Northeast High School begins healing process
By By Georgia E. Frye / staff writer
March 26, 2003
Classes at Northeast Lauderdale High School will resume today after a ninth grade student shot himself on campus early Tuesday.
Joshua Pearce died around 6 p.m., said Ed Mosley, assistant superintendent of Lauderdale County public schools.
Counselors and pastors will be at the school today as long as they are needed to help students cope with the shooting that happened around 8 a.m. and just before classes began.
Lauderdale County School Superintendent David Little said he arrived at Northeast shortly after the incident. He then called several pastors and counselors, who delivered the news to students.
Little also said that Pearce had recently lost a close family member, but declined to release any further details.
Little said Pearce apparently rode the bus to school and then shot himself with a pistol he brought with him. The shooting took place in a boy's bathroom.
Lauderdale County Detective Ward Calhoun said a student found the injured Pearce and alerted the school's resource deputy. Emergency medical workers and investigators were then called to the scene.
The sheriff's department closed the school while they conducted an investigation. Calhoun said he does not anticipate any further investigation related to the shooting.
The Associated Press reported that Lauderdale County Chief Deputy Mike Mitchell said a suicide note was found, but that Pearce left no indication why he shot himself.
The AP also reported Lauderdale County Deputy Medical Examiner Clayton Cobler as saying officials suspect Pearce may have been depressed over his uncle's death.
On March 13, his aunt, Tiffany Russell, 32, was charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of her brother, George Russell, Pearce's uncle.
Little said he decided to cancel classes on Tuesday after parents began showing up and calling in large numbers to check on their children's safety.
To his knowledge, Little said, this is the first time a student has attempted suicide on a Lauderdale County campus and it is time for students, parents and school administrators to come together.
