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Loading ...Larry King’s family blames school for murder
08.15.2008 11:11am EDT
(Oxnard, California) The parents of 15-year-old Larry King say he would never have been killed if the school had enforced the dress code. King was fatally shot in February by another student in an Oxnard school.
The King family is suing the Oxnard school district claiming its failure to enforce the dress code led to King’s death. King reportedly wore feminine clothing and makeup to school.The suit seeks unspecified damages.
In a notice of claim, Dawn and Gregory King allege that administrators and staff at the school knew their son had “unique vulnerabilities” and was subject to abuse because of his sexuality.
The school district has not commented on the suit.
Last week, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney pleaded not guilty to killing King. McInerney is charged as an adult with first degree murder and a hate crime for the Feb. 12 shooting.
McInerney faces 51 years to life without the possibility of parole if convicted.
King was shot in the head during a morning class. More than 20 other students were in the room at the time. McInerney was arrested shortly after the shooting.
King died in the hospital after his mother agreed to have life-support removed.
McInerney’s attorney also has suggested that some of the blame for the murder must rest with the school. He told the Los Angeles Times earlier this year that while the school allowed King to explore his sexuality, it did nothing to quell the unrest among other students.
“Brandon is not some crazed lunatic,” Quest told The Times. “This was a confluence of tragic events that could have been stopped. If there is partial blame in other places, let’s not throw away Brandon for the rest of his life.”
King was honored earlier this year at schools across the country as part of the National Day of Silence.
I don’t get it….if the parents (as it seems from the limited info we have)are just trying to cash in on this horrible tragedy and they want to sue the school on the grounds that they didn’t protect Larry, WHY wouldn’t the complaint be about not stopping a student from carrying a lethal weapon into the school rather than not stopping their son from dressing how he wanted to dress? Which was the more direct danger I ask you? It makes me sick that this poor child’s death–a child, I might add, who was brave enough to stand up and be who he was at the young age of 15– is being used to push the parents’ and lawyers’ homophobic agenda. The world will not be made safer by making gay kids stay in the closet, it will be made safer by educating people and promoting acceptance of difference. Has anyone bothered to ask why the kid that did the shooting had so much anger and hatred that it drove him to murder? Who taught him that? THAT is why Larry got killed–because of anger and hatred. Not because the kid was being himself.
Tell me you are kidding! It is not the schools fault that one student killed another. It was the student himself. If you get shot by a gun do you blame the shooter or the gun? This is a blatant attempt to get money. Larry didn’t even live with his parents. Come on now.
This is so sad. I do not totally agree that the kid Brandon McInerney should not serve some sort of harsh sentence. We have made many examples in the court system that hate crimes are not acceptable but letting the kid off is saying that we don’t value King for being confident to be who he really was. Growing up in my HS Brandon McInerney was the norm. But at the same school now many years later there is no tolerance for that same behavior and King would have been allowed to dress as he felt.
Hi Anthony : I agree with you about punishment for the shooter.///But apparently Larry King wasn’t living with the parents at the time. He was in a ..foster home (?) or something. King claimed his father was abusing him, which the father denies.
Hey Charlie, now you pay attention: if Larry’s parents sue on the grounds the school should have prevented Larry from dressing in feminine clothing and win – which is highly unlikely – then this ruling could have a chilling effect all across California, and schools would then be compelled to enforce gender appropriate dress codes. Is this what you want? I surely hope not.
I don’t believe he deserves to be put in prison for the rest of his life. The boy is barely a teenager and has a lot of growing up to do. Maybe he can change for the better, maybe he can’t. He deserves a chance. What he did was inexcusable and terrible but it doesn’t seem right to ruin another boys life. Also, I can’t see how the parents are blaming the school for not enforcing the dress code….. I think they should take partial blame for allowing there son to go to school in female attire.
Also culpable are the students tormenting McInerney about being gay because Larry King had a crush on him. Maybe McInerney should have shot them instead. (Okay, not really shot them, but..). Also, why don’t we see any pics of King at the age he died? All the pics are earlier ones where he’s a kid. I’m just wondering why that is.
OK KIDS HERE WE GO AGAIN PAY ATTENTION AND IGNORE ALL YOUR STRAWMEN U LOVE TO TILT AT!
