January 5, 2008
Boston Blotter: Hey, Let's Have a Shooting Range at the High School!
--This is borderline blotter and definitely dumbass. A South Boston high school set up a shooting range for its students. The shooting range is for Junior ROTC students and is in the basement at Monument High School. According to the Herald, "A school employee notified the Herald about the practice after seeing two teenagers firing weapons at targets without supervision or warning signs in a locked classroom in early December."
Weren't school officials trying to keep the guns out of the schools, not bring them back in? Sure, ROTC is officer training, and we can see why they're using guns, but must they do it indoors? [Boston Herald]
--Come to think of it, guns seem to bring out the dumbass in everyone these days. Police busted two online companies for selling a BB gun to a 16-year-old in Massachusetts. Now, a judge is making the company pay $78,500. So … if it's illegal to ship a BB gun to a 16-year-old, then why is it OK for the Junior ROTC to fire air rifles in their school? [Boston Herald]
--A man was shot in the back twice on Cherry Street in Cambridge early this morning. Police said it happened at a house party. [Cambridge Chronicle]
--A 15-year-old turned himself in for the stabbing death of a 19-year-old on New Year's Day in Brockton. [Boston Globe]
--A former Bible college student pled guilty to setting a Plymouth church on fire in 2005. Caleb Lusser left a note at the crime scene that declared, "I Shamgar, have brought this upon you as a lesson." [Boston Globe]
--Police thwarted a pizza party for perpetrators. On Thursday night in Mattapan, police pulled over a car and found four young men with a thermal delivery box, and they didn't look like Papa John's employees. Further investigation of their bumbling alibis revealed that they were likely the same guys who held up a pizza guy earlier in the night. [BPD News]
--A student without a hall pass told police, "You can’t just show up here and start running things like you own the place.” The BPD Blotter writer gave him an "F" for conduct. [BPD News]
All charges alleged until proven under law.



An indoor range is much safer than an outdoor one, considering how far bullets can travel. We had one in my HS, but we were supervised by adults anytime we used it.