No answers how Ohio gunman got into school

Brother detained on unrelated charge
His older brother, Stephen, was taken into custody at the family home for parole violations, according to prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Lyons. The 19-year-old said his brother did not get any guns from him but wouldn’t answer questions about the shooting.

Lyons said the arrest was not connected to Wednesday’s school shooting, but McGrath said officials would be talking to Stephen Coon and his mother about the weapons Asa Coon used.

McGrath said that since 2006, police had gone to the family’s home five times: for calls about domestic violence, an assault call, a property crime and a hit-and-run accident.

Asa Coon, who is white, stood out in a school that is 85 percent black for wearing a black trench coat, black boots, a dog collar, chains and a glove. No one has suggested race played a role in the attack.

Suspect accused of attacking mom
Coon was the subject of a juvenile court neglect case at age 4, came from a poor home and routinely showed up to school unkempt.

When he was 12, Coon was charged in juvenile court with domestic violence, accused of attacking his mother.

While on probation, he threw his court papers on the floor and then rammed his body into his mother’s head when she tried to pick them up, according to court documents.

His probation officer described the relationship between Coon and his mother as extremely poor, with both using foul and abusive language toward each other. Their home was reported in poor condition with dog waste littering the front yard.

Volunteer; Coon delivered, received abuse
Christina Burns, who volunteered at one of the schools Coon attended, said Coon both received and delivered abuse. She said that in seventh grade, he did nothing after a classmate dropped a book on Coon’s head while the teacher wasn’t looking.

“He would often take this abuse from children all the time before lashing at them and cussing them out,” Burns said.

Burns said Coon was a bright child who was unable to focus on his schoolwork and was prone to mood swings. She recalled “his shabby shoes and raggedy coat — didn’t brush his hair, take a washcloth across his face, hair sticking up all over the place.”

Burns said she is angry no one reached out to him. “This all could have been prevented if he had the proper intervention,” she said.

“That child was tormented from his classmates every single day,” she said. “Everybody’s making him out to be a devil, a demon, but nobody knows what was going on with this kid.”

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