By
Th Associated Press
MIAMI - The 13-year-old charged in the fatal shooting of his English teacher said he "wasn't thinking clearly'" when he returned to school with a gun after being suspended for throwing water balloons.
Nathaniel Brazill told The Miami Herald in an interview published yesterday that he pointed a gun at the teacher in the head May 26 after he was denied permission to talk to a girl in the classroom. Brazill said he didn't mean for the gun to go off.
Brazill, an honor student who had ambitions of becoming a Secret Service agent, said he was upset over his 10-day suspension, which would have taken effect the next school year.
"I thought I'd never catch up at the beginning of the next year," Brazill said. "All of my friends would leave me behind. I thought my future was ruined."
Brazill is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Barry Grunow, 35, who he said was his favorite teacher. He faces life in prison if convicted.
According to police, Brazill went home, retrieved a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol he had stolen from his grandfather's house and returned to Lake Worth Community Middle School, where he shot Grunow in the head.
"I wasn't thinking clearly when I took the gun to school on that day. I was too upset," Brazill told the Herald. "I had the gun hidden in my dresser because I was going to ask my uncle in the Army to teach me how to use it for my future career in the military or law enforcement. I don't know how or why it happened the way it did. Mr. Grunow was the best."
Brazill said he went to Grunow's classroom to talk to a girl and "tell her to have a good summer."
Grunow told Brazill he couldn't talk to the girl, so the boy pulled the loaded gun out of his pocket and pointed it at the teacher. Brazill has said in a police confession that he didn't mean for the gun to go off.
"I smiled at Mr. Grunow and he smiled at me," Brazill told the Herald. "He pushed the gun away like he thought it was fake. It was kind of like a joke - the kind of joke we always had between us. Then the gun went off. I don't know how it happened."
Robert Udell, Brazill's attorney, has said that his client never intended to hurt anyone, calling him a "sweet, intelligent kid" whose life shouldn't be ruined by a tragic accident.
But State Attorney Barry Krischer said he has an obligation to try Brazill as an adult.
"The tragedy is what happened to Barry Grunow, not what happened to Brazill," he said.
