James Woolsey, Staffer At Turn- About Ranch, Killed By Escaping Teen

[cubby]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-to-escape-police-say/?utm_term=.7435b16cfc93

The Arizona teen had been at the Turn-About Ranch in Utah less than a week when he secretly shared his plan to escape.

He did not, according to authorities, tell anyone about the weapon — or an intention to kill.

Turn-About, a school and residential program for troubled teens, has been operating on a “real, working cattle ranch” for 25 years, according to its website. Students, age 13 to 17, live and work on the farm in Escalante, Utah, a rural town of 800 people located 300 miles south of Salt Lake City. These teens come from all over for a litany of reasons: depression, ADHD, substance abuse, poor grades, “defiance, rebellion, low-self esteem.”

At Turn-About Ranch, though, they endeavor to learn leadership and discipline.

Their schedule starts at dawn.

Participants have tried to run away before, Garfield County Sheriff James Perkins told CBS News. Despite past accusations of abuse, the sheriff said the place is mostly peaceful.

On Tuesday morning, it was not.

The Arizona teen, 17, woke up in his cabin with another resident and stepped outside to start their chores, Perkins told the Deseret News in an extensive interview. In the area known as “the circle,” the teens built a fire and prepared breakfast.

An hour later, at 7:30 a.m., staffer James “Jimmy” Woolsey, 61, stopped to check on them.

It was then that the Arizona teen — for reasons unknown to authorities — pulled out a hidden weapon. He hit Woolsey on the back of the head, Perkins told the Deseret News, and when the 61-year-old man fell to the ground, the teen hit him again and again.

“It was a brutal, vicious, violent, very violent attack,” the sheriff told the newspaper.

In an interview with CBS affiliate KUTV, Perkins called the assault “pre-meditated.”

He would not name the weapon.

Woolsey was later transported to a local hospital, where he died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Authorities have released little information about the Arizona teen, other than his home state. He was arrested and will be taken to a juvenile detention facility, reported KUTV, and his name has not been released because of his age. Charges are pending, the sheriff’s office told The Washington Post.

The sheriff told Deseret News that it didn’t appear the fatal attack was spawned by a personal vendetta. The Arizona teen had even spoken “very highly” of Woolsey, according to Perkins, who said the Turn-About staffer was a “jovial, easygoing” guy who had worked at the ranch for a decade and loved to hunt and fish.

He was just simply unhappy to be there and he wanted to leave,” Perkins said of the teen, according to Deseret News. “Why he [did] what he did, I don’t know.”

What is clear, though, is that the teen wanted desperately to flee.

After he allegedly beat Woolsey, Perkins told the Deseret News, the Arizona teen took the man’s keys but couldn’t get the car to start. The 17-year-old then turned toward a cabin, where the other resident from “the circle” had fled for safety. Inside was a female staffer, identified as Alicia Keller in the Salt Lake Tribune, and four other residents.

The Arizona teen turned his weapon on Keller, the sheriff said, beating her in the head and hand and threatening to kill her if she didn’t relinquish her car keys. Keller tossed them on the sidewalk, reported the Tribune, then led the other teens to the nearby woods to safely wait for law enforcement.

Sheriff’s deputies responding to scene encountered the fleeing Arizona teen, who led authorities on a high-speed chase through Escalante that caused his getaway car to go “airborne,” hit gutters and nearly strike the mayor and his wife, who were out walking, reported the Deseret News. It came to an end when deputies conducted a special maneuver that caused the teen to crash, the sheriff’s office told The Washington Post. He was taken into custody and treated for minor injuries.

“Why he decided he needed to do this, even to get away, I don’t understand,” the sheriff told KUTV.

 

[Chrystan]

Damn! Little selfish bastard! I'm sure he thinks he's pretty "hard" for his ambush of an old man and a woman. Dumbass kid. He is a fucking idiot if this was premeditated like the article says. Where the fuck was he going to go?
Dr. Phil used to send kids to this place all the time on his show. I'm not sure I'd he still does because I haven't watched it in a while.

 

[Sevens My Charm]

Damn! Little selfish bastard! I'm sure he thinks he's pretty "hard" for his ambush of an old man and a woman. Dumbass kid. He is a fucking idiot if this was premeditated like the article says. Where the fuck was he going to go?
Dr. Phil used to send kids to this place all the time on his show. I'm not sure I'd he still does because I haven't watched it in a while.

He wasn't thinking. Same selfish stupid shit that got his ass there- I suppose he was going home to mom?

 

[Keepalowprofile]

My condolences to his loved ones.
RIP
James “Jimmy” Woolsey,


Alicia Keller is a hero.
I hope she makes a full and speedy recovery.

 

[Sejanus]

Probably there as a result of some bleeding heart diversion program.
Well great, the prick just upped his game.

Try him as an adult.
Death penalty...further issues averted and no doubt lives saved.

RIP Mr Woolsey,
you deserved better.

 

[JackBurton]

His family is prob trash too