WEBVTT - Larry King 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:07.400 You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of iHeartRadio and 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:11.160 Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.080 are solely those of the individuals participating in the show 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.680 and do not represent those of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV. 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:21.280 This podcast contains subject matter which may not be suitable 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:24.160 for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:31.640 Hello, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil. I'm Rasha Paccerreiro. 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:35.360 And I'm Evett Genteely and this week we're talking about 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:39.640 the murder of Larry King, or sometimes known as Letitia 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:43.280 King as well. This is a murder that took place 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:46.879 in broad daylight, in a classroom full of children. 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.240 Yes, that's right. This murder took place in two thousand 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:54.680 and eight, and it is arguably one of the most 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:59.320 prominent anti LGBTQ murders since the murder of Matthew Shepherd 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:04.160 ten years. Ellen DeGeneres and Hillary Clinton even sent their 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.360 condolences at the time, and across the country there were 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:10.800 vigils and marches all in Larry's name. 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:14.880 Yeah, and like I said, it happened in a junior 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:19.000 high on a school day, and this brings up all 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:22.959 kind of questions about how this was able to escalate 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.399 to the point of murder in a classroom. Today, we're 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:29.120 going to be talking with a friend of Larry's, and 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:34.360 that is Tiger. She has courageously agreed to speak with us, 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.000 and so I'm very grateful to have her on the show. 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:41.520 Yes, so grateful. But now our producer Trevor is going 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:43.000 to take us through today's case. 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:47.800 You know, at first it looked like a simple hate crime, 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:50.559 but as students and teachers testified at the trial last week, 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:53.600 a much more complicated picture has begun to emerge. 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.960 He's remembered as friendly and outgoing, but fellow students say 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.560 he became the subject of taunts and bullying in school 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.160 at after speaking out about his sexual orientation and reportedly 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:05.640 wearing makeup, lipstick, and jewelry to school. 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.440 It's inconceivable that anybody could be that angry at a 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:11.880 kid that was that nice. 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:15.800 Larry King, who also went by Letitia, was a fifteen 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:18.400 year old who was killed by a classmate in two 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.920 thousand and eight in Oxnard, California. Larry was openly gay 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:26.800 and often presented very effeminate. They came out when they 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:30.200 were ten years old. As early as then Larry was 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:35.040 frequently bullied for their sexual identity. In seventh grade, Larry 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:39.200 transferred to EO. Green Junior High School, and there Larry 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:41.519 found a tight knit group of girls to be friends with, 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:45.680 and by all accounts, expressed their identity proudly, wearing dresses, 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:49.960 high heels, and makeup. One friend even said that quote 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:54.120 he wore makeup better than I did. End quote. But 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:58.480 the boys at this new school bullied Larry ruthlessly. Larry 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:03.000 responded defiantly, reportedly talking back to their taunts by saying 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:06.240 things like quote, I know you want me. One of 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:09.960 Larry's most frequent antagonizers was a fourteen year old boy 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:15.399 named Brandon McInerney. Larry told some friends that something romantic 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:18.399 had happened between them, but the mood between them during 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:22.799 most school days was hostile. One day, Larry walked down 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:26.359 the hall and said to Brandon, quote, love you baby. 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:31.320 Brandon became incensed and told one of Larry's friends that 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:35.000 they would never see Larry alive again. On the morning 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:39.839 of February fourteenth, Larry came to school dressed unusually. They'd 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.880 left their feminine clothes at home in favor of baggy 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:47.680 pants and sneakers. They were acting strangely, too nervous, it seemed, 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:52.440 Teachers say Larry kept looking over their shoulder. Later that morning, 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.720 Larry sat down in the school computer lab and wrote 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.320 their name on a piece of paper. They wrote it 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:01.400 as Letitia King. It was one of the last things 0:04:01.480 --> 0:04:06.480 Larry would ever write. Later that school period, Brandon McInerney 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.880 drew a twenty two caliber revolver and shot Larry twice 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.680 in the back of the head. Larry King died in 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:17.599 the hospital just two days later. Brandon was apprehended, but 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.279 public opinion both the trial and press coverage that followed 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:25.799 was split. The defense claimed that Larry had made themselves 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:28.680 a target with over the top gay behavior at school. 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:33.520 Others called this a gay panic defense, and LGBTQ activists 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:38.760 rallied behind Larry. In twenty eleven, Brandon McInerney was sentenced 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:41.560 to twenty one years in prison for second degree murder, 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:46.039 voluntary manslaughter, and the use of a firearm. And so, 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.000 who was Larry or Letitia King? And how does this 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:54.640 story reflect the very real dangers that queer teenagers face 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:56.880 in schools across America. 