"Fight, Mustangs!" "Let's fight!" "Come on, crowd!" "Red!" "Fight, Mustangs!" "Let's fight!" "Come on, crowd!" "Red!" "Fight, Mustangs!" "Let's fight!" "Come on, crowd!" "Red!" "Fight, Mustangs!" "Let's fight!" "Yeah!" "Hey, Michael." "Spare some change?" "What?" "I'm the one asking the questions now, fuck face!" "This was Michael Ray?" "Yeah, Michael Ray." "Not fast enough." "What went through your mind as you pulled the trigger?" "I thought there'd be more blood." "Streaming live, it's time to "Check Your Morals At The Door", 'cause it's the "Lax Morales show."" "The question I've been hearing is what the hell are we gonna do with these kids?" "We've given you a fast-food, downsized, techno-driven world, and it's cold and you can't make any sense of it." "So, kids, let's take some calls." " Hi." "What's your name?" " Hi." "My name's Sandy." "I just caught my best friend sexting my boyfriend." "Well, that blows." "Isa, what are you hearing?" "Do we have a new body count?" "39 students, 2 teachers, and a police officer were shot today before Herman Howards was apprehended at 12:40 P.M." "What do you remember of the shooting?" "Just shooting." "There wasn't anyone around." "All of the doors were locked." "Everyone was just running from inside, trying to get out." "I tried dialing my phone, but my hands were shaking so bad, I just couldn't." "I'm with the vice principal of the school." "And I'd like to ask you, do you have any message for the parents?" "Yes, uh, we're working as fast as we possibly can to get you back together with your children." "This morning, when I dropped him off at school, we were talking about my mom's birthday dinner, and he was gonna help plan it." "But not anymore." "Did you think that something like Herman Howards was possible?" "I just thought he was mad, real angry at something, but I didn't know he was gonna shoot the whole school up." "Please let me through." "Mrs. Howards, do you have any idea why Herman might do something like this?" "Herman is a happy, healthy teenager with a promising future." "I don't know what's wrong with his mother, but it's got to be something for her not to see the signs." "Mrs. Howards, your son was just arrested for shooting over 40 people." " No." "Let me go inside." "I don't know." "Some people are just angry." "That's the way it is." "Yeah, I talked to him." "I mean, the kid was pretty much all fucked up." "How did he get the guns?" "Did your husband keep guns in the home?" "I'm divorced." "How did your son get the pipe bombs?" "I can't understand why he would do such a thing." "Mrs. Howards!" "One more statement!" "Republican senator Joan Cox issued this statement to the press this morning." "Herman Howards is not a common criminal." "He is a terrorist." "He's a troubled child in desperate need of psychiatric treatment." "You know, I think there are reasons for these type of actions, and we need to figure out those reasons to make sure that these kind of tragedies don't happen again." "He is a monster and he should be treated as one." "Thank you all very much." "God bless America." "There remains no clear motive for these killings." "Disturbing." "You're watching "Chet chat"." "We'll be right back." "Yeah, you're the one that's disturbing, dude." "Yeah, you know it." "Ha!" "Nice." "I want to tell my story on your show." "Police!" "Put your weapon down!" "The responding deputies arrived on the scene and could hear shots still being fired within the school." "Those deputies also reported explosions inside the building." "There are many fatalities." "He shot a girl." "There were bombs and shotguns going off." "And then he asked if we all wanted to die." "People started running and screaming." " I'm sure that everyone..." " It's terrible, isn't it?" "If you could sign here for me, please, sir." "Thomas Joseph King!" "You bump into that man one more time..." "This is Isa Luz reporting live from West Broome High School." "Why don't you take a seat over there." "Your car will be ready in a moment." "Thanks." "Just wait till we get home." "You're gonna be sorry I ever gave birth to you." "Mama!" "Mama!" "You're gonna go and save the world all by yourself, huh?" "I guess... or I could sell out, like Chet." "You're so bad." "You know, you're lucky you got such a hot girlfriend." "That's definitely a bonus." "Lax, this story is important." "It can put you in the game." "You're gonna come back to me in one piece." "I promise." "Your car, sir." "Thank you." "Did you know Herman?" "Yes, actually, he was in our science class." " But he was so, like, weird." " He never really talked." "He was always quiet and stuff." "I don't really remember him, but I do remember he was weird." "Hi, Mr. Morales." "I got your call." "Uh, let me show you where some of the students are, okay?" "Um, just give me a second?" "It seems like something like Herman was..." "He was very stoic and he just... he never reacted." "Can I talk to you for a minute?" " I'm sorry." "You were saying?" " Uh, yeah." "Well, no, I never pictured Herman doing this." "Herman was always alone." "Yeah, at lunch, he would always sit alone." "Do you remember anyone picking on him?" "Yes." "Hello, Herman." "Uh, should we begin?" "Is everything all right?" "You do want to be on the show, right?" "Why did you bash that black kid with a bat back in Georgia?" "Where did you hear that?" "Why don't we start by you saying your name, hm?" "This