1. A CHILD OBTAINED A FIREARM
2. HE BROUGHT THAT FIRE ARM INTO HIS SCHOOL.
3. HE USED THIS GUN TO SHOOT A FELLOW STUDENT IN THE HEAD IN FRONT OF SOME 20 OTHER STUDENTS
4. THE SHOT STUDENT DIED. THAT’S PREMEDITATED MURDER.
NOW PAT ATTENTION:
IT DOESN’T MATTER IF LARRY’S PARANTS ARE CRACK ADDICTED SEX FIENDS OR IF THEIR ATTORNEY IS AN AMBULANCE CHASING SOCIOPATH (IN OTHER WORDS- A LAWYER). THE POINT IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO AT LEAST REDUCE IF NOT PREVENT THIS TYPE OF HATE CRIME IS TO HIT THE POCKET BOOK OF EVERYONE CULPABLE WHO CAN BE HURT. IF SOME LOSERS AND AN AMBULANCE CHASER MAKE A COUPLE OF MILLION WHO CARES COMPARED TO SAVING ON CHILD’S LIFE! GET IT! GOT IT! GOOD!
Such a saddness, this terrible murder. The issue of the clothes and makeup only underscore the need for gender protection in this country. How we appear is as put upon with violence as our behaviors may be to those who are frightened of things that are not understood.
Its the skools fault bcuz how could you let a student on campus with a gun and not know about than for him to shoot and kill him in a classroom..come on people…the reality of this is people are gay and out with it..and the little dude had no right to take larry’s life…so his ass needs to go to jail and bcome someones lil bitch…I don’t feel sorry for him..he had no right to kill larry…what does he think he’s god or some… And to the Larry King family I’m sorry for your lost..stay strong Larrys in a better place..”RIP LARRY KIING”
I don’t know what Brandon McInerney’s motives were or why he did it… but I think the whole incident is a symptom of a larger problem.
I think the big problem is that a lot of people today are still lead to believe that LGBT people are sub-human, weaklings, taboo or just plain abominations. I mean, how often aren’t gay people the punchlines of jokes? How often haven’t there been campaigns against children’s books just because they contain LGBT characters?
And then we have all these “poor” parents who have to -shock horror- explain to their kids why people of the same sex are kissing at sporting events.
It’s the adults… parents in particular that are fueling ignorance and bigotry.
If children were taught right from the beginning that LGBT people deserve every bit as much respect as everyone else, then maybe we can avoid tragedies like this one.
Right now the message that parents are sending their children is that LGBT people or cross-dressers are fair game, that we’re the people you can turn into scapegoats, take your agression out on or that we’re aliens whom they have reason to fear.
IMHO, If Brandon McInerney had been raised to respect people who are different, if he had been properly enlightened then he probably would never had killed King.
I agree with Jibii. It isn’t the way King dressed that got him murdered, it was the ignorance that society, and the parents, have been ingrained into McInerney’s head that drove him to do such a horrible thing.
Geez this is awful, it’s kind of like the cliché where a woman deserves to be attacked for way she dresses, I thought this was supposed to be a free world? I understand the parents are grieving for their son, and I am guessing during grieving process they’re trying to point finger of blame to someone else but it does not give the right to kill someone for his/her attire, sexual preference, skin colour and so on.
I hope this guy spends the rest of his life in Jail
Ok so Larry’s parents lost custody because of abuse and now they want to sue? How opportunistic of them. And they say gay marriage is a threat to traditional family values. Where is the hypocritical AFA and other right-wing hate groups now? The obvious threat to the institution of marriage and family values comes from within.
If DCFS removed Larry from his parent’s home, would that mean the parent’s legal custody of Larry would also be suspended if not terminated. This would mean that the parent’s would have no legal standing on which to sue.
The school has no choice but to allow Larry to dress that way, otherwise they would be in violation of California Civil Rights Law regarding gender identity and expression; perhaps sexual orientation law as well.
The only way I can see this case even going to trial is if parents of DCFS removed children have legal custody of children and their ambulance chasing lawyer focuses on bullying intervention neglect as the reason for Larry’s death.
I still cannot see the parents winning in this case unless there is a government mandated or school policy / procedure on bullying intervention.