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.520 Today? We have the honor of speaking with someone who 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:09.080 knew Larry King. Joining us now is Tiger, who was 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:14.359 a close friend and a classmate of Larry's. Tiger, Welcome 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:15.320 to Facing Evil. 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:18.600 Thank you for having me. It's been a while since 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:21.680 I've talked to anybody about it, has it. 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.640 Yeah, But we're really happy that you're here with us today, 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:29.760 and I'm just gonna jump right into the story. You know, 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:34.440 this is such an important emotional story, you know, especially 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:39.040 for you. Can you start by just telling us how 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:42.480 you first met Larry and what your relationship was. 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:47.960 So we met in third grade and I had been 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:49.280 nude to the school. 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:51.360 We had just moved. 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:55.080 From one side of town to the other and didn't 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:57.720 really have a lot of friends. I was just this 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.080 little weird kid and I was larger than everybody. I 0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:05.360 was like a foot taller than everybody, little chunky kid 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.159 with a crazy fluffy cheetah jacket, and I thought I 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.000 was the coolest until I went to that school when 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:16.240 I was not, and I just was like, Okay, this 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:20.839 is my life now, and just happened to meet him. 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.839 He was in the same class, and everybody else was 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.320 making fun of my jacket, and he was like, can. 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:27.800 I wear that? 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:32.039 And he wore my jacket for the day, and that's 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:33.600 how we became friends. 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:35.560 I love that. 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:38.760 I do have a quick question for you, Tiger. I 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:44.400 always want to be respectful, And there of course has 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:49.560 been you know, different reports, different things said about Larry 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:54.400 as far as Larry's gender identity. As Larry's best friend 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.880 from third grade, can you just give us a little 0:06:56.880 --> 0:06:57.880 tidbit about that. 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.840 He was still in the process of figuring himself out, 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.640 and we all were at that age, of course, so 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:09.400 he was still going through who is he? What is 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:11.400 he going to be? Who is he going to be? 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:17.360 And during the time when he passed, he was still Larry. 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:22.640 He was still he. He was figuring himself out, and 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:26.280 he did go by Latitia sometimes, he did want to 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.560 be called her sometimes, but at the end of the day, 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:33.080 he was still he, and he was still Larry. So 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.160 I don't feel that it's up to us or anybody 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:40.000 that's doing a story about him to make that judgment, 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:44.200 because he wasn't given that chance to make that judgment 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:47.040 for himself. He didn't get to live long enough to 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:51.400 figure it out. So out of respect for him, he 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:54.720 should still be called Larry, and he should still be 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.240 he him, because that's who he was. 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:01.680 When he left, beautifully said thank you, thank you for that. 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:06.200 Thank you. I really appreciate that. And I completely agree 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.000 with you. You know, you said, you guys, you know, 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:13.120 basically you grew up together, right starting at third grade? 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:17.720 Did you know about what Larry was going through at home? 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:20.800 Did he ever talk to you about what was going on? 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:21.800 Back then? 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:25.640 We were very very close, and our families knew each other, 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.760 and there was nothing really off limits. So we were 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:32.560 both very open with each other about the abuse that 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:36.280 we were going through as kids. And so I knew 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:38.560 a lot about his past. I knew a lot about 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:40.640 you know, as much as he knew at the time. 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:44.079 And then as he learned more, he would tell me more, 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.760 and as things would happen, he would tell me what happened. 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:50.800 So I was pretty in tune with what was going 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.040 on in his personal life and where he had come from. 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.360 I was thinking about this too, because I grew up 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:00.400 in Hawaii, where it was, you know, a melt pot, 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.520 a little bit of everything, and me myself being biracial, 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:06.640 it was a great place to grow up. But you 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:10.800 guys grew up in Oxnard, California. Did you find that 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:13.600 there was diversity there or did you not, like, can 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:15.440 you tell me a little bit of what it was 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:18.679 like growing up in Oxnard, California being biracial. 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:25.360 So in Oxnard, there's a lot of cultural diversity as adults. 