freak, Howards..." "He sent clips of the massacre to that even crazier liberal blogger Lax Morales." "Now, believe it or not, Morales plans to broadcast an interview with this criminal." "If this left-wing nutjob has any intention of giving this kid a platform to preach his insanity, his sick twisted beliefs, then I think that Morales ought to be executed right next to Howards." "No." "Uh, can I get a scotch?" "Hey, aren't you that Morals guy?" " It's, uh, Morales." "But, yeah." " Keep the change." "Come on." "One drink." "Come on." "How was your first day with... with Herman?" " You should know better than that." " Better than what?" "Asking a fellow journalist about his exclusive." "Oh, I'm sorry." "I thought you were just a blogger." "Ouch." "People are saying this is gonna be your capote moment." "You're famous now." "Wow." "I want to know what happened." "I know you left me to do a piece on The Klan in Georgia and you said you were gonna come back to me in one piece." "Not a phone call, nothing." " How could you do that to me?" " I couldn't come back." "Why not?" "Just couldn't." "I loved you, and you said you loved me back." "And even after all this time, you still can't give me a reason why you never came back to me?" "Not a phone call, not an e-mail, nothing." "I'm sorry." "I never, ever stopped loving you." "So, this colored boy..." "He comes up on us." "Stares me straight in the face and says," ""you think you're better than me?"" "So I spat at him." "Right in his face." "So, um, tell me something, Dougie-dog..." "How you expect me to make you captain when you're faced with an opportunity to show the colored why the white race is superior," "and all you can do is waste your spit in his face?" "Dumb kids." "That's what you are, both of you... dumb kids." " Uh, excuse me, Mr. Gall?" " What?" "I-I've been waiting a long time to meet you, and, um," "I didn't think I'd get a better opportunity than right now." "Why do you want to talk to me, Yankee?" "Well, it's, uh..." "It's, uh... it's your book." "I've been reading it." "I think you just might be a prophet." "If that's so." "So, what can I do for you, boy?" "You could start by signing my book." " What's your name, son?" " It's Vic, sir." "Vic." "My celebrity." "Lax." " What's that on your shirt?" " It's a dodo bird." "Why are you wearing a dodo bird on your shirt?" "Because they look stupid, but they're actually really smart." "Oh." "That's cool." "Well, it sounds like I got the seal of approval." "Should we begin?" "Well, how much money do I get for talking to you?" "You don't get any money." "The money goes to the families of the victims." "Besides, I thought you wanted to tell your story." "Yeah, this is part of my story." "How much?" "I don't know what the standard rate for a story like yours would be." "That's 'cause there are no standards for what I've done." "Come on." "Herman, you killed 42 people." "Somewhere in the world, that happens every week." "What makes you so special?" "I'm just a 16-year-old kid born into a white, middle-class family." "I'm not some broke arab sucker who grew up kicking pebbles and thinks he's gonna become a martyr when he grows up and lay 99 virgins in heaven." "I mean, if that's heaven, then Islam is even more fucked up than Christianity is." " Are you religious?" " God is dead." " Where'd you read that?" " Something I figured out." "You want to talk about your sister?" "No, I don't." "Did you get picked on at school, Herman?" "What's that got to do with God being dead?" "It doesn't." "It has to do with you killing these people, though." "Why... what did they tell you at that school?" "Did you?" "Did you get picked on?" " Hello, Herman." " How you doing, buddy?" "Oh, you're playing games again." "Let's go play." "Let's go play." "No." " No." "Seriously." " No, you're fine." "Let's play, uh..." "Let's play a new game, okay?" "All right?" "You like that?" "Come on." "Come on." "You gonna cry?" "Pansy." "Guys, guys, come on." "Let's go." " Come on." " Come on." "You got to man up one of these days, Herman." "Would you thought to do, what you did, if they didn't do it in combine first?" " Yeah, but they did." " But pretend they didn't." "Oh, come on." "They became real famous afterwards." "Everybody knows who they are now." "Do you think of them as heroes?" "They said "fuck you" to the assholes." "After that, the freaks started getting some respect." "But now that I've hit the scene, I give them a weapon." "They'll be running the schools." "So you think you're part of a revolution, is that it?" "You'll see." "Kids all over the country are gonna start doing what I did until you assholes finally realize that we're here." "We matter, Lax." "What about the kids you shot in cold blood?" "Are they not part of your revolution?" "You sure don't speak like the average 16-year-old." "Didn't I just explain this to you?" "Do kids still, uh..." "still play "The Hunt"?" "Yeah, of course." "Well, what would you say the point of that game is?" "Well, you try to shoot everybody and get lots of points." "What about "Post Shooter"?" "Do you play that game?" "Yeah, I own it." " It's pretty hard to find, that game." " Yeah, it is." "I've never played that one." "How do you play?" "You go into the post office one day and you've had enough of people's crap and you shoot everybody until they're all gone." "Sounds pretty easy." "There's a time limit." "And you get more points