The Rocori High School shooting was a school shooting that occurred at Rocori High School on September 24, 2003 in Cold Spring, Minnesota, United States. The shooting was perpetrated by 15-year-old John Jason McLaughlin who murdered students Seth Bartell and Aaron Rollins.
On the day of the shooting, McLaughlin brought a loaded .22-caliber handgun to school with the intention of killing Bartell. He confronted Bartell in a basement hallway and fired two shots at him. The first shot wounded Bartell slightly in the chest while 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. At that point, gym coach Mark Johnson claims that 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 weapon and escorted the boy to the school office.
Rollins died at the scene of the shooting, while Bartell died sixteen days later. During his 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. McLaughlin's trial featured testimony from six mental health experts: "the three experts hired by Mr. McLaughlin returned a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and the three others a diagnosis of major depression in remission and an "emerging personality disorder." Only one expert, Dr. Maureen Hackett, testified that McLaughlin was insane under the conditions of the McNaughten rule and stated: "He thought he was doing a morally right thing ... It's almost as if Seth represents bullies." McLaughlin was nonetheless found guilty of first and second-degree murder. In August 2005, he was sentenced to life in prison.
Jason McLaughlin is currently incarcerated at Minnesota Correctional Facility – Stillwater. He will not be eligible for parole until 2038.
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