and Eric was left with human bite marks on him.

After the shooting, Eric told police that he didn’t mean to hurt John Klang and that his goal was to face him and "make him listen" about his being bullied. He reported that he was only allowed to shower once a week, which left him with poor hygiene. He also reported that the clothes and shoes his father bought for him were in poor condition and were not the right size.

While in prison, Michael Caldwell from Middleton, Wisconsin diagnosed Eric with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

While in prison, Eric allowed Isthmus to share his story. He wrote a ten-page letter with the help of his cell-mate. According to Eric, he had gained 50 pounds, his reading went from a fourth grade level to a tenth grade level, and he was working on his GED. Eric’s father and stepmother drove 160 miles to visit him about twice a month. Eric took total responsibility for what he did in his letter, while also believing he was not to blame for everything.

As of October 2008, Eric’s supportive cellmate situation was reassigned without any official explanation.

A chronology also described additional background and interactions involving Eric:

• November 1993: Parents filed for divorce.
• 1993-1996: Shawn Hainstock had several intakes for depression and anger issues at a mental health center.
• April 1995: On turning 4, Eric was evaluated for kindergarten in Reedsburg and was found to be one to two years behind in language and other skills.
• August 1995: Shawn gained custody of Eric. He discontinued Eric’s use of Ritalin for attention deficient hyperactivity disorder and pulled Eric from therapy after a single session.
• December 1995: A woman Shawn was dating obtained a harassment restraining order against him, then one to protect her children. She said Shawn used "frequent and severe spankings" to discipline Eric.
• March 1996: Still 4, Eric was brought by his father to the Sauk County mental health unit for temper tantrums and "inappropriate sexual behaviors."
• April 1997: A Reedsburg school evaluation found significant problems with inappropriate behaviors, temper tantrums and aggression. He cried often and hit himself, at times needing to be physically restrained. That same month, Shawn married Priscilla.
• July 1997: A police report stated Eric was sexually abused by his 13-year-old stepbrother during visits to his mother for about a year, including fondling and "digital/anal penetration." The report also said his mother’s new husband would kick and hit him. As a result, visitation with his mother was curtailed.
• September 1997: An abuse probe was launched after Eric came to school with a split lip from his father. Abuse was not substantiated, but authorities deemed Eric at risk and referred the family for treatment services; Shawn did not follow through.
• November 1997: An evaluation described Eric as "desperate" to please adults and disruptive in class, and said his behavior had deteriorated from the previous year.
• 1999: Eric’s mother was sentenced to 60 days in jail for failure to pay child support.
• February 1999: Seven-year-old Eric’s unruly school behavior prompted another evaluation finding significant problems with anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, aggression and social skills.
• December 1999: Eric, now 8, ran away from home after being punished by his father. Police found him past midnight sleeping on bales of hay, wet and cold; he was taken to the emergency room with mild hypothermia. He told police he did not want to live with his father and stepmother anymore.
• January 2000: Eric punched a student who took his hat, knocking out a tooth.
• March 2000: Lisa Marie terminated parental rights, and Priscilla adopted him.
• May 2000: A school nurse put Eric on a low dose of Ritalin. The improvement was described as dramatic, with him "well behaved, polite [and] respectful," while problems with impulse control and hyperactivity remained. The medication stopped when the school year ended.
• September 2000: After a move, Eric, now 9, began fourth grade in Wonewoc. He bit a student who got on top of him. The next day, he did not come home from school and was found hiding in a public restroom, expressing fear about his father’s reaction to his misbehavior.
• October 2000: Eric was again prescribed Ritalin, and again his grades and behavior improved.
• June 2001: A progress report said Eric, 10, was no longer taking Ritalin, resulting in "setbacks in progress."
• September 2001: Police were called after Eric’s father kicked him several times for botching chores. They learned he also made Eric hold hot sauce on his tongue and hit him with a paddle marked "Board of Education." At one point, Shawn told authorities they could keep his son. Eric was removed and placed with Irene Hainstock, his father’s mother. Shawn was charged with felony child abuse, later reduced to misdemeanor battery and ultimately dismissed.
• Fall 2001: Eric’s behavior deteriorated, with class disruption, nightmares and fears of dying, threats of suicide, and he kicked a peer and was suspended for bringing powdered magnesium to school, saying it was drugs.
• Winter 2001: With his grandmother, Eric resumed taking Ritalin, and behavior and school performance improved.
• April 2002: Shawn regained custody of Eric, now 11.
• September 2002: Eric transferred to Weston Schools for sixth grade.
• April 2003: A review found Eric, now 12, had a "severe attention deficit problem that needs to be addressed through medication," but his father and stepmother objected to medication.
• 2003-2004: Eric had multiple detentions and was removed from classrooms about twice a week. He had to repeat sixth grade. A report said he was "very immature and emotional," and said he cried often. He was physically assaulted by another student.
• Sauk County officials received two neglect referrals—one after Eric came to school shirtless after being up late doing chores and one deeming him "filthy and smelling." Neglect was not substantiated.
• March 2005: Now in seventh grade, Eric was academically at a fourth- or fifth-grade level and had significant problems with learning, behavior and depression. His parents opposed counseling or other treatment, with his father saying he "is doing better with discipline."
• 2005-2006: A school psychologist noted that eighth-grader Eric was "often hungry because his father would not pay for the discount lunch (30-40 cents)."
• February 2006: Police were called to Weston after Eric, 14, became angry at another student and a teacher and threw chairs.
• Sept. 14, 2006: Eric, 15, quarrels with a student and threw a stapler at a teacher. He was charged with second-degree recklessly endangering safety, disorderly conduct and criminal damage.
• Several days later: Eric had a physical altercation with his adoptive mother that left him with bite marks on his arm and chest. She later denied biting his chest.
• March 2007: A psychologist interviewing Eric noticed he had cut the words "Fuck you" into his forearm. He explained that he was referring to himself.
• April 2007: After a hearing, a Sauk County judge refused to waive Eric’s case back into juvenile court.
• July 26, 2007: Trial started in Sauk County court in Baraboo.