for shooting people in the face than you do the legs, stomach, or the back of the head." "Wow." "Do you, uh... do you shoot up women and children, too?" "I actually think you get less points for them." " That's nice." " Yeah." "Does your mom, uh..." "What does she think" " of you playing games like this?" " I don't think she knows about it." "Well, she bought them for you, didn't she?" "No, I downloaded it off the web." "Hmm, do you think that playing games, uh, like the ones you're playing..." "They numb you to violence?" "I don't understand the question." "Do they make it easier for you to go in your school and shoot your peers?" "Uh, yeah, of course it did." "How do you think I became such a good shot?" "I remember, at one point, this girl was running right towards the door." "50 feet away." " So, it was a game." " It's all a game, Lax." "I mean, wasn't it a game when you bashed that kid with a bat?" "It's not my interview." "Why don't you stay focused." "Yeah, down in Georgia, when you bashed that kid..." "Did that seem real to you?" " That's not what happened." " Oh, really?" "Well, the three people that were there said you did." "Where did you hear that?" "They had a few things to say about you, Lax." "What else do you think you know about me, Herman?" "Do you find it a habit to surf hate sites?" "Is that what you do?" "I have respect for anybody who is willing to stand up for their beliefs." "And, besides, people's websites are where you really learn stuff." "The web is the truth, the way people really are." "You should know that by now, Lax." "Lax Morales." "It sounds puerto rican." "It really does." "It's Mexican." "I'm an eighth Mexican." "You want to kill me now, too?" "No, I just..." "I just think it's funny." "I think we're done for today." "What do you think?" "I think he's being treated like the damn guest of honor." "Hmm, someone should do something about it." "Yeah, you can say that again." "Someone should do something about it." "You know what I think?" "I think you're a damn nigger lover." "What?" "I said..." "I think Vic Bishop is a goddamn nigger lover!" "What do you say to that?" "Come on!" "Stop!" "I said, stop!" "What the hell is going on?" "Vic was beating the piss out of J.C." " Why?" " He called Vic a nigger lover." "Vic, in my office now." "Now, Vic." "Now, I seen the way you beat on J.C. There." "I heard what he called you." "Don't you think that was a little bit excessive?" "I snapped." "It won't happen again." "Snapped." "Bullshit." "When someone insult you, you show them what happens." "I respect that." "I got big plans, Vic." "That day we always dreaded has finally come." "Who would have ever thought there'd be a nigger in the white house?" "We must all be crazy." "Do you know the minorities make up 53% of this country's population?" "And they're driving white people off land." "And most good white folks don't even know the difference." "So what we gonna do about that, Vic?" "There's a storm coming." "We got chapters in seven counties in each of these states." "And when Georgia strikes, there will be identical strikes in each one of these." "And these strikes will inspire people to stand up and face what's been coming since Lincoln pissed on the constitution and declared war on us." "Now, are you ready, son?" "Fuck yeah, I'm ready." "That's why I came here, sir." "Well..." "I got something I got to say to you." "Congratulations." "You're the new captain of the B.O.A.S.S." "Now, you say it with me." "The Brotherhood of America S.S." "How's it feel, son?" "How you feeling, Lax?" "Lax?" "Hello?" "Oh." "Memories can really fuck with you, can't they?" "Yeah." "I block them out with music." "Yeah?" "What's your favorite band?" " I like Eminem." " Why?" "Because he is all fucked up in the head and he's got the balls to say it." "Yes, he does." "So, what, uh... what went through your head that morning?" "The morning I did it?" "Yeah." "That was a Monday." "I hate mondays." "I had a test that day." "Are you saying that if you didn't have a test," " you wouldn't have done it?" " Don't put words in my mouth." "What I was implying was that I may not have done it that day, but there was no way in hell those people weren't gonna get what they deserved." "What did you do first?" "I waited till everyone was at second period." "Then I went around and put chains and locks on all the exits." "Second period is when the security guards take their break." "Then I went to the computer lab and I told my friend Timmy to change the message of the day, to make the pep rally earlier." "And then I went to my locker and I got my guns and pipe bombs." " Where'd you get the pipe bombs?" " I made them." "Wow." "Was it easy?" "It was once I, uh, googled the instructions." "I got half the stuff at a hardware store and I got the other half at another store." "What about the guns?" "A guy I know that works at a malmart downtown sold it to me." "Wow, don't you have to be 18, though, to buy guns in America?" "Do you have any idea how many people own guns in America?" "I'll tell you..." "It scares me." "There are more ways of getting a gun and being under 18 than I can count." "Everyone and their brother has a gun." "It's "everyone and their mother."" " What?" " That's where it comes from." "Everyone has a mother." "Everyone doesn't have a brother." "So it's "everyone and their mother."" "Whatever." "You are aware that everyone has a mother, right?" "Jesus