John McLaughlin

Case record: John McLaughlin (Rocori High School shooting)

Background

The Rocori High School shooting occurred in Cold Spring, Minnesota on September 24, 2003. The shooting was perpetrated by then 15-year-old Jason McLaughlin.

The victims were classmates Seth Bartell, 15, and Aaron Rollins, 17.

Officials and teachers said there was no indication that McLaughlin and the victims were any more than passing acquaintances.

Rocori Superintendent Scott Staska said McLaughlin did have some disciplinary problems at school, but nothing that made teachers think something was about to happen.

Several Rocori students described Seth Bartell as a freshman who liked to skateboard and snowboard, quiet but a good kid. Aaron Rollins was described as a senior who enjoyed the outdoors, was gregarious, athletic, and often had a pleasant word for passing teachers or classmates. Rollins worked at the local Subway sandwich shop. Rollins and Bartell were in the wrong place at the wrong time at Rocori High School on Wednesday.

Rollins had a twin brother, Adam.

Rollins and his group of friends had a trip tradition to the Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to snowmobile; the winter trip would have marked the third consecutive time they would head for Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to snowmobile.

Bartell’s friends described him as having a passion for sports such as skateboarding at the skate park in town, snowboarding at Powder Ridge Ski Area in Kimball and BMX biking.

After the shooting, a photo of McLaughlin appeared in Tuesday’s edition of the Cold Spring Record as part of its “Way back when...” feature, showing a photo of him as a toddler tipping out of his stroller. Mike Austreng, editor and publisher of the Record, said that the picture was picked on Friday from a file of boxes strictly at random and said the paper comes out Tuesday and most people read it at night. He said “There's no way that from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning this could have played a role.”

Neighbors who knew McLaughlin said the 15-year-old seemed like a decent kid. He did yard work for his parents without complaint and liked hanging out and playing video games. WCCO-TV reported the suspect sent a short e-mail to a classmate before the shootings, asking her not to tell anyone and ending with: “So I guess this is goodbye my love.” The station said it was withholding her identity at the request of her parents and authorities.

Brianna Sullivan said “He just seemed really normal,” and said she chatted with him by phone almost daily, adding that “But lately, those who know McLaughlin said, he began to change.” Sullivan said he seemed more withdrawn and didn’t want to come out to play.

Jess Phillips, 12, who lives about a block away, said “It really was this summer that things seemed different,” and Neil Wackwitz, 15, described his friendship with McLaughlin and said McLaughlin usually said he didn’t want to. Wackwitz said McLaughlin never mentioned that anything or anyone was bugging him and that McLaughlin never complained to him that kids at school were picking on him. Sullivan said McLaughlin had mentioned to her that people were picking on him but didn’t seem too concerned about it.

Sullivan said that McLaughlin told her that he was being tested this summer for a split-personality disorder, and that he never mentioned it again.

Teacher Pete Spengler said he saw McLaughlin as “an ordinary kid - always smiling, always happy, always playing around,” and said “In class, he always had a lab partner. He never had a problem matching up with someone.”

Freshman Kelsey Lintgen said “He kept to himself in class,” and freshman Shayna Wander said “He never talked,” adding “It didn't seem like he was there.” Junior Katie Kremer said “I never even heard of him even though he grew up in Cold Spring.”

Prepared the worst Superintendent Staska said Rocori had held drills to deal with a shooting for the past three years, with the last one a few weeks ago. He said: “Quite honestly when we ran the practice drills a couple of weeks ago it didn't go as well as we would like. So it gave us an opportunity to go through the issues and remind everyone of the importance of it and unfortunately we had to play it out today.”

Minnesota’s education commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke said Minnesota schools are required by law to have plans in place to deal with such an emergency. She said: “We know that 100 percent of the school districts in this state submitted assurances that they do have such plans in place, and I think that the quick action of the school personnel and students at Rocori High School shows that they have a plan, they were prepared to take action in a difficult situation and they knew just what to do.”

The offence

The Rocori High School shooting occurred around noon on September 24, 2003 at Rocori High School in Cold Spring, Minnesota.

On the day of the shooting, McLaughlin brought a loaded .22-caliber pistol to school with the intention of harming Bartell.

The account described McLaughlin confronting Seth Bartell in a basement hallway and firing two shots. The first shot wounded Bartell superficially in the chest, and the second shot missed and hit Rollins in the neck. McLaughlin pursued Bartell as he fled into the gym and shot him in the forehead.

