GUILTY MI - Connor Verkerke, 9, dies in playground stabbing, Kentwood, 4 Aug 2014

[Ausgirl]

Soon after the killing, Lawhorn – with his mother and stepfather at his side – said simply: “I stabbed him.”

He told police he wanted to go to jail, or die.

His stepfather interrupted: “So you just went and stabbed somebody?”

The boy replied, “Yep.”

The statements are contained in a delinquency petition filed Friday in Kent County Circuit Court. Prosecutors are trying Lawhorn as an adult in the Monday, Aug. 4, killing.

---

“Jamarion was asked why he did that and he stated because he wanted to go to jail,” an investigator wrote.

“Jamarion was asked to tell me more about the person he stabbed. He stated that he had never met him, or seen him before.”

The boy did not know how many times he stabbed Connor. When asked if he was concerned about the victim, he said no. Then, he said he was concerned. He was also concerned because “It made him feel stupid,” the investigator wrote.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/08/post_526.html

 

[JeannaT]

“She took her heart out and tore it up and put it in the telephone. That is all I can say. We had a good cry. It is so senseless. I have a lot empathy for the family. Not my family but for the boy`s family who had this occur. There is something wrong with a family when that happens,” Nunemaker emotionally explained.

SNIP

The great-grandmother says she is sending prayers from Indiana for both boys.
“We feel it was not right, not just for us, but for the other family to have to go through all of this,” said Nunemaker.

http://fox59.com/2014/08/06/michigan-boy-12-charged-as-adult-in-fatal-stabbing-of-9-year-old-boy/

What a lovely lady.

Um hmm. That's what this child comes from - a lovely, lovely family. And he himself was such a sweet caring selfless boy.

Who knows what impact he could have had on the world had he not encountered this soulless child.

 

[Lovejac]

“She took her heart out and tore it up and put it in the telephone. That is all I can say. We had a good cry. It is so senseless. I have a lot empathy for the family. Not my family but for the boy`s family who had this occur. There is something wrong with a family when that happens,” Nunemaker emotionally explained.

SNIP

The great-grandmother says she is sending prayers from Indiana for both boys.
“We feel it was not right, not just for us, but for the other family to have to go through all of this,” said Nunemaker.

http://fox59.com/2014/08/06/michigan-boy-12-charged-as-adult-in-fatal-stabbing-of-9-year-old-boy/

What a lovely lady.

If that's the same article I linked in the first page of this thread, it talks about how Connor told his brother Cameron he knew*he was dying, please get me home so I can kiss Mom and Dad one last time :tantrum:

 

[tlcya]

not the same article but contains the same quotes about the last words. Just heartbreaking. I cannot imagine the grief his family is going through.

 

[Lovejac]

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/08/ill_always_love_you_family_rec.html

"I'll always love you." Stabbing victim's last words

 

[Frigga]

I don't know how these parents will survive this- I am going to fall apart now. RIP Connor, you will be so missed.

 

[Lovejac]

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/08/post_527.html

OMG! He liked to play with fire and 3 years ago he set his mom's bed on fire!

3 years ago!! There were signs of trouble 3 years ago! What was done about that?!

 

[Ausgirl]

Apparently the boy is going for a psych evaluation.... long overdue, probably.

WTH was going on his head -- or his home!


Lawhorn’s expression softened slightly when his mother was telling him that he was going to be gone for a long time facing the consequences of his actions

---

He told an ambulance crew that he had been planning this for a year, and wanted to take someone with him when he killed himself, reports showed. He said he took a “bunch of pills” at home.

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/08/post_527.html

Well, he wanted to go to jail or die ... IMO he's either completely psychotic or mega-desperate to get away from something. Or both, hey.

I wonder now what all the reports of 'bullying' were really about. Kids who are abused at home can both become over-reactive and also give off a "victim" vibe that encourages other kids to target them... idk, I just think there's more to it.

I just get a strong feeling from the bits and pieces coming out that there's a LOT yet to be heard re his family situation..

 

[JeannaT]

It's funny, isn't it, how often people who attempt to kill someone and themselves at the same time manage to survive the ordeal and their victims don't?

As young as this boy is, he seems like pure evil. Planning this for a YEAR? And then the day came, and that poor innocent child was chosen for no other reason than "time's up". I doubt he took any kind of pills that would actually do him harm.

 

[Lovejac]

If he wanted to die, he would have stabbed himself in the heart with the knife he plunged in Connor's back.

He needs not ever have the opportunity the walk freely among the human race. He needs to be gone. IMO

 

[Supernovae]

Me either.

But I love blended sentencing, especially if it includes intensive "treatment" by qualified professionals. If the child is still deemed a danger he/she can be moved over to adult prison
Society needs to be protected, the kid gets a shot a rehabilitation and if that's not successful...further incarceration.

