JACKSBORO, Tenn. - A deadly confrontation between a juvenile with a gun and three school administrators at Campbell County Comprehensive High School was recalled Monday by the survivors.
Assistant Principal Jim Pierce testified Kenneth Bartley, then 15, was called to the office on Nov. 8, 2005, after students tipped a teacher that he brought a gun to the rural high school, some 35 miles north of Knoxville.
Pierce, Principal Gary Seale and Assistant Principal Ken Bruce were waiting in the office.
"I just told Kenny, 'I want what you have in your pocket,'" Pierce testified in a hearing Monday to decide whether Bartley will be tried as a juvenile or an adult.
Bartley pulled out a gun, he said. "Kenny stood up with the gun waving it at all of us," Pierce said.
"Mr. Seale asked him if it was real," Pierce recalled. "He said, 'Yes, it's real. I'll show you. I never liked you anyway.'"
Pierce said Bartley reached into his pocket, retrieved an ammunition clip, loaded the gun and started shooting.
Seale was shot first, wounded in the groin. Bruce was shot next, fatally in the chest. Pierce was wounded in the side and hand as he tackled Bartley to the ground.
"I didn't even know I was shot," testified Seale, who reacted by telling office workers to call 911.
Sheriff's Deputy Darrell Mongar, one of the first to respond, led Bartley from the office. "He started crying and stated that he stole his father's gun and brought it to school to trade it in for Oxycontin," the deputy said.
Mongar said he and another officer searched Bartley. They didn't find Oxycontin, but they did find 10 pills later identified as Xanax, which is used to treat anxiety and panic attacks.
"He said if he hadn't have taken the Xanax, none of this would have happened," Mongar said.
Bartley has pleaded not guilty to a seven-count indictment that includes first-degree murder. After an April 10 trial date was set in adult court, he petitioned to have his case heard in juvenile court.
Bartley, now 16, could face up to 51 years in prison if convicted in adult court. The most he could face in juvenile court is imprisonment until age 19.
The Juvenile Justice Advocacy Organization circulated a petition seeking leniency for Bartley, saying he is a child lacking structure and guidance who needs rehabilitation, not prison.
The petition suggests Bartley brought the gun to school to sell for drugs and "had no intention of shooting or killing anyone that day. This was not an act of premeditation."
Meanwhile, Bruce's widow, Jo Bruce, has a wrongful death lawsuit pending against Bartley and his parents, Kenneth Michael Bartley and Rita Broyles Bartley Vannoy. She claims the gun belonged to Bartley's parents, who failed to keep it in a secure location in their home.
She also claimed they knew the teenager had "dangerous propensities."
