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Prosecutors Looking At What Role Adults Played In School Shooting

February 27, 2012 at 2:01 pm by Morbid

BREMERTON, Wash. – Last Thursday we reported on the 8-year old who was shot in the stomach while in class at Armin Jahr Elementary School. One of her classmates, a 9-year-old boy, brought a gun to school in his backpack where it accidentally discharged.

In that article, a comment was made by the husband of the teacher who was in the classroom where the shooting occurred. He stated that the boy had recently transferred to the school and had been a real problem in the classroom. Now that we have some more information on the boy, there’s no wonder why. He has been surrounded by morons.

The boy is currently in his uncle’s custody after his parents relinquished custody of him and his two sisters to his paternal grandmother. When the boy’s grandmother died from pancreatic cancer in 2010, he was placed with his uncle, Patrick Cochran.

His mother, Jamie Lee Chaffin, has been convicted of forgery as well as possessing meth and marijuana. Charging documents show the boy got the gun from her during a weekend visit and it may have belonged to her boyfriend. His father, Jason Cochran, has been convicted of violating protection orders relating to the boy’s mother and has been taken to court for child support.

Prosecutors Looking At What Role Adults Played In School Shooting

Amina Kocer-Bowman

The boy is under house arrest and must check in daily with the county juvenile department. He is facing charges of unlawful possession of a gun, bringing a dangerous weapon to school and third-degree assault. If a judge determines he knew what he did was wrong, he will allow prosecutors to proceed with the charges.

Prosecutors say they are not trying to lock the boy up, they just want to hold him accountable with probation, treatment and other services. They will not comment on their investigation into the boy’s mother and how he was able to get the gun from her aside from stating they are looking at what role she played and “fully expect all aspects into the case to be investigated.”

Meanwhile, 8-year-old Amina Kocer-Bowman is in intensive care after having underwent surgeries to repair the damage done after a .45-caliber bullet entered her arm and abdomen. According to doctors, she’ll be there several more weeks and has several more surgeries in her near future.

Tags: Accident, Amina Kocer-Bowman, Armin Jahr Elementary School, Crime, school, Shooting, Washington

26 Comments

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=583265939 Ithinkimbig Meech

Poor baby. Poor babies
reapre

Love the updates, Morbid. Just wish we could know if she’s going to be OK or not.

As for the kid, It’s hard to hold a child that age accountable for a whole lot of anything.
rensuchan

Thanks for the updates. I really hope that little girl makes it through and that the boy gets put in a home where he isn’t surrounded by meth heads and doesn’t have free access to deadly weapons.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XKMAEMPVJ5T2Y35HKYTNG7I6SY Cedric

I feel really bad for both these kids – especially the poor little girl,a 45 is one of the worse rounds you could be shot with as the hole it leaves is fucking HUGE.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XKMAEMPVJ5T2Y35HKYTNG7I6SY Cedric

”As for the kid, It’s hard to hold a child that age accountable for a whole lot of anything. ”

It’s not hard for me,however in this case he did not intentionally shoot the girl.
Reen B

I can imagine. Especially when someone is that small to begin with. I’m hoping because it went through her arm first that the impact was somewhat less. But it’s really amazing that she lived through this. Poor baby girl.
Andy P

Yeah I’m with you there Ced.. I believe he set the book-bag down and it went off (of course it was loaded and cocked too) but we are still talking about an unintentional act from a kid. Its a shame when people have kids that they either don’t want or won’t take care of because they are drug addicted idiots. Poor kids… I hope he gets what he needs to get him back on course.
nomorepolitix

I’m so sad for this little girl–what a terrifying thing it is to be SHOT. However, I’m more worried for that boy. What can be done to help him heal in his head? What can be done to give him an opportunity to get better? Honestly, I’m not sure I can trust him, but I feel he deserves a chance. He’s just a kid. I don’t know what I’d feel if he’d shot my child, though.
http://justiceforcaylee.synthasite.com/ shyloh

I am on the fence on this one. Children aren’t dumb. We need to give them more credit than we do. I feel sorry for the little girl. Not so sure about the boy who willingly put the gun in his backpack. And they do need to get to the bottom of his actions. Maybe mommy and daddy should be held accountable for not having the gun put in a safe place.

