Sometimes, it’s hard to tell just what pushes a young person to commit horrific crimes. Barry Dale Loukaitis’s case is one of those. On February 2, 1996, Loukaitis walked from his home to his school, Frontier Middle School, armed with a .30-30 caliber hunting rifle and two handguns. He entered his algebra class and opened fire at students and his algebra teacher. Loukaitis killed three, students Arnold Fritz and Manuel Vela and teacher Leona Caries. He also critically injured 13-year-old Natalie Hintz.
Various questions arose during the trial about the state of Loukaitis’ mental health. Psychiatrist Joan Petrich testified that Loukaitis had been experiencing delusional and messianic thoughts at the time of the shooting. Prosecutors brought forth an opposing argument that Loukaitis had carefully planned the shooting, possibly inspired by Pearl Jam’s popular song, “Jeremy”, Stephen King’s novel Rage and the 1994 film, Natural Born Killers. After over a year spent on trial, Loukaitis was sentenced to serve two life sentences and an additional 205 years without the possibility of parole.
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