Chardon High School killer gets life without parole

TJ Lane, 18, wore a T-shirt with “killer” scrawled across it and smirked and gestured obscenely when he appeared in court in Ohio yesterday.

He had pleaded guilty last month to shooting at students in February 2012 at Chardon High School, east of Cleveland. Investigators said he still says he does not know why he did it.

Before the case went to adult court last year, a juvenile judge ruled that Lane was mentally competent to stand trial despite evidence he suffers from hallucinations, psychosis and fantasies.

During the hearing, Lane unbuttoned his blue shirt to reveal the T-shirt reading “killer”, which the prosecutor noted was similar to one he wore during the shooting.

At one point, he swivelled around in his chair towards the gallery where his members of his family and those of the dead teenagers were sitting.

“The hand that pulls the trigger that killed your sons now masturbates to the memory,” he said, gesturing obscenely.