The TJ Lane victims were six Chardon High School students shot in the school cafeteria on the morning of February 27, 2012. Three were killed: Daniel “Danny” Parmertor, 16; Russell King Jr., 17; and Demetrius Hewlin, 16. Three survived: Nick Walczak, Nate Mueller, and Joy Rickers. Lane, then 17, fired ten shots from a handgun at a group of students just before 8 a.m. and fled the building.1CBS News. Ohio Dad Dies Exactly 2 Years After Son Was Killed in School Shooting
The Students Who Were Killed
Daniel “Danny” Parmertor, 16
Danny loved technology, computers, and Xbox, and planned to study computer science in college. After his death, his parents, Dina and Bob Parmertor, established the Danny Parmertor Memorial Fund, a nonprofit that awards scholarships to Chardon High School and Auburn Career Center students pursuing STEM degrees such as computer engineering and computer science.2The Danny Parmertor Memorial Fund. Danny Parmertor Memorial Fund In its first year, the fund awarded $40,000 to five students.3Geauga Maple Leaf. Parmertor Scholarship Fund Honors Students Ten years on, Dina Parmertor said, “We’re coping, we’re not healed. We’re never going to be healed. We have a hole in our family.”4Geauga Maple Leaf. Mother of Chardon Shooting Victim Reflects on Son’s Memory
Russell King Jr., 17
A junior at Chardon High, Russell was studying alternative energy at the Auburn Career Center. He was an outdoorsman who fished, hunted, camped, and canoed, and he worked at several local businesses. Classmates described him as upbeat and friendly.5Burr Funeral Home. Obituary for Russell D. King Jr. After he was declared brain dead, his family authorized organ donation through LifeBanc, and his gifts saved eight lives.6BBC News. Chardon High School Shooting
His father, Russell King Sr., was found dead in his home exactly two years later, on February 27, 2014. The Geauga County Coroner ruled the death an accidental acute intoxication from heroin and alcohol.7Cleveland 19. Coroner Rules on Cause of Death for Chardon’s Russell King Sr. Neighbors said he never recovered from losing his son. “His son was everything. They did everything together,” one neighbor told CBS News.1CBS News. Ohio Dad Dies Exactly 2 Years After Son Was Killed in School Shooting
Demetrius Hewlin, 16
Demetrius died at MetroHealth Medical Center the day after the shooting, two days before his seventeenth birthday.8CBS News. Third Chardon High School Shooting Victim Demetrius Hewlin Dies His mother, Phyllis Ferguson, described him as a “huggy, kissy boy” and a “computer nerd” who loved reading. He had been close friends with both Russell King Jr. and Danny Parmertor. His family supported his decision to be an organ donor. “For one Demetrius, there’s eight people he can help,” his mother said.9ABC News. Ohio School Shooting Victims’ Parents
The Students Who Survived
Nick Walczak
Nick was shot four times while waiting for a bus. The wounds hit his forearm, shoulder, and neck, with a bullet still lodged in his cheek. A fourth bullet severed his spine, leaving him permanently paralyzed.10Cleveland Magazine. We’ve Got Big Plans After the Chardon Shooting He received a service dog named Turner through W.A.G.S. 4 Kids and went on to attend Kent State University’s Geauga campus. He became a vocal advocate for gun control, lobbying Congress for background checks and appearing in a public service announcement for Sandy Hook Promise. “I’ve changed a lot. All of my friends did. We all had to change together,” he said on the tenth anniversary. “Anybody who is involved in a school shooting, immediately we have to grow up.”11Cleveland 19. How Survivors of Chardon High School Shooting Are Using Experience to Do Good
Nate Mueller
Nate was grazed in the ear by a bullet in the cafeteria. He leapt over Walczak’s body to escape the gunfire and carried significant survivor’s guilt afterward, though Walczak publicly urged him to let it go.10Cleveland Magazine. We’ve Got Big Plans After the Chardon Shooting He completed an internship with the Brady Campaign alongside Virginia Tech survivor Colin Goddard and later worked for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, traveling to Washington, D.C., to discuss gun violence with members of Congress.12Fox 8 Cleveland. Chardon High School Shooting 10 Years Later His views shifted over time; he once supported bans on assault-style rifles but later focused his advocacy on universal background checks for all gun sales and increased funding for the federal background check system. He has described spending each anniversary with friends to “cook out and turn it into a celebration of life.”13Vice. I Barely Survived a School Shooting but I Don’t Support a Ban on AR-15s
Joy Rickers
Joy, a senior at the time, was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the buttocks and made a full physical recovery.14Geauga Maple Leaf. Walczak and Sandy Hook
Who Stopped the Shooting and Helped the Wounded
Frank Hall, an assistant football coach and study hall teacher, chased Lane out of the building, then returned to the cafeteria to stay with the wounded until paramedics arrived. “I was with the victims and wiped their tears,” he later told CBS News. Hall rejected the hero label, saying he was “just a football coach and study hall teacher.”15CBS News. Coach From Ohio School Shooting: I’m Not a Hero He was later featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes.16Coach Hall Foundation. Frank Hall Two student fire cadets, Travis Carver and David Marks, also provided first aid to survivors and helped keep others calm.12Fox 8 Cleveland. Chardon High School Shooting 10 Years Later
Lane was apprehended by a police officer along Woodin Road in Chardon Township after fleeing the school.17Cleveland.com. Timeline of T.J. Lane and the Chardon Shooting He admitted to the shooting but never offered a reason for it. At sentencing, prosecutor James Flaiz said, “The only explanation I can offer the court is he is an evil person.”18CNN. Ohio School Shooter T.J. Lane
How the Victims Are Remembered
The Chardon Living Memorial Park, a 17-acre space at 220 Basquin Drive near the high school, was dedicated in October 2017 after the community raised more than $400,000 in donations, grants, and contributed labor.19Cleveland 19. Chardon Memorial Park Dedicated to 3 Students Killed in 2012 School Shooting The park has a walking trail honoring Danny Parmertor, a fitness area honoring Demetrius Hewlin, and play areas honoring Russell King Jr. Its centerpiece, “Echo of the Heart,” is a nine-foot-tall, thirteen-foot-wide stainless steel heart-shaped monument with a hollow bell visitors can ring.20Cleveland.com. Chardon Living Memorial Park Honors Shooting Victims
The Coach Hall Foundation, inspired by Frank Hall’s actions that day, works to prevent school violence and improve safety in school communities. For the tenth anniversary in February 2022, the foundation launched “27 Days to Be the Change,” encouraging one intentional act of kindness each day from February 1 through February 27.21Geauga Maple Leaf. CHF Champions Kindness Leading Up to Shooting Anniversary
Where TJ Lane Is Now
Lane pleaded guilty on February 26, 2013, to three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of attempted aggravated murder, and one count of felonious assault.22ABC News. Ohio School Shooter T.J. Lane Gives Victims’ Families the Finger Geauga County Judge David Fuhry sentenced him to three consecutive life terms without parole, plus an additional 37 years for the attempted murder, felonious assault, and weapons-related charges.23The Morning Sun. Defiant Teen Gets Life Sentences in Ohio Shooting According to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records, Lane is incarcerated at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility and has no parole eligibility. He received an additional one-year sentence in 2020 on an assault charge out of Warren County.24Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Offender Search: Thomas M. Lane III