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:30.840 As children, it's much more judgmental. So there might be 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:36.360 a large group of mixed children, but you can never 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:40.959 really find your people because you're mixed children. You're too 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:43.760 white for black folks, you're too black for white folks. 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:44.920 It's one of the other. 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:51.400 You can't really find yourself and your people, and mixed 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:56.320 kids tend to just stay by themselves instead of grouping 0:09:56.360 --> 0:10:00.360 together and becoming that, well, we're the mixed group. It 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.319 doesn't really work like that because, especially as a mixed 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:07.840 kid who sees that you don't want to become another 0:10:08.559 --> 0:10:12.520 closed door for somebody else. So you just learned to 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:17.240 create your own and stick to yourself instead of building 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:22.319 another group of people to shun somebody else out. You 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:24.640 find your people here and there, and a lot of 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.000 the times you don't fit in with anybody, or you 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:30.200 fit in with everybody, and you have to rely on 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.959 yourself more than anybody else, and it raises tough kids. 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:40.439 But those tough kids become tough adults, and that has 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:44.920 built a really tough community, and tough isn't always good. 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:48.200 I'm so sorry that you went through that, Tiger, and 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:51.000 I'm also sorry how you mentioned that you went through 0:10:51.040 --> 0:10:53.000 abuse like Larry did as well. 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:55.760 Oh, don't be sorry, don't be world. 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:00.480 It's all passed. And it's sad to say, but most 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:03.680 of the people who grew up where we grew up, 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:10.360 that's not an uncommon thing, really very normal. So to 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:14.520 hear kids that are having good childhoods is more of 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:18.040 a surprise than not sure. At the end of the day, 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.120 we can't change how we grew up, but I'm not 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:25.439 gonna continue that path for my daughter. I can't continue 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:30.480 that path. So I'm not sorry for anything that I 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:35.480 went through. I'm not regretting anything that I went through, because, 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:38.520 like I said before, it raises tough adults. But I 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:44.920 chose my toughness to go through, loving people and keep 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:48.160 caring for people and doing things. I wouldn't have been 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:51.040 the way I am if I hadn't had the childhood 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:53.840 that I had. So it has its negatives, but everything 0:11:53.880 --> 0:11:56.480 has negatives and positives. You just gotta choose which one 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:57.240 you're gonna look at. 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:01.640 I love everything that you shared with us, Tiger, every 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:05.600 single word, and I feel like I can only step 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:08.120 back in time or imagine what it was like for 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:11.400 you and Larry to be friends going through life. Can 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.560 you share a little bit about what you bonded over, 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:17.160 what you liked to do? You know, we want to 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.160 know about who Larry was as a human before Larry 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:20.760 was a victim. 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:22.880 Oh, he was fucking crisy. 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:24.880 Sorry in a good way. 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:29.040 Right. He was very, very crazy. 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:33.520 We both were, but that's kind of just what made 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:37.560 us us. We both came from broken homes and that 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:42.000 built our friendship. And we were both dealing with so much, 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:47.440 but we were able to confide in somebody who understood. Yeah, 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:51.400 so we learned to grow together more and more and 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:53.600 more the more that things happened. 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:56.280 We were trouble. We were not. 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:00.280 Like, oh, there's those good little kids. No, it was like, 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:02.880 oh lord, what are they getting into? 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:04.240 Now? 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:09.480 They're being quiet, so we know they're up to something. Yeah. 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:11.960 We was those kids. We were the kids that, like 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.480 you had to place them on one side of the 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:19.120 room to keep them apart from each other. We were trouble. 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.679 I'm gonna flip the switch a little bit and I'm 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:26.880 going to ask you a question about Brandon. You know 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:31.320 Brandon McInerney. Did you did you know him personally? 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:35.360 I ain't heard that name and so long. Oh, so 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:41.120 we knew each other out of school. My mom helped 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:45.920 his mom when his mom was going through her addiction 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:49.199 and getting away from her abusive relationship with his father. 0:13:49.400 --> 0:13:50.319 Wow. 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:55.000 So my mom was kind of like a sponsor for 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.960 her and would help kind of get her on the 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:02.960 right track. So he actually went to like he was 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.760 visiting his mom, and I was very active in what 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:06.440 my mom did. 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:08.160 She kind of forced us into it. 