Shooter

Harrison County School Safety Committee
Threat Analysis Report

Submitted by:

Dr. Jonathan Margolies
Superintendent, Harrison County Board of Education

Dr. Richard Ewings
Senior County Psychologist

Special Agent Victoria Lash
F.B.I. Threat Assessment Analyst

Dr. Franklyn Bonner
Spectrum Group

Sheriff William Beach Mosley
Harrison County Criminal Bureau

Mission Statement

The Harrison County School Safety Committee, headed by Dr. Jonathan Margolies, is to investigate public school safety using interviews and all available records, with particular emphasis on the tragic events of last April; and to analyze and assess all pos-sible threats and dangers within the County's school community; and to report to the Governor of this State any findings consistent with imminent or possible threats to:

• Any student or group of students
• Any educator or administrator
• Any other person
• Any structure or building

It is understood by the members of the Safety Committee that the generated report will not carry a prima facie legal obligation but that it might be used in some legal capacity, and that all inter-viewees must be informed of their Miranda rights.

Madison High School Incident AnalysisReport I -- Interview with Cameron Porter
Submitted by Dr. Richard Ewings,
Senior County Psychologist

Cameron Porter is a seventeen-year-old African American youth who attended Madison High School in Harrison County. His grades ran in the high eighties and there is no indication, in his school records, of difficulty in social adjustment. He lives in a two-parent household and is the only child. The parental income is quite high, and there is no indication of deprivation.

Cameron has been advised that the interviews will not be privileged and that they can be subpoenaed for any subsequent legal action, but that the primary aim of the interviews is for analytical purposes. He has agreed to be interviewed in an effort to cooperate with the Analysis team and has signed a waiver to that effect.

He appeared at my office punctually, accompanied by his mother, who then left for another appointment. Cameron is a good-looking young man, neatly dressed, of medium to dark complexion. He seems reasonably comfortable and no more nervous than would be expected under the circumstances. A letter informing Cameron of his Miranda rights was drafted, signed by him, and put on file.

The initial taped interview began at 10:30 on the morning of October 24. This was six months after the incident at the high school.

Notes to transcriber:

• Please return all tapes to my office as soon as possible.
• Please indicate significant pauses or other voicings in the unedited draft of this report.

Dr. Richard Ewings

Richard Ewings: Good morning.

Cameron Porter: Good morning.

RE: Do you mind if I call you Cameron?

CP: Fine.

RE: Cameron, can we begin by you telling me something about yourself? Where do you live? Who do you live with? That sort of thing?

CP: Sure. I live over on Jewett Avenue. I live with my mom, Elizabeth, and my father.

RE: Can you give me your father's name and tell me what sort of work your parents do?

CP: My father's name is Norman. He does quality control for Dyna-Rod Industries. They manufacture heavy equipment, and they lease it to building contractors. What he does is travel around and check out how the leasing end of their business works. My mother works for an office-supply company.

RE: What would heavy equipment consist of?

CP: Cranes, derricks, specialized vehicles.

RE: How would you describe how you get along with your parents?

CP: Okay. Just normal I guess.

RE: Do you go out with them much? Are there family conversations, say, around the dinner table?

CP: My father travels a lot. He's away about a week and a half every month. Maybe more, I don't know. We sort of -- I wouldn't say that we talk a lot. I wouldn't say that we don't talk a lot, either. We go out -- we used to go out to eat once a month. Arturo's. You know where that is?

RE: About a mile off 95, isn't it?

CP: Down from the mall.

RE: Right. That's a nice place. Good Italian food. Do you enjoy eating there?

CP: It's okay. No big deal. They like it.

RE: What kinds of things do you talk about at Arturo's? Actually, what kinds of things do you enjoy talking about with your parents?

CP: I guess we don't really talk that much. When we do talk -- usually it's about something -- maybe about their jobs or something. They talk about their jobs a lot. They're trying to -- they have these goals they work on. You know, what they want to accomplish every year, that sort of thing.

RE: What do you think of their goals?

CP: Their goals? They're okay. They have things they want to do. Financial security -- that sort of thing. They're, like, doing the right things.

RE: When you say they're doing the right things, do you mean that you think they're doing the right things?

CP: Yeah. Yes, I guess so.

RE: How would you describe your relationship with your parents? Can you tell me how you think you get along with them, perhaps if there were different things you would have liked to have done with them than you were doing?

CP: They asked me that at the county office.

RE: And what did you say?

Shooter. Copyright © by Walter Myers. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from Shooter! by Walter Dean Myers
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