Anonymous wrote:The Wash Post reported minutes ago that the boy (who is in critical condition but will be charged with two counts of murder) carved a swastika in his lawn in Lorton. But I can't open the story further because I don't have a subscription. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/a-swastika-was-mowed-into-a-field-now-neighbors-ask-if-they-could-have-done-more/2017/12/26/4e190a48-ea63-11e7-8a6a-80acf0774e64_story.html?utm_term=.f2a6feae56bd

He was a disturbed kid crying out for attention. My bets is he's from a broken home. As a Jew, the Nazi stuff does not bother me in the slightest, as I would take the fact that he was 17 and had prior mental health issues into account FIRST.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Potter said residents decided to send an emissary to the family’s home to discuss the swastika a couple days after it was discovered. Potter said the teen’s parents admitted he had mowed the symbol into the grass. She said they were aware of his behavioral issues and were getting him treatment.

So sickening. Unless they sent their neo-nazi son off to treatment camp for a half a year its NOT ENOUGH. Call the police.

What exactly were the police going to do that would eventually result in preventing these murders? Do we lock juveniles up and throw away the key for swastikas?

Exactly. At some point, the parents are no longer responsible for their kid's actions.

And what exactly would calling the police do? If a crime hasn't yet been committed, the police can't do anything. They can't lock people up for being neo-nazis and having skewed ideals on life. Being a terrible person isn't a crime.

Are you kidding? Destruction of public property is a crime. He'd at least get community service and SOMEONE would be watching him.

It wasn’t public property. It was land within the homeowners association. The HOA would have had to press charges. And they clearly chose not to.

The HOA didn't choose anything. The president of the HOA was never informed of the infraction and the adjoining neighbors mowed over the lawn with the perpetrator's parents blessing to cover up his crime. Now the entire HOA has found out about it and its under discussion.

It wasn't a crime, and they dealt with it appropriately. There was never anything they could have done about it besides "mow over it" anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potter said residents decided to send an emissary to the family’s home to discuss the swastika a couple days after it was discovered. Potter said the teen’s parents admitted he had mowed the symbol into the grass. She said they were aware of his behavioral issues and were getting him treatment.

So sickening. Unless they sent their neo-nazi son off to treatment camp for a half a year its NOT ENOUGH. Call the police.

What exactly were the police going to do that would eventually result in preventing these murders? Do we lock juveniles up and throw away the key for swastikas?

Exactly. At some point, the parents are no longer responsible for their kid's actions.

And what exactly would calling the police do? If a crime hasn't yet been committed, the police can't do anything. They can't lock people up for being neo-nazis and having skewed ideals on life. Being a terrible person isn't a crime.

Are you kidding? Destruction of public property is a crime. He'd at least get community service and SOMEONE would be watching him.

It wasn’t public property. It was land within the homeowners association. The HOA would have had to press charges. And they clearly chose not to.

The HOA didn't choose anything. The president of the HOA was never informed of the infraction and the adjoining neighbors mowed over the lawn with the perpetrator's parents blessing to cover up his crime. Now the entire HOA has found out about it and its under discussion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potter said residents decided to send an emissary to the family’s home to discuss the swastika a couple days after it was discovered. Potter said the teen’s parents admitted he had mowed the symbol into the grass. She said they were aware of his behavioral issues and were getting him treatment.

So sickening. Unless they sent their neo-nazi son off to treatment camp for a half a year its NOT ENOUGH. Call the police.

What exactly were the police going to do that would eventually result in preventing these murders? Do we lock juveniles up and throw away the key for swastikas?

Exactly. At some point, the parents are no longer responsible for their kid's actions.

And what exactly would calling the police do? If a crime hasn't yet been committed, the police can't do anything. They can't lock people up for being neo-nazis and having skewed ideals on life. Being a terrible person isn't a crime.

Are you kidding? Destruction of public property is a crime. He'd at least get community service and SOMEONE would be watching him.

It wasn’t public property. It was land within the homeowners association. The HOA would have had to press charges. And they clearly chose not to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potter said residents decided to send an emissary to the family’s home to discuss the swastika a couple days after it was discovered. Potter said the teen’s parents admitted he had mowed the symbol into the grass. She said they were aware of his behavioral issues and were getting him treatment.

