washingtonpost.com
Home   |   Register               Web Search: by Google
channel navigation


 News Home Page
 News Digest
 Nation
 Latest AP News
 National Security
 Science
 Courts
 Columns
 Special Reports
 Search the States
 Photo Galleries
 Live Online
 Nation Index
 World
 Metro
 Business
 Washtech
 Sports
 Style
 Education
 Travel
 Health
 Home & Garden
 Opinion
 Weather
 Weekly Sections
 Classifieds
 Print Edition
 Archives
 Site Index
Help
Partners:


H.S. Shooter Talks of Taunting

E-Mail This Article
Printer-Friendly Version
Subscribe to The Post
The Associated Press
Thursday, April 12, 2001; 9:19 PM

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. –– A 14-year-old girl said she shot a classmate last month to make the victim "know my pain" from repeated teasing and taunting.

Elizabeth Bush told the ABC News program "20/20" that the shooting has played over repeatedly in her mind since March 7, the day she shot Kim Marchese at the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann Junior-Senior High School.

Elizabeth, who had transferred into the school a year earlier, told interviewer Connie Chung that she was deeply depressed and counseling and anti-depressants failed to help.

"They'd just call me an idiot, stupid, fat, ugly, faggot, whatever," Elizabeth said in the interview, which is scheduled to air Friday.

Elizabeth said her depression caused her to cut her arms with a razor. She said Kim had befriended her but told others about the self-mutilation, leaving her feeling betrayed.

"People express their anger different ways," Elizabeth said. "Crying helps. That didn't help me. So I thought maybe I'd try this and maybe it will help. And it's just like the – actually the pain is – it just takes away all your depression and for a minute you're not depressed anymore."

She was sentenced April 4 to an open-ended term at a psychiatric facility.

Kim Marchese, who was wounded in the right shoulder, told Chung that she now knows she should have acted differently.

"I knew the teasing was wrong and that's why I asked her if it was bothering her so I would stop," Kim said, "I mean, I should have stopped right away."

© 2001 The Associated Press