Christ." "You ask the stupidest questions." "I thought you were supposed to be some hot-shot reporter." "This is a very important story, you know." " You're not gonna have a bigger one." " Let's cut to the chase." "You are aware that everyone has a mother and a father when you shot those kids in the face, right?" " No." " Really?" "You didn't think that anyone had a mother and a father that cared about them?" " No." " Why not?" "What about your mother?" "What would have happened to her if you were killed?" "Well, it would have taken her a few days to realize I was even gone." " Come on." " No, Lax." "I go three, four days without even seeing her." "Why?" "Well, we don't have a whole lot to talk about." "I mean, she works all the time." "And I have my life." "Yeah, but your life consists of playing video games and making pipe bombs." "I mean, didn't she have a clue?" "She's a busy lady." "What about your father?" "I'm out of here!" "I'm not gonna put up with this anymore." "I swear to God, if you leave one more time, don't ever come back!" "Don't worry!" "I'm not coming back!" "Then you go ahead..." "You tell the kids!" "You tell them!" "You tell them!" "You wanted them!" "He lives in Chicago with his new wife." "Did you call your mother that morning?" "What?" "The morning with your sister..." "Did you call your mom?" "Did it feel good when you took that bat to that boy's head?" " I'm asking the questions, not you." " No." " No, what?" " No, I didn't call her." " Why not?" " Because I didn't think of it." "What would she have done, anyway?" "Well, I imagine she would have rushed home." " You really don't get it, do you?" " Don't get what?" "I'm done talking to you today, okay?" "Whatever." "You're quitting." "Is that what it is?" "Lax... this story is important for you." "It's important to all of us." "I'd kill to be in your shoes." "This kid is gonna be executed on TV." "You know what that means?" "You need this." "You need this." "I mean, your online show is, like... it's fine, okay?" "It's all right, but..." "but you can do so much more." " You can do... you..." " What do you know?" "While the parents of the formerly peaceful community of" "West Broome grieve the tragic loss of their children, parents all across suburban America are wondering if their town is gonna be next." "They all blame me." "Every last one of them looks at me like it's my fault, as if I told him to do it, as if I never gave him any guidance, as if I wanted this." "No, I'm not blaming you." "I'm just trying to give you an opportunity to tell your side of the story." "That... that's all." "He was my little boy once." "He was my little boy who had a sweet smile." "We were a happy family." "My husband left when Herman was 8, Julia was 5." "Herman's whole concept of the world was ripped away from him." "It's not my fault." "I didn't leave." "Frank and I had a decent sex life." "It was good." "You think I'm a cold woman, that I don't care what happened to all those children?" "No one understands until they're put in this position." "Look, I'm not a doctor." "My official statement is that I don't know why he did it." "All I know is that one minute he's happy, and then the next minute, he's depressed." "The next minute, I'm asking a friend about a doctor, you know which kind..." "And before I blink, he's gone completely insane, my child." "Do you have any children?" "No." "I didn't think so." "What do you, um, do for work now that Frank isn't around?" "I'm vice president of marketing at Compunet's main branch here." "Eight years since Frank left." "Vice president of marketing at Compunet just after eight years." " That's pretty impressive." " I made it my top priority." "Did, uh... did Herman give you any clues as to what he was up to?" "No." "Nothing." "Did you, uh, monitor his Internet usage or keep him from watching rated movies, maybe?" "If I had forbid those kinds of movies in my house, he would have gone to a friend's house, and I would have seen him even less." "Same deal with the Internet." "If you had a kid, you'd know that." "You know, I apologize." "I have to keep the curtains closed because the cameramen keep popping up to take a shot." "The first time a flash suddenly went off in my bedroom at night," "I nearly had a heart attack." "Yesterday, I threw a frying pan at one of them." "I'm not kidding." "When is this nightmare gonna end?" "I just want to wake up." "I want to wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!" " I should go." " Oh, no." "No, no." "Don't go." "As pathetic as it sounds..." "I don't have anybody else to talk to." "The office told me not to come in, you know, because the press is hounding the building." "Something about their image." "Frank won't have anything to do with me." "He says it's my fault." "My friends... they won't speak to me because, you know, they're also friends of the victims." "And there's only one me, and then there's 50 of them." "You do the math." "It's a logical equation." "Excuse me?" "You know, logical equations for real-life scenarios." "That's what I do." "You know, that's what I did for a living." " It sounds interesting." " Most of it was bullshit." "Do you want to talk about what happened with Julia?" "Was Herman home when that happened?" "I don't think I want to talk to you anymore." " I didn't mean to..." " You get out of my house." " I'm sorry." "I..." " Get out." "You know, maybe you can