So sickening. Unless they sent their neo-nazi son off to treatment camp for a half a year its NOT ENOUGH. Call the police.

What exactly were the police going to do that would eventually result in preventing these murders? Do we lock juveniles up and throw away the key for swastikas?

Exactly. At some point, the parents are no longer responsible for their kid's actions.

And what exactly would calling the police do? If a crime hasn't yet been committed, the police can't do anything. They can't lock people up for being neo-nazis and having skewed ideals on life. Being a terrible person isn't a crime.

Are you kidding? Destruction of public property is a crime. He'd at least get community service and SOMEONE would be watching him.

Anonymous wrote:I was in college 8 hours from home at 17 - the only part of my daily life my parents were responsible for was the tuition check.

I realize this isn't this kid's situation, but most parents are not making many decisions about their 17 year old's daily actions.

Yes, me too ,but I did not have a history of psychiatric issues. The parents knew he had behavioral issues. You have to look at where your kid is emotionally, developmentally and cognitively to determine the level of independence you give them. He clearly was not functioning well in the world and he needed significant supervision. Perhaps if the police had been involved with the swastika incident they would have said to pay attention to what your kid is up to. this is likely the tip of the iceburg as to red flags he needed to be under adult watch. Would you let your kid who is 2 years old roam the streets? No, well maybe emotionally this kid functions like a toddler-little control over emotions. Maybe emotionally he is 9. He clearly is not emotionally 17.

Anonymous wrote:I was in college 8 hours from home at 17 - the only part of my daily life my parents were responsible for was the tuition check.

I realize this isn't this kid's situation, but most parents are not making many decisions about their 17 year old's daily actions.

Certainly a kid away at college is going to have a large degree of independence and the freedom to stay out all night if that is what they want to do. But I think that the most parents with older teens still living in the home know where their kids are throughout the day and night, who they are with, etc unless there are some serious communication issues with their kid and the kid is actively rebelling against them.....which can happen with some kids.

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Anonymous wrote:Re:school. I am not a reporter and I have brought it up. Even if a reporter is on here trying to find out-good for them! Parents with kids applying should know so they can ask A LOT of questions. Plus, this may be a school where if the public school cannot manage a child they pay tuition at a private that can. If my tax dollars helped fund this boy, I want to know.

I would not suggest posting a link with info about the boy since he is a minor. It's easy enough to find the alleged name on your own and then find the parents through searches. An obit for the grandpa of alleged shooter lists them all too. Interesting to note is that grandpa of the alleged shooter fought in WW2.

Why do you have this narrative that the school is demanding silence and cowering? Most likely this is a small, specialized school without the PR resources of a Sidwell. Quite frankly, the tone of your posts are very nosey and self righteous. You deserve nothing at this point, let the police do their investigation and let the family of the deceased grieve.

I am a different poster and I have brought up the school question too. It just bothers me that there is a school somewhere that is hiding the facts for the sake of its own reputation. If it is a mainstream private, I guarantee it has sent messages to its parent body advising them not to share the school's name in connection with the event. If it turns out it is a small special needs school, I would not be bothered by this silence.

My guess is that its the latter. They look like they would both be candidates for alternative school. If it was a private, my guess wold be a small school alternative type school like New School of Northern Virginia or Howard Gardner.

I was in college 8 hours from home at 17 - the only part of my daily life my parents were responsible for was the tuition check.

I realize this isn't this kid's situation, but most parents are not making many decisions about their 17 year old's daily actions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re:school. I am not a reporter and I have brought it up. Even if a reporter is on here trying to find out-good for them! Parents with kids applying should know so they can ask A LOT of questions. Plus, this may be a school where if the public school cannot manage a child they pay tuition at a private that can. If my tax dollars helped fund this boy, I want to know.

I would not suggest posting a link with info about the boy since he is a minor. It's easy enough to find the alleged name on your own and then find the parents through searches. An obit for the grandpa of alleged shooter lists them all too. Interesting to note is that grandpa of the alleged shooter fought in WW2.

Why do you have this narrative that the school is demanding silence and cowering? Most likely this is a small, specialized school without the PR resources of a Sidwell. Quite frankly, the tone of your posts are very nosey and self righteous. You deserve nothing at this point, let the police do their investigation and let the family of the deceased grieve.