I am confused on somethings. Why own a gun to protect yourself and your family and not be able to get to it fast. Like how can one protect oneself if you have to jump up, run to a closet and open a safe to get the gun out. ….. ……BANG your done after all that!
CT

Good lord, this poor kid.

” there’s no wonder why. He has been surrounded by morons.” Well, this just sucks – this is my ENTIRE work day. What will become of me?
Josh

Schools need to teach gun safety now….
GGMon

Fuck, these poor kids. I hope they can both come out of this. I’m terrified to picture how the both of them must be feeling now.
Delaney3030

Ever see what a .357 HP does to human meat?
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_YNI5RQEBPVZAO34MRQJZPGUGKI Vicki

I think the boy made a mistake. He should never have put a gun in his back pack. He may never have intended to take it out and he may not have planned on hurting anyone.   I think that’s why I feel for him.   If you read the original article he told his friend he was going to get a gun and run away.   Sounds like he hates his home life and would feel safer with a gun (to protect himself) on the street. With those parents no wonder he wants to run away.    I’m thinking grandma was the only one to really give a shit about the child and now with her gone he’s having a harder time with life. I do help he gets all the help he needs.   If not we will end up with one disturbed adult on the streets one day.

I do hold his parents accountable (especially the mother) for allowing him access to a gun.   Even if you feel you need to have a gun ready you don’t have to keep in within easy reach of a 9 year old boy.   I mean if it was loaded that child could have shot himself right there in his mother’s house on accident.   So though I understand wanting to have a gun ready to go if you need it, when you have kids you have to keep them safe first and foremost.

I am also sad for the little girl. I am praying she makes it out of this okay. I think her parents have every right to be angry this happened to their child.   If it were me I would feel bad for them both (only because he did not intentionally shoot her) and I would be pissed at the parent for letting this happen.
minjofu

I wouldn’t hold the 8 year old responsible for more than bringing the gun to school with him. He should have to face the consequences that any kid would under the zero tolorance policy.. I seriously doubt he even considered the gun could go off in his backpack.. Children don’t think that far ahead.. Under the circumstances (given the kids crappy home life, and lack of parental involvement in any positive way) I think therapy and monitoring are completely fair.. Perhaps even meeting the girl once she’s recovered physically enough and seeing the consequences of his actions would also be a good idea.. He definately doesn’t belong in any kind of detention center..

The whole thing is just so sad..
JohnQknowitall

Amina Kocer-Bowman as of four hours ago is still in critical condition with multiple surgeries still ahead of her.
The boy who was apparently a nuisance in the classroom should have been removed before this event happened. I doubt that he was able to form criminal intent. The school system should expel him if they haven’t already. The mother is a mess and I will be surprised if she has a permit.

I am sorry for both kids and for both of them I wonder what is next for each. If the boy is not taught quickly how society works he will be lost. I sure as fuck hope she lives a happy and healthy life after this.
http://truecrimereport.com iLLusionS

Well this isn’t a case where he set out to shoot anyone, no matter how much of a mistake it was to bring a gun to school.And 8 is very young of an age to say this kid could have even imagined that gun “accidently going off”. I don’t think that thought crossed his mind until it was to late.I feel for both of these children and hope everything works itself out.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XKMAEMPVJ5T2Y35HKYTNG7I6SY Cedric

I really agree and like what you had to say.
Deety

You’re right, in order for it to be a defensive weapon against unknown threats, you have to keep it loaded and accessible at all times.

Or you could get a taser, and when your kid accidentally uses it against another kid, you’ll have a funny story to tell instead of two broken families.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XKMAEMPVJ5T2Y35HKYTNG7I6SY Cedric

”Ever see what a .357 HP does to human meat?”

No,but I have seen what it does to a standard,paper, range target.

When I first got on the police department one of the old time officers carried one of those;the guy was an expert shot with it – I know from observing him at the range. A .357 has way more penetration power than what is necessary,or safe for a patrol officer to carry as a duty weapon;it will hit a suspect and pass through – possibly striking several other unintended objects,or people before coming to rest.Later my department got a new Chief,who changed our on and off duty carry policy.The new policy severely limited what weapons we could carry,and .357′s were among the banned weapons.