answer a question for me..." "Mr. Morales." "It's a logical equation I can't seem to crack." "If you take one woman living in the middle of America, break her family apart, force her to work harder to get ahead in her career than any man would force her to live with the knowledge that her daughter was killed while she was at work," "trying to make money to pay for food, and then have her son lose his mind and massacre 42 people, massacre children, and make sure that nobody talks to her, nobody listens to her, and then fire her..." "In an equation like that, how long would it be until she would go completely insane all alone in here?" "All alone in here..." "Gall's looking to start a war." "A war?" "I got everything you need to put him away..." "Paperwork, photographs, dates, everything." "Are you aware of the risks you'd be taking by supplying those documents?" "What's the worst that can happen?" "I can die?" "There are a lot worse things in this world that can happen to you than dying." "The ones you love will be in danger." "Promise me." "Please." "Aah!" "Get him!" "Isa." "Isa, it's Lax." "Isa, I need to talk to you." "Isa." "I don't know what I'm doing." "So, what's your favorite movie, Herman?" "That's tough." "Don't you dare say "Natural Born Killers," either." "That's an awesome movie, but I guess my all-time favorite..." "Would have to be "Kids."" ""Kids"?" "Well, that's unexpected." "Why?" "Well, for one thing, that's really what it's like." "I mean, kids do things that parents don't have a clue about, and they don't want to have a clue about it." "Like what?" "Like screwing without condoms, smoking pot, drinking 40s, taking "x", you name it." "That movie's about kids growing up in New York in the '90s." "You think kids are like that everywhere?" "Kids are the same all over, Lax." "We always do what you think we're incapable of doing until you notice us." "But that's not why it's my favorite movie." "Why, then?" "It's because the main character says, "what's up?"" "Oh." "What's up, Herman?" "See, when you're a kid, you have to find that one thing that you care about and stick to it, 'cause that's all you got." " What's your one thing?" " I don't know." "I'll tell you when I grow up." "You know what I miss more than anything?" "What's that?" "Just my Xbox." "Man, if I could just get that one more game in, I would be happy." " You follow politics at all?" " No." " Do you know who your governor is?" " No." "Does anyone in your school know?" " They know who I am." " Well, for now." "Forever." "What's the worst thing that ever happened to you in school?" "That's a hard question." "Oh!" "You're killing me, dude." "This is horrible." "You have to go to the party tonight." "Oh." "Hello, Herman." "Any, uh, spare change?" "Hey, just leave me alone, man." "Just leave you alone?" "Not today." "Bitch." "Listen, let's do this so we don't have to listen to him bitch and moan." "Come on." "Come on, take a deep breath, faggot." "Take a nice, deep breath." "What in the devil do you boys think you're doing?" "!" "Nothing." "Right?" "What are your names?" " Michael." " Michael." "Michael and Michael what?" " Green." " Michael Ray." "Is that their real names, Herman?" "Let me see some I.D." "Do you boys realize how many different strains of bacteria reside in those toilet bowls?" "If Herman inhaled enough water, he could have been killed." "Do you understand?" "You two go to the principal's office and tell her what you've done." "You should be ashamed to call yourselves Broome students." "Picking on a boy younger than you?" "Now!" "Straight to the office." "I'll be right there." "You're a sophomore, right, Herman?" "I remember when I was your age." "The older boys would do the same thing to me." "Don't worry about it." "In a few years, things like that will all be fond memories of high school." "You'll probably be friends with those boys next year." "I know it sounds crazy, but some of the greatest friendships start as fights." "Me and my best friend, when we first met..." "Hey, Mr. Phelps?" "Can I please go?" "Sure." "Okay." "Thank you." "The domestic-terrorism tribunal convenes this afternoon to decide the fate of Herman Howards." "And it is my firm belief that his execution ought to be televised nationally so that America's children can witness first-hand what happens when you disregard the value of life." "What kind of message does it send the rest of the world if" "America starts executing its own children?" "Now, I have to say that the speed with which this case has moved is nothing short of extraordinary." "Now, there are some who feel that this is a bastardization of the system, we shouldn't allow it." "I don't think that those words are coming from the families of the victims." "The next time that your heart goes out to poor, poor Herman Howards, I want you to take a minute and I want you to imagine that it was your child that he brutally murdered for no reason." "And then I want you to imagine what you would want done to that little maniac." "Think about it." "You're watching "Chet Chat"." "We'll be right back." "Well, look what we have here." "How you doing, buddy?" "Vic." "Get over here." "Yeah." "Beat the boy." "Yeah!" "Whoo!" "That little piece of shit?" "He ain't worth it." