A man with more than 260,000 followers on TikTok carried out a shooting at his New York high school two decades earlier.
Jon Romano served 17 years of a 25-year prison sentence for opening fire at Columbia High School in 2004 with a pump-action shotgun. In a TikTok video from July, Romano said he planned “not to kill but to be killed” and that he only intentionally shot at the ceiling.
However, reports apparently contradict those claims — with The New York Times reporting how police recovered roughly 20 shotgun shells in a boys’ bathroom at the high school.
Further, Romano, then 16, was subdued after he almost shot a student in a third-floor hallway.
“After one shot narrowly missed student Jeff Kinary, assistant principal John Sawchuk tackled Romano from behind and the gun went off again, striking special education teacher and coach Michael Bennett in the leg,” the 2004 The New York Times article detailed.
Further, a report from the Troy Record dispelled rumors that a suicide note was found at Romano’s home after the shooting. Police said they did find a note that did not suggest suicide but showed he was “angry and deranged.”
@youcancallmekait #greenscreen This man should not have a platform. You said that your victims are re traumatized every time theres a mass event. Don’t you think just seeing you is triggering? I don’t believe for a second that you actually want to help. You just want attention. I would have tagged you directly, but you so bravely turned off that setting 😉 #deadkidscantread ♬ original sound – you can call me Kait
Romano’s presence on TikTok was widely criticized after posted a video in which he claimed being violently attacked by a Black man in 2022 was an example of anti-white racism. His attacker, Randell Mason, was sentenced in February to 25 years for attacking Romano with a sword at a homeless shelter in New York. Mason called Romano a “white devil” during the attack which led to Romano’s arms being reattached, per the Times Union.
Romano’s large following came under more scrutiny after he was accused of following school shooting victims and their families.
Romano’s TikTok account, JonSeekingPeace, is currently private. Crime Online reached out to TikTok’s public relations department for comment but did not get a response.
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[Featured image: TikTok]