Delaney – I believe what you were getting at is the fact that a .357 leaves a bigger hole than a .45 – this is true,However it doesn’t change what I was saying at all – given a choice you do not want to be shot with either of these rounds – for a third bad round to be shot with I would add the .40 cal.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XKMAEMPVJ5T2Y35HKYTNG7I6SY Cedric

I have never kept my guns locked up like what you describe – your points are good points though.I raised my 2 boys and their whole lives I was in possession of various guns.I keep my weapons loaded – the shotgun has a manual safety,which is kept on,my pistol is a Sig which does not have a manual safety.One must know ones children,and that failing one should in fact either not own a weapon,or keep it under lock and key as you referred to.My boys were raised to respect,as well as fear my guns,they were raised to not touch them.

Even with that teaching I once laid my pistol a top a TV,which sat on top of a high chest of drawers in my room.I was walking around the house and happened to walk past the open door to my room.I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye – something weird,but I wasn’t sure – I backed up a few steps,which put me back at the doorway.My youngest son who would have been about 4 years old at the time had climbed the chest of drawers – he apparently had not seen me pass the doorway the first time because when I backed up to the door for a look into the room he was in process of reaching for my pistol – he had managed to get high enough on the chest that by stretching for the gun he may have been able to actually grab it.

In a loud voice I asked him ” Cameron,what are you doing ?!!!”,and startled – he jerked his hand back,and down so quick that he almost fell off the various things he had piled up to stand on-top of.My kid looks at me with this totally guilty look and replies “Nothing”. So me and him sat down and had a long talk about guns in general,and how my guns were not toys,and how messing with my gun could end with his being dead – all stuff that he already had been taught,but which he apparently needed updating on.Other than that one occasion I never had an issue with my 2 boys ,attempting to mess with any of my guns.Instead of hiding my guns I chose to educate my kids on them and exactly what they were capable of doing to a person.The first time my older boy saw me actually fire my pistol it scared the shit out of him – he was about 5 or so,and after that he never seemed to like to be in close proximity to my weapons.
http://www.facebook.com/rachel.a.prince Rachel Ann Prince

Wow. Just wow a whole story filled with nothing but WTF is going on here. Do parents not check their kids back packs anymore? I know Grandma didn’t think her grandson would be toting a loaded gun to school but just a cursory look through would seem like something any parent or guardian would do. Ya know like got your homework, got your books etc. And this may sound cruel but if is mom is such a fuck up then why is he allowed to see her in the environment she is in? Could they not have supervised visits somewhere public where he wouldn’t be a witness to her ass-hattery!
Delaney3030

Sounds like good policy. I didn’t think about that. I wonder how many other cities changed that first. would it be per specific police department, or are there state regs?
I know Texas kinda does its own thing on some stuff, I can respect that.
Delaney3030

God forbid any of us finds out what that feels like.
PS. I know my whole with the cop comments soured you to me but I think I was just trying to say that either you are a really good cop, moral across the board, or bad. Hard to see middle ground in people that have power over you.
People make mistakes, though. I just wish that I could believe that all police are like superman and are only there to protect and serve. I don’t know, let me think about it. Feel like i’m rambling.
whisperswing

Warrant issued for mom in Wash. school shooting
[Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the Washington state mother of a 9-year-old boy who is accused of bringing a gun that accidentally fired in his elementary school classroom, wounding a classmate. Bremerton Police Lt. Peter Fisher says the arrest warrants were issued Monday by the Kitsap County District Court for Jamie Lee Passmore and her boyfriend, Douglas L. Bauer. Fisher says Passmore and Bauer both failed to secure guns they weren't supposed to own. He says investigators visited Passmore's residence and saw a loaded, unsecured pistol the same day her son brought a gun to school. Passmore has been charged with two second-degree counts of unlawful possession of a firearm. Bauer has been charged with one second-degree count of unlawful possession of a firearm. [...]
http://www.heraldextra.com/news/national/warrant-issued-for-mom-in-wash-school-shooting/article_853aaeb1-fb47-5e6e-bbda-d2dea67999c5.html#ixzz1oIg75wdF
hicusdicus

The worst round to be shot with is a Winchester PDX .410…. Four .40 cal slugs and 16 BB’s at 800+ fps.