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." "Your loyalty's under question here, Vic." "That's right." "Now, you beat this boy or it'll be your yankee ass tied up on the ground." "And that's the God's honest truth." "Get in there!" "Whoo!" "Whoo!" " Vic, come on." " Come on." "Whoo!" "You know where you're going for what you did to me, don't you, Vic?" "You're a superstar." "Yes, you are." "Yes, you are." "Good night, superstar." "So, let's talk about what happened that day." "What?" "You rounded up everyone in the gymnasium." "Then what happened?" "After I shot Michael Ray and that girl," "I ran up on top of the bleachers and I pulled out my uzi and I fired a couple shots into the ceiling and I told everyone to get down." "They knew what was going on, but they heard the shots and they got down." "I decided to call Paul Schrewber, the captain of the football team." ""Paul, today is your lucky day." "Since you're so valuable to this school, you actually get to live." "So, would you be so kind as to come up here and take a bow and get the fuck out of my gym?"" "He began to walk towards the door." "Then when he got closer, he started running." ""Paul, you forgot to take a bow."" "So I shot him in the knee." "I pulled out one of my pipe bombs from my back pocket and I said, "the next person who moves without me telling them to, gets this up their ass."" "I walked over to Paul." "His bone was sticking out." "And he was crying." "So I told him to shut up and I shot him in the gut." "It sounds like you hated him." "He must have had quite an effect on you." "I just wanted him to shut up." "Then what happened?" "Get down!" "Herman, please." "Mr. Phelps came towards me slowly." "Put the gun down." "Herman." "I don't want to kill you." "Give me the gun." "I had to shoot." "He would have grabbed me if I didn't." "I clipped him right in the collarbone." "You know, he was an allright teacher, man." "I mean, he actually gave a fuck, kind of." "Are there any other teachers in this room?" "If you're a teacher, would you be so kind as to come up here and take a bow?" "I knew that Ms. Cribb was there." "Nobody came forward." "So I called up three people that were laying right down in front of me." "Susan, get up here!" "It was Susan, this bitchy girl that nobody liked..." "James, follow her!" "Come on!" " James Hankley..." " Move it!" "The editor of the school newspaper..." "Marsha, get up here!" "And Marsha Dixon." " Hello, Herman." " Uh, hi, Marsha." "What are you doing?" "Oh, I'm just making a program for a game." " A game?" " Yeah, like a video game." "You ever played one?" "No, I've..." "I've never played a video game before." "Duh." "Of course." " Duh?" " Stop it." "Stop what?" " Stop making fun of me." " I wasn't making fun of you." " Yes, you were." " No, I wasn't." " Yes, you were." " No..." "All right, I was." "I just..." "I just didn't..." "What?" "I just didn't expect "duh" to be a word that came out of Marsha Dixon's mouth." " Why not?" " I don't know." "So, do you do this all the time, make video games?" "You're not gonna be laughing when I'm rich and famous because of this game." " You really think you can sell it?" " Oh, yeah, definitely." "No way." "That's awesome." "Yeah." "Like, how much could you get if you sold it?" "Enough to be one of the youngest billionaires around." "I didn't even know you could talk." "That's because you've never talked to me before." "Don't get snotty." "I got to go." "What are you doing Friday after school?" "Nothing." " We could see a mo..." " What the hell?" "!" "I don't know." "Let's talk about it later." "Okay." "Oh, my God." "Were you really talking to freak show?" "Yeah." "Ew." "What are you?" "Into him?" "No." "Ew." "I just wanted to hear what his voice sounded like to see if he's the one leaving me dirty messages." " Mm-hmm." " Dirty messages?" " Ugh!" " Fretard is leaving you messages?" "Okay, see you later, freak show." "Whatever." "I want you, Marsha." "I've always wanted you." "I want you so bad." "So, so, so, so bad." "I want you so bad." "So, so, so, so bad." "Okay." "Good night, superstar." "Aww." "Yeah, I just saw it." "I want you so bad." "It's gone viral." "So, so, so, so bad." "That was so funny." "Uh-oh." "Ooh, you gonna cry?" "Oh, what a poor little baby." "All right, people, we have classes to get to, yes?" "Let's get there." ""Get to class."" "Oink!" "Squeal!" "Jesus, please protect me." "Jesus, please protect me." "Jesus, please protect me!" "Not today." "I made damn sure to go in there and kill more people than anybody else." "You want to know why, Lax?" "Because I had to reset the precedent." "I wasn't gonna settle for some rinky-dinky shit, Lax." "But I was never going to kill James Hankley." "I wanted him to live so he could write about me in his precious school paper." "No!" "Stop, Herman, stop!" "I shot Ms. Cribb in the mouth." "Have you seen her?" "No, I haven't seen her." "Yeah, but have you heard anything?" "Well, I heard they had to amputate her jaw..." "What's left of it." "She has to be fed intravenously." "Let's take a little break." "These posters look really good, Sean." "You did a good job, Vic." "You're a good man." "Come and take these files." "You make sure you know every detail in them." "What the hell's going on?" "Vic, give me the files." "Give me the files!" "FBI!" " Nobody move!" " Hands behind your head!" " Don't move, Gall!" " Put that gun down!" "You don't know how this works, boy!" "You don't know how this works!" "I'm gonna see you again!" "Don't you worry your pretty little head about that." " You're under arrest, Sean