Physical education teacher Mark Johnson claimed McLaughlin aimed the gun at him. Johnson said he approached McLaughlin, raised his hand and shouted “No,” and that McLaughlin then removed the bullets from the weapon and dropped it. Johnson then secured the gun and escorted the boy to the school office.

Rollins died on the day of the shooting while Bartell died sixteen days later.

At his murder trial, it was claimed that McLaughlin had intended only to wound Bartell, who he thought had been teasing him, by shooting Bartell in the shoulder. Rollins was supposedly not his intended target.

The defence claimed that Rollins was killed by a stray bullet meant for Bartell.

McLaughlin later made a statement to investigators in which he said he smuggled a gun to school that morning in a gym bag and that “I was going to shoot some people.”

In that statement, McLaughlin said: “They were teasing me all the time.” He said that Seth Bartell had been picking on him for two or three years. When asked about his intention, he said: “I just wanted to hurt them.” When asked if he wanted to kill them, he said: “I don't know if they're dead or not to tell you the truth, but that wasn't your intention?” and answered: “No,”.

McLaughlin explained that he shot Bartell in the back in the school basement, then followed him up some stairs to a gym, and shot him a second time in the shoulder, adding that the second bullet actually hit Seth Bartell in the head and that he died two weeks later. The statement also said that Aaron Rollins was killed in the basement.

During that same conversation, when the investigator asked whether he planned to kill anybody, McLaughlin answered: “No.” When asked whether he planned to hurt somebody, he answered: “Just hurt them.”

The prosecution said the video showed McLaughlin knew what he was doing that day and that since he shot Seth Bartell in the head, he meant to kill him, not just wound him.

McLaughlin’s attorney said the tape proved McLaughlin never meant to kill anyone, and that the killing of both students was a mistake.

Investigation

About an hour after the September 2003 school shooting, McLaughlin spoke with investigators.

A video of that conversation was played during McLaughlin’s murder trial.

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Agent Ken McDonald asked McLaughlin if he did it, and McLaughlin replied “Yeah,”.

The only thing McDonald supposedly knew was that there had been a shooting at Rocori High School that day.

McDonald asked about what McLaughlin’s plan was, and McLaughlin said “I was going to shoot some people.” When asked “You were going to shoot some people?” McLaughlin said “They were teasing me all the time.”

McLaughlin’s statement also included that he said he shot Bartell in the back in the school basement and then shot him a second time in a gym. The statement described that the second bullet actually hit Seth Bartell in the head.

During testimony, several Rocori students said that Bartell may have teased McLaughlin occasionally but claimed it was nothing serious.

After Agent McDonald left the room to get more information from other investigators, McLaughlin slams his fist on the table, hits his head on a nearby wall, and breaks down sobbing. McLaughlin acted bewildered at the news and said he had never heard of someone called Aaron Rollins.

At the start of the video, McLaughlin sat alone in a tiny room and was described as fidgeting in his chair with his hands in cuffs behind his back, muttering to himself occasionally about being thirsty and putting his head down on a table while Agent McDonald sat across the table from him.

The state expected that the verdict would come from Judge Michael Kirk after the first phase of the trial. The second phase, starting July 18th, was to examine Jason McLaughlin’s mental state at the time of the shooting.

The investigation continued with officials from the Cold Spring police, the Stearns County sheriff, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the FBI and the ATF working on the case.

Arrest

McLaughlin was in custody following the September 24, 2003 shooting and was described as a suspect in custody.

Trial

McLaughlin’s murder trial was held in St. Cloud. Prosecutor attorneys played the video of McLaughlin’s conversation with investigators.

It was claimed at trial that McLaughlin intended only to wound Bartell and that Rollins was not his intended target.

McLaughlin’s attorney said the video showed McLaughlin never meant to kill anyone and that the killing of both students was a mistake.

McLaughlin’s attorney said the defence also planned a mental health defence, claiming an emerging mental illness clouded McLaughlin’s judgment at the time.

The trial included testimony about the relationship between McLaughlin and his victims and about McLaughlin’s background.

During testimony, it was said that the judge rejected Jason’s mental illness defense.

McLaughlin’s father David McLaughlin took the witness stand. David McLaughlin described his relationship with his son as close and said he was a sargent with the Stearns County Sheriff's Department. He testified that he had taken his son to several shooting ranges over the years and that he had 20 guns in his home, including the gun Jason McLaughlin was accused of using in the school shooting.