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:10.439 So I knew a lot of the people that were 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:14.800 going through the addiction struggles and the yeah, the women 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.679 and Children's Center and things like that. I was very 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:23.160 well known among them. And so we first met when 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.800 he was visiting his mama at one of the shelter 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:30.200 things or I forget what exactly it was, but we 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:35.240 met there, and I don't know if he remembers that 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.800 or not. He was not happy to be there, which 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:40.000 I don't blame him. 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:41.120 Who would be YEA. 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:44.800 Yeah, he was dealing with his own stuff and that 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:48.880 bowled over into helping him grow into the person that 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:49.520 he became. 0:14:50.480 --> 0:14:52.480 Did you two speak at that time? 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:57.080 No, No, I had a tendency to be paraded around 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.480 to make my family look good and and he was 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:05.600 just dealing with his mama. But me and him, slowly 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:10.440 but surely, I met him when I switched over to EO. 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:15.080 Green in seventh grade. So when I switched to that school, 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:19.760 me and him met and became kind of friends. And 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:23.160 we had a pretty good friendship going as far as 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:28.120 I knew until eighth grade. Then it started getting rocky. 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:31.640 You know, we're all going through who we are and 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:35.160 what we are, and in the middle of all this, 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:39.320 we're all most of us dealing with things at home too. 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:45.640 So all of those combined create a very toxic environment 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.600 in the school because you've got all these kids who 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.880 are already going through hormonal things, through growth spurds, through 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:58.600 emotional issues, through family issues, and just trying to get 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:03.320 through junior high. Like it's a lot. It's a lot 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:08.640 for anybody. And unfortunately, he paired up with some other 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:13.920 kids that were just as toxic and became one of 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:19.800 the problem groups in the school because of their way 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:21.840 of coping with what we were all dealing. 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:25.600 With I see, So that was happening even before he 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:26.680 was bullying Larry. 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:31.280 It's hard to say before bullying Larry, because Larry has 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:35.360 been bullied every day of his life. There was never 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:40.080 a time in our childhood where I was not around 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.680 that he was not being bullied. And in the beginning 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:46.240 of seventh grade he was having a really hard time 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:51.440 because we had went to separate schools and he ended 0:16:51.520 --> 0:16:55.280 up in EO. Green. I ended up in Blackstock, which 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:59.440 is another junior high not that far sure, and he 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:03.400 had to deal all by himself. Yeah, when we were separate, 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:06.720 I was sad and he was hurt. 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:11.840 I'm thankful that he had you with him despite all 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:15.120 that toxic, horrific energy around him. 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:18.119 Don't want it fool you. We had our fights. We 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:19.520 fought like siblings. 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:21.600 Here is your brother, you said, yeah. 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:25.359 Yeah. It was one of those things where you keep 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:29.840 fighting each other and then they do this no contact contract, right, 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:35.639 so you've got to go like fourteen days without touching, talking, nothing, 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:40.920 and we'd last like maybe twenty four hours and then 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:44.200 be back to normal. And finally the school pulled in 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:47.359 our parents and was like, we can't get them to 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:52.880 stop talking, we keep doing there's no contact, and finally 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:57.160 his guardians and my mother was like, at this point, 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:00.840 just stop trying. They're gonna work it on their own life. 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:04.080 They're gonna fight, but they're gonna work it out. Just 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:06.720 let them deal with it. So they stopped trying to 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:07.640 do that with us. 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.120 The fact that you came back to the school, I'm 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:15.640 sure it allowed him to have a little bit more freedom. 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:18.600 He knew his tiger was somewhere nearby. 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.800 Oh yeah, and whenever there was issues, he knew where 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:25.840 to go. Like it wasn't one of those. He's dealing 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:29.000 with issues. He can't confine me. We would find each 0:18:29.040 --> 0:18:32.840 other in regardless. So I'm gonna push you to be 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:35.679 you because I don't like fake shit, So you just 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:39.080 don't have to be you, and just don't worry about 0:18:39.080 --> 0:18:42.520 other people. I don't care about other people. I'm gonna 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.760 be me regardless, so I expect that from the people 0:18:45.800 --> 0:18:52.000 around me. M hm. I do occasionally regret pushing him 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:58.880 to be himself so much, because in the end, no 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:03.040 matter who pulled the trigger, no matter what the reason 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:07.040 may be that led up to that, and it's a 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:09.919 part of that lineup of how did this happen. 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:11.840 So there are quite a. 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:15.920 Few times that I regret not telling him to just 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.600 just chill out a little bit, knowing where we lived. 