gall." " Fuck you!" "You have the right to remain silent." "Anything you say can and will be held against you in a court of law." "You have the right to speak to an attorney." "If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you." "Do you understand the rights as I have read them to you?" "You're a dead man." "I tell you something, Vic... you got the taste of blood in your mouth." "That ain't ever gonna go back to what it was, brother." "Do you think I'm afraid of dying, Lax?" " Yeah." "Yeah, I do." " Why do you say that?" "'Cause you weren't man enough to do yourself in, like all your heroes." "Hey, I'm prepared to pay the price for what I did." "I think that takes way more balls than just offing yourself." " What about karma?" " You know what I think?" "I think when you die, it's game over, nothing, blackness." "What about reset?" "When you hit the reset, the game you've played before doesn't have shit to do with the next one, and all the characters just come back to life." "That's not how it works in reality." "Once a kid dies, he doesn't come back to life." "Do you want to hear what else happened or not?" "Sure." "Sure." "Eh, where was I?" " Right, so, I shot Susan, but..." " You said that already, Herman." "Fuck." "What..." "I don't remember what happened next." "I think I started firing into the cro..." "No, no." "That happened after the police came through the door." "Yeah, the police came through the door, and everyone was screaming because I threw a pipe bomb right in the middle of the crowd, and everybody scattered." "And everyone was running towards the door and the police came into the gym and I was just running around shooting people left and right." "There were only three cops at first, and I was able to pick them off right when they stormed the gym." "They only got one door open." "Everyone was trying to get out." "No cops could get in." "It was anarchy." "I ran up behind Marsha." "I put a .45 right to her back, and I said, "are you ready to die, prom queen?"" "Then I shot someone who was running towards the door." "No, no, no." "Please, Herman, please." "Please." "Please don't do this to me, Herman." "I'll do anything." "I'll do anything, Herman." "Please." "I want to see my mom again." "I want to see my little brother." "Please, Herman, please." "Isn't that funny?" "She was ashamed to be talking to me before that." "Do you know what it's like to have that kind of power, Lax?" "We're not interviewing me, Herman." "We have to take him to his cell now." " So, what'd you do next?" " I was out of control." "I bashed her nose in with the butt of my gun and I left her there to bleed." "Why's that?" "Because I wanted her to learn what life's like when you're not the prettiest girl at school." " So you're a teacher, is that it?" " People needed a fucking lesson." "Hello, Herman." "How can you be here?" "Why didn't you come let him help me, Herman?" "I was scared." "You know where you're going, Herman, don't you?" "Do you think I'm going to tell you?" "You're going to hell." "Julia, I love you." "Honestly, I was so sad when you died, I just..." "I didn't have anyone I could show." "I hurt, Herman." "I hurt all the time." "Yeah, but that's not my fault." "I didn't kill you." " I know why you did it, Herman." " Why?" "Why did I do it, Julia?" "Tell me." "I'm in hell, Herman." "Yeah, but you never did anything wrong." " You did." " What?" "No." "I'm sorry, Julia." "I should have gone outside." "I really should have." " Poor Herman." " Wait, Julia." "Don't go." "Wait." "Tell me why I did it." "Julia, wait." "The verdict came in today on the people vs. Herman Howards." "Howards will be the first minor executed by electric chair in the United States of America." "Now, the bigger controversy, however, is whether or not this execution is gonna be televised." "Joining us via satellite, we have republican senator Joan Cox and children's representative Lyle Ferguson." "I'd like to welcome you both to the show." "Senator Cox, what you say of the verdict?" "I think that the good people of this town, state, and country have the right to see for themselves and to show their children what happens when you give in to the urge towards violence." " What say you, Mr. Ferguson?" " What the senator and you," "Mr. Clarkson, are actually saying is a life for a life." "And if we all live by that principle, what does that make the world?" "Safe, Mr. Ferguson." "That's what that makes the world." "So, your sister was killed, right?" "Right." " Were you close to her?" " We had our moments." " What was she like?" " She was like my best friend." "You guys, uh, play together and stuff like that?" "You know, I don't think it's nice to talk to a stranger about dead people you cared about." "So you cared about her." "Yeah, she was my sister." "Of course I did." "Did you call your mom when it happened?" " No." " Why not?" " I didn't think of it." " You didn't think of it?" " You really don't understand, do you?" " Well, help me understand, Herman." "It wasn't my fault." "I didn't do anything." " Come outside and play." " No, I'm good." " Don't go too far." " I know." "No, Julia, I mean it." "Don't go too far." "Someone call 911." " It's Gail Howards' daughter!" " She's in my science class!" " Wait." "Don't touch her." " I didn't see her." "Don't touch her." "Call 911 quick." "Call it!" "Hello, you've reached Gail Howards at Compunet." "I can't get to my phone right now, but please leave your name and number or try the office at 555-6808." "Thank you." "Hello, welcome to the Compunet phone answering system." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Is anybody home?" "The following is a list of options to maximize the efficiency of your call." "Hello?" "Please answer." "Anybody home?" "Hello?" "Press 2." "Mrs. Howards?" "Anybody home?" "We know your time is valuable." "Your estimated wait time is 17 min..." "I didn't do anything." "I didn't do anything." "Yeah." "What could you have done?" " You haven't been sleeping, hmm?" " Are you interviewing me now?" "Lax, it's okay." "You can talk to me." "Come on, you have to talk to someone." "Is it Jerome Johnson?" "I dream about that kid every night." "He asks me how I..." "How I live with myself, and I lie to him every single time." "And he just laughs and says he'll see me tomorrow." "And Herman..." "Every time I talk to him," " I start thinking that..." " You don't think he's a victim." "He killed 42 people." "He's just a disturbed kid, just like we all are." "Oh, come on." "I think you've had a lot to drink, and you need to get some sleep." " Come on." " All right." "Unh-unh-unh-unh." "Lax." "Don't." "Killing people does not stop..." "Welcome back." "If you're just joining us, today's execution is the first ever broadcast live in America." "And from what they're telling me right now, this will be the highest-viewed event in television history." "74% of all sets are tuned in as Herman Howards is strapped down to the electric chair." "Killing people does not stop people from killing people!" "Killing people does not stop people from killing people!" "You're a smart kid, Herman." "Why didn't you just go to college, make friends there?" "Well, it worked, didn't it?" "What worked?" "You're here, aren't you?" "You did it for this?" "It was the only way to make anybody pay attention to me." "You're gonna be killed." "You inflicted pain on innocent people." "You affected hundreds of lives." "You threw your own life away." "Why?" "To be on this show?" "What about my life?" "Nobody cares." "Nobody would ever listen to me." "Why would anybody listen to you?" "You should care about me." "You're about to be a footnote on a long list of forgotten footnotes." "Google me in 20 years, Lax, and we'll see who's right." "No one's gonna remember your name." "Maybe we should just take you out and lock you up and throw away the key." "I didn't think you'd be the one to advocate treating a minor like an adult." "If you're old enough to plan and carry out an attack and kill 39 children and three adults, then you're old enough to know what kind of a person it takes to do something like this." "Yeah?" "What kind of person, Lax?" "Tell me." "An evil person, Herman." "Were you evil when you bashed that kid with a bat?" "Yes." "Yes, I was." "I had to be." "I was saving lives." "It was one kid to die to save thousands." "That's why I did it." "That's why I allowed myself to do it." "Why did you allow yourself to become so evil?" "Because it felt good!" "Because for one moment in my nothing life," "I actually got to know what it feels like to have power." "You did it to feel powerful?" "I know you understand." "You tasted it." "You think we're alike?" "We're not the same, Herman." "People should care about you?" "You don't deserve that." "You don't even deserve to die, Herman." "You don't deserve recognition." "You don't deserve pity." "You sure as fuck don't deserve love." " Don't say that!" " What?" "Love?" " You think you deserve love?" " Yeah." "After everything you did, you think you deserve love?" "Why?" " Because..." " Because why?" "I'd like to know." "Why, Herman?" "Why would you deserve love?" "Say it!" "Because I'm a human being, like the rest of them!" "I'm a human being, too." "I'm..." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "I'm so sorry." " Tell my mother I love her." " Yeah." "Let's go live to Isa Luz, who is standing by with senator Joan Cox." "Would you share your thoughts about tonight's events with us?" "America will be watching tonight, and they will see that the government of the United States will not allow our children to be in danger any longer." "Killing people may not stop people from killing people, but seeing the execution live sure as heck will." "Thank you, senator." "More than 3/4 of the nation have their eyes on the screen as w..." "What?" "They're ready." "This is it." "We are just about to witness the ex..." "I..., cut it." "I can't do it." "Herman Howards, you're about to be executed by means of the electric chair." "Do you have any last words?" " What's up, Herman?" "See, when you're a kid, you have to find that one thing that you care about and stick to it, 'cause that's all you got." "What's your one thing?" "I don't know." "I'll have to tell you when I grow up." "Some people seem to think that the question is," ""what the hell are we gonna do with these kids?"" "Well, they're wrong." "The real question is," ""what the hell are we gonna do with us adults?"" "So, today, take your eyes off the computer screen, log out, unplug, go outside, and exercise your right to breathe." "You're still allowed to do that, you know." "Take a momentary break from, "buy this, sell that, feel this."" "But do it after the show, because today, we're gonna talk about what happens when you devalue human life." "Okay, let's take some calls."