Information that could shed some light on the mental state of the teenage gunman who entered Arapahoe High School in Denver, Colorado and shot two fellow students with a shotgun, trickled out, Friday night.
The Denver Post reports that Karl Pierson, the 18-year-old student, was “outspoken about politics, a gifted debater and may have been bullied for his beliefs, according to students who knew him.”
In paragraph five, we find out that “the shooter was a dedicated, bright student from a religious family who attends Bible study meetings.”
A neighbor described them as “a normal middle-class family, like many of the families around here.”
He was also a track athlete, and a member of the school’s speech and debate team. Last April, he placed third in national extemporaneous speaking at a tournament.
In one Facebook post, Pierson attacks the philosophies of economist Adam Smith who through his invisible hand theory pushed the notion that the free market was self-regulating. In another post, he describes himself as “Keynesian.”
Classmates who knew Pierson told the Denver Post that his political views were “outside the mainstream,” but he had a lot of friends and was popular with the people who knew him.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said his department was investigating reports that Pierson “was seeking to settle a score with a teacher following a confrontation.”
Hat tip @toddstarnes who asks: