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Where'd They Get Their Guns?

An Analysis of the Firearms Used in High-Profile Shootings, 1963 to 2001

Date: May 26, 2000

Location: Lake Worth Middle School, Lake Worth, Florida

Alleged Shooter: Nathaniel Brazill

People Killed: One

People Injured: None

Firearm(s): Raven .25 pistol


Circumstances

Thirteen-year-old Nathaniel Brazill was sent home from Lake Worth Middle School on the last day of school for throwing water balloons. Brazill walked to his grandmother's house where he took his surrogate grandfather's pistol and returned to the school, appearing at teacher Barry Grunow's classroom. Brazill asked Grunow if he could speak to two girls in the class and when the teacher refused, Brazill allegedly pulled the gun and it went off. Brazill claims the gun went off unintentionally, but he was charged as an adult with first-degree murder.


How Firearm(s) Acquired

The firearm was legal. Brazill took the handgun from Elmore McCray, who was a grandfather figure to him. The gun was stored by McCray in an Oreo cookie tin in one of his desk drawers. The gun was stored unloaded, but the ammunition was in a box also in the cookie tin.

 
  1. Tim O'Meilia, "Gun Owner Won't be Charged," Palm Beach Post, 30 June 2000, sec. A, p. 4.
  2. Mel Melendez, "Vigil Tries to Rally Support for Owner of the Deadly Gun," Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 6 June 2000, sec. B, p. 3.
  3. "Trial Date Changed in School Shooting," Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 16 February 2001, sec. B, p. 3.
  4. "13-Year-Old Boy is Indicted as an Adult in Shooting Death of Teacher," St. Louis Post- Dispatch, 13 June 2000, sec. A, p. 3.
  5. Jon Burstein, "Grunow Family Makes Deal With Pawnshop," Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 28 December 2000, sec. B, p. 2.

 

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 All contents � 2001 Violence Policy Center

 


The Violence Policy Center is a national non-profit educational foundation that conducts research on violence in America and works to develop violence-reduction policies and proposals. The Center examines the role of firearms in America, conducts research on firearms violence, and explores new ways to decrease firearm-related death and injury.