David McLaughlin said that when he found out his son was playing violent first-person shooter video games, he told Jason to get rid of them.

Additional testimony in the video and elsewhere addressed alleged teasing and McLaughlin’s intentions.

Sentencing

In August 2005, McLaughlin was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder and a another 12 years in prison for second-degree murder.

At the sentencing hearing, Judge Michael Kirk asked McLaughlin if he had anything to say before he was sentenced. McLaughlin answered with a meek “no.”

Judge Kirk told McLaughlin he devastated the families of Seth Bartell and Aaron Rollins. Kirk said he devastated McLaughlin’s future and damaged his community's sense of safety.

The judge sentenced McLaughlin to life in prison for first-degree murder and a another 12 years in prison for second-degree murder.

With the nearly two years McLaughlin had already been in custody, and time off for good behavior, McLaughlin was described as not being eligible for parole until he was over 50 years old.

During the sentencing, family members read victim impact statements.

Rolly Bartell, the father of Seth Bartell, said he was pleased with the sentence but that it still didn’t heal the pain of the school shooting. He said: “The boys will always be gone. The only thing that would actually cure it would be to turn back time, but that won't happen,”.

Kim Bartell, the mother of Seth Bartell, said she thought of her son when she went to bed at night and woke up crying.

Aaron Rollins' mother Sherri said “her heart was broken when her son was murdered.”

Tom Rollins said the murder took a terrible toll on his family and described his son as a boy who lived life to the fullest. Rollins and other family members asked Judge Kirk to give McLaughlin the maximum sentence allowed.

Outside the courthouse, Tom Rollins said: “I hope that it did. I think he's a pretty thorough judge and I think he had his mind made up before he came here today,”.

McLaughlin’s mother took the witness stand during the sentencing hearing. She cried as she read an apology to the victim's families. She then said the shooting happened in part because her son was teased at Rocori High School. She also said he was suffering from a mental illness that won’t get treated in prison.

The judge said McLaughlin may be moved to another facility, possible even out of state, at a later date.

Timeline

• September 24, 2003 — McLaughlin shot classmates at Rocori High School in Cold Spring, Minnesota.
• August 2005 — Judge Michael Kirk sentenced McLaughlin to life in prison for first-degree murder and an additional 12 years for second-degree murder.
• August 30, 2005 — A judge sentenced Jason McLaughlin to life in prison for a deadly 2003 school shooting in Cold Spring.
• July 12, 2005 — A video statement by Jason McLaughlin was presented in court during the murder trial as the trial continued in St. Cloud.
• July 18 — The second phase of the trial was to examine Jason McLaughlin’s mental state at the time of the shooting.
• September 25, 2003 — Churches in central Minnesota held special services marking the end of the day following the shooting.

Outcome

McLaughlin was found guilty of first and second-degree murder.

He received a life sentence for first-degree murder and a 12-year prison term for second-degree murder in August 2005.

McLaughlin would not be eligible for parole for over 30 years, and with nearly two years already in custody and time off for good behavior he would not be eligible for parole until he was over 50 years old.

Aftermath

After the shooting, Cold Spring held special services the night of September 25, 2003.

Superintendent Scott Staska encouraged high school students to come back to school that day and said the school would hold a two-hour counseling session for students and their parents. Staska said the school did not want students at home alone dealing with the aftermath of the shooting and that the session would debrief the situation, provide support resources, and then allow students to deal with it.

Staska expected Rocori to be back to a full day of classes by Friday.

McLaughlin was incarcerated at a state prison in St. Cloud, Minnesota and the judge said he may be moved to another facility, possible even out of state, at a later date.

Other details

McLaughlin brought a loaded .22-caliber pistol to school.

The shooting involved shots in a basement hallway, then in a gym.

The account included the participation of physical education teacher Mark Johnson who confronted McLaughlin, shouted “No,” and secured the gun after McLaughlin removed the bullets from the weapon and dropped it.

The narrative included statements from friends, teachers, and neighbors describing McLaughlin before the shooting, including descriptions of his severe acne, his social withdrawal, and his alleged split-personality testing.

Agent McDonald asked multiple questions on the video including whether McLaughlin planned to kill anybody and whether he planned to hurt somebody, and McLaughlin answered “No” to killing and “Just hurt them” to hurting.

Several Rocori students and others discussed alleged teasing and compared it to what McLaughlin claimed.

In the initial aftermath coverage, it was reported that one of the students died and another was in critical condition.