Win-win IMO

I agree that the juvenile criminal justice system doesn't need to be treated as a silo, particularly if the young offender is going to have to be in the system into adulthood, but that doesn't change the fact that children ought to be treated as children and adults as adults not picking and choosing depending on the emotional response to the crime.

 

[JeannaT]

I agree that the juvenile criminal justice system doesn't need to be treated as a silo, particularly if the young offender is going to have to be in the system into adulthood, but that doesn't change the fact that children ought to be treated as children and adults as adults not picking and choosing depending on the emotional response to the crime.

I completely agree that children should be treated as children, and every effort should be made to re-educate and reform them. They are children, after all, and not adults. And I don't think public outage and public media frenzy should have anything to do with the way anyone is sentenced or dealt with by the justice system. For example, if a child gets a little wild, gets in a car without a license and runs over someone, I think they should be treated with mercy and should be punished for the crime of driving recklessly without a license. I just sense this boy has no soul whatsoever and will kill again if ever allowed the freedom to.

 

[Ausgirl]

,, or he has an untreated mental issue - which might be addressed within the system, depending on where he ends up.

 

[Lovejac]

I completely agree that children should be treated as children, and every effort should be made to re-educate and reform them. They are children, after all, and not adults. And I don't think public outage and public media frenzy should have anything to do with the way anyone is sentenced or dealt with by the justice system. For example, if a child gets a little wild, gets in a car without a license and runs over someone, I think they should be treated with mercy and should be punished for the crime of driving recklessly without a license. I just sense this boy has no soul whatsoever and will kill again if ever allowed the freedom to.

BBM, there is no doubt in my mind

 

[Ausgirl]

I sense, with my own remarkable and uncanny power of feeling that my feelings on this situation about which I know next to nothing is right and accurate, that perhaps -- just perhaps -- there exists a possibility that this kid might enter into some much-needed and court-ordered therapies while he's incarcerated for let's hope - what? - at least a decade or two, and not come out of prison more effed in the head than when he went in.

Call me an optimist. He's also a child, and clearly overwhelmed by some sort of agonising psychological or emotional illness that drove him to this point. I hope he can heal, so that he indeed does not kill anybody else during the course of his lifetime. Kids are resilient and flexible that way, unless they are irreparably damaged. And I hope he isn't. I really do.

 

[Lovejac]

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2014/08...old-boy-stabbed-by-12-year-old-at-playground/

Memorial Service Set For 9-Year-Old Boy Stabbed By 12-Year-Old At Playground

 

[BatWoman]

I sense, with my own remarkable and uncanny power of feeling that my feelings on this situation about which I know next to nothing is right and accurate, that perhaps -- just perhaps -- there exists a possibility that this kid might enter into some much-needed and court-ordered therapies while he's incarcerated for let's hope - what? - at least a decade or two, and not come out of prison more effed in the head than when he went in.

Call me an optimist. He's also a child, and clearly overwhelmed by some sort of agonising psychological or emotional illness that drove him to this point. I hope he can heal, so that he indeed does not kill anybody else during the course of his lifetime. Kids are resilient and flexible that way, unless they are irreparably damaged. And I hope he isn't. I really do.

I agree, Ausgirl. For a child to do this there must be something seriously wrong. Children don't have the experience or ability to forsee outcomes of their actions. I don't think that serious crimes should have a maximum sentence of how long they can stay in Juvie, but I think if the child is young enough and in an environment that will encourage them to start on a new path, they shouldn't be locked up for the rest of their lives for something they did as a kid.

Of course there are always exceptions. I'm thinking Carl Brandt for one. But he didn't receive any sort of reprogramming. I think a shorter sentence than adult ones, or earlier parole eligibility would be fairer.

 

[HMSHood]

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/08/post_527.html

OMG! He liked to play with fire and 3 years ago he set his mom's bed on fire!

3 years ago!! There were signs of trouble 3 years ago! What was done about that?!

There are red flags when things like this happens.

It's funny, isn't it, how often people who attempt to kill someone and themselves at the same time manage to survive the ordeal and their victims don't?

As young as this boy is, he seems like pure evil. Planning this for a YEAR? And then the day came, and that poor innocent child was chosen for no other reason than "time's up". I doubt he took any kind of pills that would actually do him harm.

I wonder if he is a budding psychopath.

 

[tlcya]

There are red flags when things like this happens.




I wonder if he is a budding psychopath.

I wonder if early intervention could have or would have helped or intervention now? I am interested to see what court decides after evaluation.

 

[Lovejac]

There are red flags when things like this happens.




I wonder if he is a budding psychopath.

I think that bud has bloomed