An 11-year-old boy in Washington state was arrested Wednesday after he brought a gun and 400 rounds of ammunition to school.
Quincy Tuttle allegedly intended to shoot another classmate who called his friend “gay.” It is unknown whether or not the bullied student actually identifies as gay.
Tuttle was detained at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning after his mother called school officials to alert them that her son might have taken knives to class. Officers said they found a .22-caliber handgun in the boy’s front pants pocket, as well as 400 rounds of ammunition, and several knives.
Tuttle told school officials that a “voice in his head” told him to hurt the classmate who had bullied his friend. He allegedly planned to shoot the classmate in the arm and then shoot himself in the head. He is now being held on charges of attempted assault, unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a weapon at school.
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In a statement, Tuttle’s parents said: “We are at a loss for words and deeply saddened for the fear that these circumstances have caused. We are cooperating with law enforcement, school personnel and mental health officials to ensure our son gets the help he needs.”
Police credited Tuttle’s mother with helping prevent a potentially deadly incident.
“[I]t’s reasonable to conclude based on the above mentioned information that [the boy] acted with premeditated intent to cause the death of another,” their statement read. “He brought a firearm to the school with bullets, but failed to carry the act out due to his mother’s willingness to report him as a danger to the school and because of the swift action taken by school administrators and VPD officers.”
We hope Tuttle finds the help he needs and that the families affected by this disturbing incident can heal quickly.
Photo credit: The Columbian.
Alan down in Florida
Something here is inconsistent. He supposedly wanted to kill the classmate but supposedly he wanted to shoot the classmate in the arm and shoot himself in the head. The arm is not where you shoot someone if your goal is killing.
Isn’t it a shame that the world has devolved to the point where we can no longer assume that someone who “hears voices” is mentally ill and not just preparing for an insanity plea?
Also, if he wasn’t the one being bullied why did he want to shoot himself in the head?
d3clark48
Where did he get the gun and ammunition? If from home, how was he able to access them?
corey
I don’t know if anyone is even aware that I was trying to find out how to get my hand on a gun in the 1980s. I would imagine, if I did, some people today may not even bee here and I would be free. Bullying hurts, and not only those bullied suffer sometimes.
yaoming
Wow, you can name and photograph a kid accused of a crime at this age?
Chris
Yaoming in the U.S. you can but here in Canada you can’t name a young offender under the age of 18.@yaoming:
iluzionist54
Oh, Lord. It’s a mess.
For one, fire weapon accessible to children.
For two, school bullying that has been left to escalate.
For three, moral values of the system, where being gay is at least denigrating, if not valid for extermination.
Each of these itself is more than enough. I wonder, is there ANY sane person in this story. I do not see any. Including photo reporter.
WhyteRabbit
It’s amazing how quickly the parent rolled on her son, providing the school with the information it needed. The school then responding by calling on the armed police force who then rapidly descended upon the school to prevent a tragedy…
imagine… if only 1/10th of this effort and response was put into the bullying problem, then there would have been no guns involved at all.
bmwblonde
The “voices in his head” could ONLY COME from this boy’s young lifetime of being with PARENTS who are abusive and/or anger-filled and/or PARANOID: Cray-Cray gun nuts. This kid “borrowed” a gun and 400 rounds from his “Home?” What the @%$@%! were they doing THERE? Does anybody in this country GET how crazy, Neaderthal, knuckle-dragging, macho-redneck Ameruka looks to outsiders? Poor kid, to be sure, but HAS TO BE ACTING OUT an inherited disorder – inherited from (a) his bound-to-be nut-job parents and (b) a very sick and fear-based culture which permits the most dysfunctional and paranoid-delusional people in it to have unlimited GUNS. This incident isn’t surprising; what’s surprising it that it has not already become EVERYDAY news. America is an insane asylum where all the inmates think they are “normal” because they’re all the same. Arg.
Merv
For those wondering about the kid carrying 400 rounds, ammo for a .22 is very compact. One hundred rounds is only about as big as a single pack of cigarettes, and ammo is typically sold in boxes of 500 rounds.
lailaichong
Does the classmate called his friend “gay” deserve to be shot?
DarkZephyr
@bmwblonde: You don’t have all the facts. None of us do. I will say though that “voices in his head” couldn’t “ONLY” come from what you said. Paranoid schizophrenia’s genesis is a bit different than that. Not saying the kid is schizophrenic, but its a possibility. He does appear to have mental issues.
2eo
It’s worth all these mass killings of kids, and kids having easy access to weapons so adults can get assault rifles in a car park of a Taco Bell in 15 minutes.
It’s your right to continually allow children to die in mass shootings.
SeanRESU
There will always be bullying. We need to stop with the anti bullying classes and start teaching students and grown ups how to handle being bullied. We also need to spend more time teaching social skills.
2eo
@SeanRESU: You need to start charging kids parents with the full crime of manslaughter or even murder if their kid drives another to suicide.
MinnieCopas
as Clarence replied I am alarmed that a student able to make($)8920 in a few weeks on the internet. look at this now,,, http://smal.ly/4WYqe
Harley
@bmwblonde: BLASPHEMY!!! Don’t you know GOD wrote the 2nd amendment. If Jesus and his deciples had been armed He would never had been crucified. That’s proof enough. GOD SAVE REPUBLICANS!!! ( I say facetiously ).
ait10101
This is complicated. Schizophrenia is a definite possibility holding such a young person with with undeveloped brain responsible is reprehensible to me. But how did he have access to a gun and so many bullets? Somebody goofed seriously. They are responsible.