Word: thought
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Heritage students thought the first shots from Solomon's rifle were firecrackers, just like the ones used in last year's senior prank. Solomon maintained a dazed expression as he began randomly firing into the school's indoor commons. "He wasn't aiming," says junior Ryan Rosa, one of his victims. "He was holding it down low... He was not chasing people." In other words, Solomon went about his work almost reluctantly, shooting literally from the hip with a pump-action sport...
Since the Littleton shootings, Rosa had thought about what he would do if something similar happened at his school. "I thought I'd be a hero--tackle the gunman and wrestle him down," he said. In the event, though, "what I did was run." Rosa was still wondering whether T.J. was using a cap gun when he felt a sting in his leg. He joined the fleeing crowd, ending up in a science lab with other students for several very long minutes...
...make matters much worse, the kids say, Solomon believed his girlfriend had recently turned her charms on Jason, of all people. T.J. and the girl had bickered recently, and he, at least, thought the relationship had ended. (Her friends say she denies they had broken up.) Solomon had become increasingly disinterested in school, and the day before the shootings, he got in a fiery argument with two classmates during fourth-period study hall; it ended when Solomon said he would "blow up this classroom." That same day, T.J. told a buddy he had no reason to live...
...their cigarettes. The look on their face is not of shock or horror, but a numb roll of the eyes, as if they've already begun to see the shooting as some sort of campus ritual, akin to the nuclear-attack drills of the 1950s. Asked why he thought students were resorting to gun violence again and again, Michael Woods, a friend of Cheek's, says, "Kids like T.J. are seeing it and hearing about it all the time now. It's like the new way out for them...
...from carrot juice, that line-up has grown to include old favorites like orange juice and lemonade, in addition to more exotic choices like "Mango Mama" and "Oh Happy Day" --which blends ingredients like apple juice, bananas, blackberries and lime juice with St. John's Wort, an herbal extract thought to alleviate depression...