Police: New Mexico shooter may have warned some students before attack

The preteen shooter who opened fire inside a crowded middle school gym with a shotgun may have warned some students not to go to school before the attack, police in New Mexico said.
The revelation is part of the many angles police are looking into after Tuesday's shooting that left two students wounded, a New Mexico community stunned and a nation again wondering about the safety of its schoolchildren.

"We have preliminary information that possibly some of the students were warned by the individual prior to the shooting not to go to school," said New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas during a news conference Tuesday night.

He did not elaborate.

Police were executing three search warrants, Kassetas said: for the seventh-grade suspect's school locker, the bag he brought to the school and his home.
"We've got the individual we believe is responsible in state police custody," he said.
What police don't yet have is a motive.
Student Jordan Moody, who described himself as "friendly" with the suspected shooter, said he wasn't aware of any bullying or any other reason for the shooting.
"He just ran in there and just shot, really," Jordan said on CNN's "New Day" on Wednesday.
Searching for answers
The shooting occurred early Tuesday morning at Berrendo Middle School in the city of Roswell.
Police said the 12-year-old suspect, whose identity has not been released, entered the middle school gym, pulled a shotgun out of a bag and opened fire on students waiting for school to start. Two were wounded.
"We've confirmed that it is a 20-gauge shotgun," Kassetas said. "That the wood stock was sawed off."
A 13-year-old girl, Kendal Sanders, was in stable condition Tuesday night following surgery, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez said. Kendal suffered injuries to her right shoulder.
A boy, 11, was in critical condition, and underwent two surgeries. He suffered injuries to the side of his face and neck, the governor said.
The attack lasted about 10 seconds. It might have gone on longer, authorities say, were it not for the actions of a social studies teacher.
Hero teacher
The teacher, John Masterson, walked up to the shooter and persuaded him to put the gun down, Martinez said.
"Mr. Masterson ... was a hero ... who stood there and allowed a gun to be pointed right at him," the governor said at a vigil Tuesday evening, "and to talk down that young boy to drop the gun so that there would be no more young kids hurt."
The Berrendo staff directory lists John Masterson as an eighth-grade social studies teacher.
Masterson has taught at the school for a decade, and also coaches track and soccer, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
When contacted by the newspaper, he said police told him not to discuss details of the shooting.
"It was a harrowing experience," he told the paper. "All I can say was the staff there did a great job."
Teachers train to face school shooter
Another school shooting
The attack understandably has rattled residents of Roswell, a city of just under 50,000 people 200 miles southeast of Albuquerque. The shooting puts Roswell on a growing list of places scarred by school shootings.
There will be no school Wednesday as police continue to investigate and the community tries to heal.
"I was in shock when I seen it," said 13-year-old Monique Salcido, who was in the gym during the shooting.
Monique told CNN's Piers Morgan she saw the shooter shoot two of her friends in those terrifying moments.
"I don't want to go to Berrendo again because I'm afraid it's going to happen again," she said.

Richie Incognito files grievance to return to Miami Dolphins

NFL player Richie Incognito wants an expedited hearing on his suspension from the Miami Dolphins so he can return to the field soon.
Incognito filed a "non-injury grievance" against the Dolphins, who suspended him for conduct detrimental to the team earlier this month, according to the NFL Players Association.
Incognito said in an interview last weekend that his alleged bullying of Miami Dolphin teammate Jonathan Martin is misunderstood because "people don't know how Jon and I communicate to one another."
Martin, 24, left the team last month because of "harassment that went far beyond the traditional locker room hazing," Martin's lawyer said. Days later, Incognito, 30, was suspended.

"The grievance challenges his suspension for conduct which was alleged to have occurred while he was with the club," the association's statement said. "In the grievance, Incognito requests that the hearing be held on an expedited basis so that he can immediately resume playing for the team."
The Dolphins declined CNN's request for comment on the filing. "Our organizational policy is not to comment on grievance matters," a team spokesman said.

