(Newser)
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Jared Loughner’s bizarre behavior before the Tucson shootings is already well-documented, and more details are emerging. Documents released by his community college yesterday relate a number of disturbing classroom incidents that caught officials' attention; campus police had seven run-ins with Loughner over seven months. Via the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal:
- During a discussion about abortion in poetry class, Loughner said that dynamite should be attached to babies. He later discussed the incident in an online gaming forum: “I mention about the BBC Jihad Teenager soccer bombs! I then mention Incest in poetry!"
- He argued with a teacher that the number 6 was actually the number 18, asking, “How can you deny math instead of accept it?”
- A police guard was assigned to stand outside the classroom of one instructor who feared that Loughner might resort to physical violence
- His behavior during confrontations is often described as odd; during one, he “smiled overtly at inappropriate times,” during another, his “head was constantly tilted to the left and his eyes were jittery and looking up and to the left."
- He had multiple confrontations over grades that left his teachers upset; his gym teacher, who angered him with her plans to give him a B, said he intimidated her and she feared physical violence.
- Teachers and students described Loughner as “creepy,” “very hostile,” suspicious,” and said he had a “dark personality.” Officials believed he could be mentally ill or using drugs.
- He was finally suspended after the college discovered a YouTube video in which a narrator, presumed to be Loughner, talked about his “genocide school” and said, “We are examining the torture of students.”
- Two officers delivered news of his suspension to Loughner’s home, and were so concerned they requested two backup officers be in the area.
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Tucson shootings.