The offence

On September 29, 2006, Eric Hainstock entered Weston High School and fatally shot principal John Klang.

On that day, the gunman entered the school’s main hallway and fatally shot John Klang with a handgun and a shotgun. Eric was a ninth-grader at the school.

Eric entered the school with a handgun and a shotgun, both owned by his parents. After arriving at school at approximately 8:00 a.m., he aimed the shotgun at a teacher. The custodian wrestled the shotgun away from him after a struggle. With the shotgun taken away, Eric remained armed with the handgun and sought out and confronted the school’s principal, John Alfred Klang. Klang attempted to subdue Hainstock. In response, Hainstock shot Klang several times.

Klang then managed to sweep away the gun and wrestle Hainstock to the ground. Others helped to hold Hainstock down. Staff and students apprehended Eric and held him until police arrived.

Klang was treated at Reedsburg Area Medical Center where he underwent surgery, and was then flown to the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison. Klang died shortly after 3 p.m. Klang was the only one shot in the shooting.

Investigation

Investigators found a note at Eric Hainstock’s house from him to his father, along with boxes of ammunition, discipline reports from Weston Schools and a photo of a girl with her eyes poked out. Court records also said Eric had a medical condition that affected his behavior but he was not receiving treatment because the family could no longer afford drugs or counseling.

Investigators also had been to the Hainstock home before. A criminal complaint said Eric drove to school with a shotgun and a .22-caliber revolver in his pocket. It said he brought the guns into the school, where a janitor tore the shotgun away from him. It said Eric escaped a teacher who was trying to corner him and pulled out the revolver. It described that students Josh Manock and Cameron Honer saw Eric with the gun, and that Manock said he fled when Eric pointed the weapon at his head.

The complaint said Hainstock swung the gun away from Klang and at him when Nowak found them in a hallway. It said that as Nowak turned to run, Klang dived at the boy and was shot in the ensuing struggle.

Moments earlier, Angela Young testified that she had been walking down the hallway and heard Hainstock yell, "I'm here to (expletive) kill somebody." She said she hid in a classroom with students, lying on the floor and jamming her hands against the door and feet against a filing cabinet to keep the door shut. She said she heard shots, then Klang say, "Get the gun." She testified that when she entered the hall she saw two students on top of Hainstock and Klang lying on his back bleeding. She testified that she knelt next to Klang and held his hand and that he said, "He said: 'I can't breathe. My back hurts,' " Young said. Klang died later that day.

District Attorney Pat Barrett said there were other "persons of interest" for Eric Hainstock when he went to Weston School in Cazenovia and shot principal John Klang. She said, "There were potentially other people that he had a beef with at the time," but did not elaborate.

Search warrants showed deputies found a note at Hainstock’s house from him to his father, along with boxes of ammunition, discipline reports from Weston Schools and a photo of a girl with her eyes poked out.

Arrest and pretrial

A judge set bail at $750,000 for Eric Hainstock at a hearing on October 3, 2006, following prosecutors’ assertion that he may have been looking for others to attack as well. Eric’s attorneys asked for $10,000 bail and said he had lived in the Sauk County area his whole life and had no convictions. Circuit Judge Patrick Taggart agreed with Barrett that the public needed protection.

Taggart said if Eric posted the $750,000 cash bond he would have to submit to electronic monitoring. Taggart also barred him from leaving Sauk County or having contact with anyone at the schools or the Klang family. A pretrial conference was set for Oct. 13.

When Taggart asked Eric if he understood he faced life in prison, Eric replied calmly and firmly, "I do." Hainstock was charged with first-degree intentional homicide. Wisconsin does not have the death penalty.

Trial

In Baraboo, Sauk County court, Hainstock’s trial began July 26, 2007. During the trial, it was described that testimony eroded defense attorneys’ contention that he lashed out because he was the butt of jokes and bullying.