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:25.399 But I think even if he did that and lived 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.639 through everything, he wouldn't really have lived through everything. He 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:32.080 would have had a half life. That's not fair to him. 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:36.160 So you can't really ask out of somebody. You should 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:40.000 live your life to the fullest, one hundred percent. Don't 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:43.760 water it down. Don't be somebody's cup of tea. Be 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:46.399 somebody shot a whiskey. And if they can't swallow you, 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:47.160 let him choke. 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.480 Well we'll tiger with everything that you know you've been 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:14.600 so open with us about. If please, if you don't 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:17.679 feel comfortable talking about this, please don't feel like you 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:21.199 have to. You know, we do not sensationalize, nor do 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:24.520 we want to sensationalize what happened, and we never want 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:25.960 to do that on facing evil. 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:28.240 But from your. 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:35.359 Perspective, what was it like the day that Larry was shot? 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:41.680 So the day that he got shot, I was late 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:45.000 to school that I had been dealing with some stuff 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:50.000 at home and I just I was late and I 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:54.120 got there to the front area right as. 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:54.600 He got there. 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:57.520 Because he was late as well, okay. And the first 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:05.040 thing that I noticed was he always wore this collar shirt, 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:08.960 a gray sweatshirt on top of that with his little 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:13.840 collar sticking at and these baggy two size too big, 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:18.760 like dark blue uniform pants that were just bagging horrible, 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.720 and these torn up tennis shoes that just did not 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:27.720 do him justice. And that was what he wore every day, 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:31.480 every day. So there was never anything that you'd be like. 0:21:31.480 --> 0:21:32.439 Okay, that's different. 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:37.160 Until the few months leading up to the shooting. 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:40.600 He had went to oh lord, I can't remember the. 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:42.520 Facility Cosa PACIFICA. 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:45.800 Yes, so he'd been moved into the facility right before 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:51.000 all this happened. He was given his choice of clothing, 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:55.400 so he was able to pick out girls clothes, girls pants, 0:21:55.960 --> 0:22:00.240 and was changing his style up and figuring himself out out. 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:02.919 So at that point you didn't really know what he 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:04.800 was going to come to school wearing. There was day 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:06.800 he came to school in boots and you were like, 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:09.159 I know, your feet. 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:17.200 Hurt, and let me tell you, he walked them things 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:20.680 through that school and I was like, my back hurt 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:21.600 just thinking about it. 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:25.960 Do that, But he did, and he just wanted to 0:22:25.960 --> 0:22:31.080 figure himself out. He wanted to be him, and that 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:36.240 day he was wearing the usual outfit that he would wear, 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:41.000 the little sweater and all that. It just seemed weird, 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:45.600 and he was running off into his class. I got 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:51.240 moved to the special education class, the Gift and Talented, 0:22:52.040 --> 0:22:54.320 and I was in that class with Brandon, and then 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:56.800 they moved Brandon into. 0:22:56.520 --> 0:22:58.879 That class into the computer class. 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:03.040 Yeah, that's how they ended up in that classroom at 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:03.919 the same time. 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:05.000 I see. 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:08.520 They were right across from each other, so we were 0:23:08.560 --> 0:23:11.200 going in the same direction and I called out to him, 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:15.440 and instead of the usual turnaround saying something smart ass 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:20.280 and getting along with our day, he turned around really 0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:24.600 scared and then just kind of went running off to 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:25.159 his class. 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:27.120 And I was like, that's way weird. 0:23:27.400 --> 0:23:30.440 Yeah, like it doesn't make sense, but okay, you do 0:23:30.520 --> 0:23:35.639 you and didn't really think much of it. And his 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:38.840 class ended up going to the computer room, which is 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:42.520 right down the hall from where we were, and we 0:23:42.680 --> 0:23:48.520 heard the first shot, and I remember everybody talking about like, 0:23:48.600 --> 0:23:50.280 who's slamming doors? 0:23:50.680 --> 0:23:52.080 Didn't even sound like a gun shot? 0:23:52.480 --> 0:23:54.879 Well, most kids around there weren't used to guns. I 0:23:54.920 --> 0:23:55.919 grew up around guns. 0:23:56.240 --> 0:23:57.720 So did you know you knew? 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:02.000 Yeah, automatically, I was like, irong a couple of minutes past, 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:05.880 and then a second one, they assumed somebody was slamming 0:24:05.880 --> 0:24:10.919 a door, and I'm like, that doesn't sound right. And 0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:18.480 then the secretary from the front was on the speaker like, oh, 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:23.280 we're on lockdown. Everybody get down, everybody lock your doors. 0:24:24.160 --> 0:24:31.080 And I made a stupid joke about, oh, somebody got shot. 0:24:31.400 --> 0:24:37.679 Oh shit, yeah, and didn't think twice of it, me 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:42.800 being the class clown. And we all locked down. We're 0:24:42.800 --> 0:24:47.359 all sitting on the floor talking and stuff, and we're 0:24:47.440 --> 0:24:50.840 just assuming somebody acted a fool. And I'm like, I'm 0:24:50.880 --> 0:24:55.439 still thinking, like that didn't sound right, but maybe, you know, 0:24:55.560 --> 0:25:00.840 maybe I'm just crazy. And then Melissa, one of the 0:25:00.880 --> 0:25:05.679 girls that I was friends with, and she got a 0:25:05.840 --> 0:25:13.439 text from somebody else in Larry's class that said Brandon 0:25:13.520 --> 0:25:17.600