Kip Kinkel

15-year old Kipland "Kip" Kinkel was clearly a budding psychopath. He seemed to be obsessed with guns and violence. He bragged about making bombs, even giving a lecture to his Literature class on how to make a pipe bomb. Young Kip also talked about killing and torturing animals. He said he shoved firecrackers into cat's mouths and skinned a squirrel alive. He even claimed to have blown up a cow.

Kip's parents, Bill and Faith Kinkel, tried everything to control their son. They took him to anger management counselling. When Kip insisted that they buy a gun, his dad bought him a .22 calibre rifle, and then went to the shooting range for instruction. He hoped to turn his son's obsessions into a supervised hobby. He also bought a Glock 9mm pistol and a Ruger .22 target pistol.

A few days before the shooting, Bill told his tennis partner that he was "pleased with Kip's progress" in controlling his anger. All that was changed, however, on May 20th, when Kip was discovered at school to have a stolen .32 calibre pistol in his locker. He was immediately suspended, and the police released him into his father's custody, who took him home. Kip faced certain expulsion.

Later that day, when a friend of his called, Bill Kinkel seemed "surprisingly upbeat" about working things out with his son. A few hours later, he would be dead from a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Kip's killing spree had begun. That evening, he shot his mother several times when she returned home from work. Later, when two of his friends called him, Kip seemed depressed and said "It's done, it's over." They had no idea what he meant.

The next day, at around 7:30 AM, Kip drove his parent's car to school, arriving there twenty minutes later. He enters the school cafeteria, where many students gather before class to socialize. He whips out the .22 rifle he was concealing under his tan trench coat and opened fire. He was also packing the two hand guns, several loaded clips, and over 100 rounds of ammunition. The rifle was equipped with a 50-round clip, which Kip quickly emptied into the crowd of students. Then, as he reached for the Glock, 17-year old Jakob Ryker, a star wrestler at the school, tackles Kip. The two boys struggle, and Kip manages to shoot Ryker in the finger. Still, Ryker subdues him, and about a half dozen other students help pin Kip to the ground. As they waited for the police to arrive, Kip pleaded, "Please, just shoot me."

THE AFTERMATH
17-year old Mikael Nickolauson was dead on the scene, and 16 year old Ben Walker died from injuries the next day. 22 other students were injured. Kip's trial is set for September 27th, where he faces 4 counts of aggravated murder. He is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars.

HERE ARE SOME INTERESTING BITS
In his middle school's yearbook, Kip was jokingly voted "most likely to start World War III".

Kip had gotten in trouble with the law before; for throwing rocks at moving cars and for vandalism. According to friends, he also shoplifted regularly.

Just because he waisted his parents, that apparently doesn't mean he didn't love them. According to several sources, Kip said "I love you, Mom" before he blasted her.

HERE ARE SOME QUOTES
"I had to be 100 percent. . . No one is perfect, though. Lots of times, life sucked. With my parents, if I didn't do the best, I was an embarrassment to my parents."

"I knew people would be in cafeteria. I Just started shooting."

"Got the .22 rifle ... Dad sitting at the bar ... So I (shot him),"

On Suicide: "Kind of want to do it out of spite so the DA (district attorney) can't convict me."

UPDATE: Oct. 12, 1999
This story appeared on the AP wire a few days ago and I just had to add it here. I know that a lot of people that visit this site have pretty sick sense of humour, so most of you should get a good laugh at this. I nearly wet myself.

School Killing Survivor Dies Hunting
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - A teen-ager who survived a shooting spree last year at Thurston High School died in a hunting accident after being shot in the head by his 17-year-old brother, police said.

Richard Peek Jr., who was wounded during the May 1998 shootings that left two classmates dead, was killed Tuesday when Robert Peek's gun accidentally discharged, Lane County Sheriff Sgt. Byron Trapp said.

The brothers were deer hunting about 25 miles east of Eugene. Robert phoned for help, but his 19-year-old brother was pronounced dead at the scene. Robert was not injured.

The incident is under investigation, Trapp said.

Both brothers were in the Thurston High cafeteria in Springfield when gunman Kip Kinkel entered on May 21, 1998, and began firing a semiautomatic rifle.