The NFL appointed veteran lawyer Ted Wells to investigate the controversy surrounding Martin's departure and Incognito's suspension.
Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said he called for the independent investigation by the NFL because he knew the objectivity of a team investigation could be questioned.
"We need to look at ourselves," Ross said. "We have to examine everything internally. I know that this is so appalling to me."
But Ross also said he wanted to avoid overreacting. He formed a committee to help guide the changes, including former Dolphin coach Don Shula and quarterback Dan Marino.
"We all know that the football locker room is a different workplace than most of us are accustomed to," Ross said. "Basically, I don't want to make any excuses. I want to know that our workplace going onward will be the best workplace that you can find in the NFL."
Incognito acknowledged in an interview aired on "Fox NFL Sunday" that he used racist and vulgar language in voice mails and text messages to Martin but said it was "coming from a place of love."
"No matter how bad and how vulgar it sounds, that's how we communicate," he told Fox Sports reporter Jay Glazer. "That's how our friendship was."
"For instance, a week before this went down, Jonathan Martin text me on my phone 'I will murder your whole F-ing family,'" Incognito told Glazer. "Now, do I think Jonathan Martin was going to murder my family? Not one bit."
Dolphins owner delays meeting with Jonathan Martin
While Martin has not spoken publicly since the controversy erupted, his attorney David Cornwell broke the silence on his behalf with a prepared statement last week.
Martin tried "to befriend ... teammates who subjected him to the abuse with the hope that doing so would end the harassment" -- something Cornwell called "a textbook reaction of victims of bullying."
The taunting did not stop, however, the lawyer said. He cited "a malicious physical attack on him by a teammate and daily vulgar comments," and a threat of a group sexual assault against Martin's sister.
"Eventually, Jonathan made a difficult choice," Cornwell said of Martin leaving the Dolphins. "... Jonathan looks forward to getting back to playing football. In the meantime, he will cooperate fully with the NFL investigation."

"Right, wrong or indifferent, because of all this, you've become the face of bullying in America," Glazer told Incognito. "Someone thinks of a bully, they think of Richie Incognito."
"This isn't an issue about bullying," Incognito said. "This is an issue of my and Jon's relationship, where I've taken stuff too far, and I didn't know it was hurting him."
A profanity-filled voice mail from Incognito to Martin that has been made public was intended to shock him so "his buddy" would call him back, he said.
"I understand why a lot of eyebrows get raised," Incognito said, "when people don't know how Jon and I communicate to one another."

3 San Jose State students charged with hate crime against black roommate

Three San Jose State University students in California have been charged with racially bullying their black roommate by clamping a bicycle lock around his neck and decorating their four-bedroom suite with a Confederate flag, Nazi symbols, photos of Adolf Hitler and a white board with a racial epithet, prosecutors said Thursday.

The three students -- Logan Beaschler, 18, of Bakersfield; Joseph Bomgardner, 19, of Clovis; and Colin Warren, 18, of Woodacre -- are charged with misdemeanor hate crime and battery, the Santa Clara district attorney's office said.

Neither the three students nor their attorneys could be immediately reached for comment.

Beaschler was booked in the Santa Clara County Jail on Thursday, with bail set at $15,000.

The defendants face a maximum sentence of one year in county jail if convicted, prosecutors said.

The 17-year-old roommate who was the alleged victim wasn't named by prosecutors. He suffered a minor injury when he fought off the bike lock around his neck, prosecutors said.

"I can't believe in the year 2013 that we're talking about an African-American student being treated this way," District Attorney Jeffrey F. Rosen told CNN. "We're taking this case very seriously."

The defendants are accused of nicknaming their black roommate "Three-Fifths," an apparent reference to a U.S. constitutional provision that counted slaves as "three-fifths of all other persons," prosecutors said.

When the African-American student objected to that name, the three roommates in the campus housing began calling him "Fraction," the prosecutor's office said.

The alleged harassment began in August and lasted through October, prosecutors said.

Are we too quick to cry 'bully'?

San Jose State's president, Mohammad Qayoumi, said in a letter to the student body Thursday that the three students have been suspended.

"Let me be clear: I am outraged and saddened by these allegations. They are utterly inconsistent with our long cherished history of tolerance, respect for diversity and personal civility," Qayoumi's letter said.

Members of the alleged victim's family released a statement saying they were "deeply disturbed by the horrific behaviors that have taken place against our son."

"Our immediate focus is his protection," the family said. "We have taken a stand on this matter. Our response prompted the community to be alerted of the appalling conduct of the students involved."

A total of eight men were living in the four-bedroom suite, but the remaining four students turned their back on the racial harassment, the prosecutor said.

"The other four were aware of this (but) ... did not stand up" and allowed the harassment, Rosen said.

Parents saw the Confederate flag in the dorm suite and "the N-word scrawled on a white board," Rosen said.

When friends become bullies

At least one of the defendants tried to downplay the harassment, and the three defendants then wrote a note to the African-American roommate, asking him to join their group, Rosen said.

But the black roommate objected to the harassment and sometimes "barricaded" himself in his room, Rosen said.

"The young man in this case was terrorized. It was difficult for him to study," Rosen said. "He told them not to do this to him."

Qayoumi said the university police immediately began investigating the allegations "the day our housing staff learned of the situation."

The same day the investigation began, two of the roommates were moved to other residence halls and placed in single rooms.

"A third suite-mate, originally believed to be a bystander, was identified yesterday as an offender. We regret he was not removed from the victim's suite before today," Qayoumi said.