A counselor and students testified that Eric picked on other youths and hurled his backpack at them in an effort to get attention. Weston Schools guidance counselor Angela Young told prosecutors that Hainstock "enjoyed playing the role of victim."

Young also testified that Hainstock would often visit her office to the point he would try to get out of class to see her and would complain about his stepmother and father and being picked on. She testified that when she investigated the school incidents she would find teasing involved Hainstock along with one or two other students and that the teasing was instigated by him.

Weston special education teacher James Nowak testified he had Hainstock in some classes in September and recounted how he hurled a stapler at him. It was also testified that Klang suspended Hainstock for three days after the incident that occurred two weeks before the shooting. Nowak testified that Hainstock accused him the day before the shooting of telling Klang he had chewing tobacco in school. It said Klang had discovered tobacco and ordered Hainstock to serve an in-school suspension.

The defense included attorney Rhoda Ricciardi, and it was described that she said Hainstock was emotional and immature and never meant to kill Klang. It also said she found him watching the children’s cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants" before sentencing. Ricciardi said, "There is very little thought to anything he does," and described.

A judge refused in April 2007 to waive Eric’s case back into juvenile court.

On August 2, 2007, a jury found Eric guilty of first-degree intentional homicide.

Sentencing

Judge Patrick Taggart sentenced Eric to life in prison. The sentencing occurred on August 3, 2007. The status statement described his first eligibility for parole in 30 years, and it said he would be eligible for parole in 2037 when he is 46 years old.

The judge also urged the state’s Department of Corrections to place him in a juvenile center and told him, "I do believe you can be rehabilitated." The judge told Hainstock the parole eligibility was in 30 years. Eric showed no emotion as the sentence was read.

Prosecutors had asked for a life sentence. District Attorney Pat Barrett argued that Hainstock knew what he was doing when he went to school with guns and ammunition on Sept. 29, the morning homecoming was to begin.

After the sentence was read, Shawn Hainstock told reporters, "We love our son."

Appeals

No appeal details were provided.

Outcome

Eric Hainstock was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the September 29, 2006 killing of principal John Klang.

Aftermath

After the shooting, a billboards outside of the town’s only gas station and municipal building read, "Forever changed. 9-29-06," and flags at the school complex were at half-staff.

Some students and staff met with counselors while others walked halls talking and holding each other. A superintendent, Terry Milfred, said volleyball practice went on Monday morning and Friday’s football game was still scheduled. Milfred said, "The spectrum varies from grief...all the way to seeing a group that is absolutely normal," and "That's especially noticeable with students, who are live and vibrant even though they are grieving."

A funeral Mass for John Klang was celebrated at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Weston High School gymnasium.

John Klang was posthumously awarded the Carnegie Medal by the Carnegie Hero Fund for wrestling away the gun and subduing Eric Hainstock.

Eric was serving his life sentence at the Green Bay Correctional Institution in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Other details

Eric was described as 15-year-old and also as 16-year-old in trial-related reporting; however, his age at sentencing was given as 16 in one account and his sentence status described first eligibility for parole in 30 years.

It was described that Hainstock may have planned other Weston killings, with prosecutors citing potential other targets.

The shooting occurred only two days after the Platte Canyon High School shooting in Colorado and only 3 days before the Amish School Shooting in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It was also described as the third fatal school shooting in the United States and Canada in two weeks, with the first two being the Dawson College shooting and the Platte Canyon High School shooting.

Michael Caldwell from Middleton, Wisconsin diagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder while Eric was in prison.

Shawn Hainstock had been charged in 2001 with felony child abuse, later reduced to misdemeanor battery and ultimately dismissed. In that case it was said Shawn kicked his son several times in the hip for not giving water to some pets, put hot sauce or hot peppers in the boy's mouth for lying or using foul language, and spanked the child with a wooden paddle marked "the board of education." The elder Hainstock pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery in 2002 as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, and the charge was dismissed in 2003.

The chronology also included that Eric transferred to Weston Schools in April 2002 for sixth grade in one part, and in September 2002 for sixth grade in another part; it also included multiple school behavioral events including detentions and being physically assaulted by another student.

At Weston High School on Sept. 29, 2006, Klang attempted to subdue Hainstock, and others helped to hold Hainstock down after Klang swept away the gun.

People named

• Eric Hainstock — defendant and perpetrator; 15-year-old at the time of the shooting
• John Alfred Klang — principal; victim; died shortly after 3 p.m.
• Shawn Hainstock — father
• Lisa Marie Buttke — mother
• Priscilla — stepmother; adopted Eric
• Terry Milfred — superintendent
• Patrick Taggart — judge
• Pat Barrett — District Attorney
• Rhoda Ricciardi — Hainstock’s attorney
• Angela Young — Weston Schools guidance counselor
• James Nowak — Weston special education teacher
• Josh Manock — student witness
• Cameron Honer — student witness
• Michael Caldwell — diagnosed Eric with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
• Carnegie Hero Fund — awarded the Carnegie Medal to Klang posthumously
• Green Bay Correctional Institution — where Eric was serving his sentence