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BY GRETCHEN KEISER
Staff Writer
CONYERS--St. Pius X Church opened its doors for a healing service May 26 in
the aftermath of the shooting at Heritage High School May 20 by a 15-year-old
boy that wounded six fellow students.
The sophomore, T.J. Solomon, whose family attends St. Pius X Church,
surrendered to an assistant principal, Cecil Brinkley, after opening fire at
approximately 8 a.m. on students gathering in a commons area at the
1,370-student Rockdale County school. The event sundered the normalcy of high
school life, as the day began with students anticipating final exams and
signing yearbooks and ended with them scattering and running from the campus
for safety.
None of the six injured students suffered life-threatening injuries. Four
were released after treatment at Rockdale County Hospital for gunshot wounds to
lower portions of the body. A fifth, Cania Cullins, 15, who received a gunshot
wound to the knee, was hospitalized for several days before being released. A
sixth, 15-year-old Stephanie Laster, remained hospitalized in Atlanta May 25
for treatment of a gunshot wound in the abdomen.
A .22 caliber rifle and a .357 magnum gun were taken from Solomon, according
to the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Department. The guns reportedly came from
a locked cabinet at his home. Solomon rode the school bus to the high school
that day.
Father John Kieran, pastor of St. Pius X, and Barbara Garvin, youth
director, were among clergy and counselors who took part in efforts to reassure
students and parents as they gathered at the hospital and local churches the
day of the shooting and in the days immediately following.
Father Kieran met with Solomon at the Rockdale County Sheriff’s
Department and spent time with his family.
“They are very distraught and very concerned for those who are
injured,” Father Kieran said of the parents. The sophomore lives with his
mother and stepfather, MaeDean and Robert Daniele, and has a sister. He was
placed in a youth detention center and faces 21 charges including aggravated
assault, cruelty to children and possession of a firearm by a minor.
His attorney, Don Samuel of Atlanta, verified the names of the boy and his
parents. Although the Rockdale County District Attorney has requested that
Solomon be charged as an adult, rather than in Juvenile Court, Samuel said he
hopes the “great response of the community” will have an impact on
the court. “If the community speaks clearly, in one voice, expressing the
desire that he be treated as a juvenile, it seems to me that should be
heard,” he said.
Father Kieran said he was permitted to meet with Solomon for about 30
minutes May 20 and then stayed with the boy’s parents for several hours
while the investigation continued.
The family has lived in Rockdale County for the past few years and Solomon
also belonged to a Boy Scout troop at Ebenezer United Methodist Church in
Conyers.
The pastor said he assured the family “of St. Pius’ concern and
our availability and that we would go the distance with them.”
Father Kieran asked the parish to pray for all those affected in the
community.
“We are going to be asking for prayer for all the students and parents.
There are many, many people suffering out there,” he said.
At the parish May 22 and 23, several easel-sized pads were set up after
Masses for parishioners to write messages of support and prayer for the
students at Heritage High School and specifically for the injured students and
their families. A statement in the parish bulletin spoke of the commitment of
the church to respond with prayer and faith to the traumatic events.
“St. Pius X Catholic Church grieves with all who have been hurt and
traumatized in connection with the incident at Heritage High School. We are
including special prayers and scheduling extra prayer times ... to pray for
healing and comfort. Our prayer chapel is open all day,” the statement
said.
A healing service was planned for May 26 at 6:30 p.m. and five licensed
counselors were to be on hand following the service, along with parish staff
members, to talk with anyone in need. The public was also invited to come to a
parish supper before or after the service.
The overall mood in the parish has been one of “great support,”
the pastor said. At the same time, some students who belong to the parish
“have been pretty traumatized. Some parents are fairly distraught,”
he said.
Garvin said that Solomon came occasionally but not regularly to parish youth
activities and that she had met with him one on one for special sacramental
preparation because he was older than the group preparing for sacraments.
He acted like “a very normal teenager ... very polite, very respectful,
very decent looking,” she said.
“He does not dress differently, he is not defiant,” said Garvin,
who has been the parish youth minister for 11 years.
Heritage High School is “very middle class” with a good staff, she
said. “If there is such a word as typical today, Heritage High School is a
very typical middle class high school ... It is the kind of school you look
for. People move here to go to schools like Heritage.”
“I think we are all in shock that anything like this could happen and
that we live in a world where anything like this could happen so easily,”
said Garvin, whose daughter graduated from Heritage High School and whose son
is in the Rockdale school system.
Garvin visited Rockdale Hospital after the parish learned of the shooting.
“The kids were very together,” she said of students who flocked to
the hospital out of concern for their injured friends. “There is a total
sense of shock, till they knew everybody was okay ... The kids were aware it
could have been them.”
Asked to speak to the difficult circumstances, Father Kieran said, “I
think it is the world in which we live, but it is a shock.”
“Students are at risk everywhere and we said that two years ago when we
had a series of teenage suicides in Rockdale County ... We met, we did things,
we were proactive and we said, all these kids are at risk.”
The immediate reaction to the shootings is fear in the community, but other
emotions may follow, the pastor said. “People are frightened. I am afraid
there is going to be a backlash of anger ... There is going to be a lot of
planning in the school system to beef up security,” he said.
Father Kieran said he was requesting prayers for the wisdom of the Holy
Spirit for the whole community. “I think at this time, we need to pray for
the wisdom to be able to guide our students, to help them overcome their
pressures and difficulties and problems.”
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