I am a different poster and I have brought up the school question too. It just bothers me that there is a school somewhere that is hiding the facts for the sake of its own reputation. If it is a mainstream private, I guarantee it has sent messages to its parent body advising them not to share the school's name in connection with the event. If it turns out it is a small special needs school, I would not be bothered by this silence.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potter said residents decided to send an emissary to the family’s home to discuss the swastika a couple days after it was discovered. Potter said the teen’s parents admitted he had mowed the symbol into the grass. She said they were aware of his behavioral issues and were getting him treatment.

So sickening. Unless they sent their neo-nazi son off to treatment camp for a half a year its NOT ENOUGH. Call the police.

What exactly were the police going to do that would eventually result in preventing these murders? Do we lock juveniles up and throw away the key for swastikas?

Exactly. At some point, the parents are no longer responsible for their kid's actions.

And what exactly would calling the police do? If a crime hasn't yet been committed, the police can't do anything. They can't lock people up for being neo-nazis and having skewed ideals on life. Being a terrible person isn't a crime.

He's under 18. Unless he was an emancipated minor due to abuse or other reasons, then he is their responsibility.Defacing property is a crime.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potter said residents decided to send an emissary to the family’s home to discuss the swastika a couple days after it was discovered. Potter said the teen’s parents admitted he had mowed the symbol into the grass. She said they were aware of his behavioral issues and were getting him treatment.

So sickening. Unless they sent their neo-nazi son off to treatment camp for a half a year its NOT ENOUGH. Call the police.

What exactly were the police going to do that would eventually result in preventing these murders? Do we lock juveniles up and throw away the key for swastikas?

Exactly. At some point, the parents are no longer responsible for their kid's actions.

And what exactly would calling the police do? If a crime hasn't yet been committed, the police can't do anything. They can't lock people up for being neo-nazis and having skewed ideals on life. Being a terrible person isn't a crime.

They could make sure the gun nuts have their guns all locked up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potter said residents decided to send an emissary to the family’s home to discuss the swastika a couple days after it was discovered. Potter said the teen’s parents admitted he had mowed the symbol into the grass. She said they were aware of his behavioral issues and were getting him treatment.

So sickening. Unless they sent their neo-nazi son off to treatment camp for a half a year its NOT ENOUGH. Call the police.

What exactly were the police going to do that would eventually result in preventing these murders? Do we lock juveniles up and throw away the key for swastikas?

Exactly. At some point, the parents are no longer responsible for their kid's actions.

And what exactly would calling the police do? If a crime hasn't yet been committed, the police can't do anything. They can't lock people up for being neo-nazis and having skewed ideals on life. Being a terrible person isn't a crime.

17 is not that point.

If he was at his GF's house that morning at 5:00 a.m., I guarantee you it wasn't the first time he was out at that hour, at a place he wasn't supposed to have been. The parents looked the other way for far too long.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potter said residents decided to send an emissary to the family’s home to discuss the swastika a couple days after it was discovered. Potter said the teen’s parents admitted he had mowed the symbol into the grass. She said they were aware of his behavioral issues and were getting him treatment.

So sickening. Unless they sent their neo-nazi son off to treatment camp for a half a year its NOT ENOUGH. Call the police.

What exactly were the police going to do that would eventually result in preventing these murders? Do we lock juveniles up and throw away the key for swastikas?

Exactly. At some point, the parents are no longer responsible for their kid's actions.

And what exactly would calling the police do? If a crime hasn't yet been committed, the police can't do anything. They can't lock people up for being neo-nazis and having skewed ideals on life. Being a terrible person isn't a crime.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Potter said residents decided to send an emissary to the family’s home to discuss the swastika a couple days after it was discovered. Potter said the teen’s parents admitted he had mowed the symbol into the grass. She said they were aware of his behavioral issues and were getting him treatment.

So sickening. Unless they sent their neo-nazi son off to treatment camp for a half a year its NOT ENOUGH. Call the police.

What exactly were the police going to do that would eventually result in preventing these murders? Do we lock juveniles up and throw away the key for swastikas?

No, but perhaps police involvement would have motivated his parents to start supervising their son so that, I don't know, he didn't end up in his girlfriend's bedroom at 5am with a gun.

+1. We still need to understand HOW he got the gun and how ended up in her bedroom at 4:00am-5:00am. He is a MINOR and technically they are responsible for him.