Chardon High School Shooter Was Formerly Friends With Victims

CHARDON, Ohio – An eyewitness to the Chardon High School shooting came forward to identify the shooter as a fellow student named TJ Lane. Junior Nate Mueller told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he was sitting in the cafeteria with friends when he heard the gunshot, and then a sting on his ear.

“My friends were crawling on the floor, and one of my friends was bent over the table, and he was shot,” he says. “I turned around and saw [TJ] standing with a gun and I saw him take a shot.”

Mueller, who has a scratch on his upper right ear, said that he ran out of the building, hid behind a car, and called 911.

Mueller also stated that he and his group of friends used to be close to Lane in middle school, but that they had drifted apart by the time they reached high school. One of Mueller’s friends, Russell King, had recently started dating Lane’s ex-girlfriend. “He was silent the whole time,” Mueller says. “That’s what made it so random.”

Plain Dealer has also identified one of the victims of the shooting. Daniel Parmertor, 16, was one of three students flown to the hospital after the 7:30 a.m. shooting.

“We are shocked by this senseless tragedy,” his parents said in a prepared statement. “Danny was a bright young boy who had a bright future ahead of him. The family is torn by this loss.”