Barry Loukaitis

Barry Loukaitis was one of the pioneers of modern day school ground killers. A type of killer that seems to be rather prevalent in the U.S. at the moment. Like others that go this way (Kinkel, Golden & Johnston etc.) he was a pathetic loser that had more than a few problems - most of which stemmed from his parents.

At his trial it came out that there was a history of mental illness on bath sides of the family - with depression being quiet common in both parents genes.

He also had a real bitch of a mother. A psychiatrist would later say, "He was deprived of the opportunity to identify with his father... His mother dominated him . . . His identity was so much linked to his mother's (identity which) was on the ragged edge" and filled with suicidal thoughts. So what I hear you say - she couldn't have been that bad. Well check this out -

Jo-Ann Phillips (his mum) told the jury at his trial that she had treated her son as a confidant, telling him everything. One of these things included her plans to kill herself in front of her ex-husband and his new girlfriend on Valentine's Day, 1996. A very nice thing to labour ones son with. Apparently Barry talked her out of it, and encouraged her to write down her anger. A shame he couldn't follow his own advice.

For some reason Loukaitis felt the need to take revenge on certain classmates that must have upset him. He planned the shootings carefully, getting ideas from the book "Rage," written by Stephen King, and the film "Natural Born Killers." Apparently the book is about a high school student who takes a gun to school and fatally shoots two teachers. Interesting.

Loukaitis was also into Pearl Jam, and in particular, the song 'Jeremy'. It would seem that young Barry took the song to heart. For those who have never seen the video for the song, it shows a kid killing his classmates. I think it's supposed to be some kind of 'listen to the quiet kids 'cause they have lots to say' message. Of course the fact that he was influenced by this came out at the trial, and then we had lots of 'moral crusaders' slagging off 'Rock bands'. I have no problem with people slagging Pearl Jam - you just have to listen to the shit to find something to complain about, but I really can't stand these 'moral crusaders' telling me what i can and can't listen to. Know what I mean?

But back to the story.

For Barry it all came to a head on September 2, 1996. He broke into algebra class with a high-powered rifle and shot three students and their teacher. Two of the kids died and so did the teacher. Hearing the shots, P.E. teacher and 'champion wrestler' Jon Lane decided to be a hero. He burst into the classroom, disarmed the Barry and held him down until police arrived.

Later it came out that Barry had been having problems with another student, Manuel Vela, one of the students shot. Apparently they were always exchanging words.

"I guess he finally got sick of it,"
- fellow-student Walter Darden.

In court, John Petrich, a psychiatrist for the defence, testified that Barry experienced delusional, godlike feelings before his deadly rampage. "He felt like God and would laugh to himself... He felt he was superior to other kids . . . and then (his feelings of superiority) were replaced by hate, disdain and a sense of not measuring up . . . He was under the influence of his psychosis and it was distorting his thinking, twisting his thinking, and was unable to determine right from wrong at the time of the killings." In a tape-recorded confession to police the day of the attack, the boy said that after he shot Vela, the "reflex took over."

On September 24, 1997, Barry, now 16, was convicted on all charges.