SEPA H.S. student car accident victim died of gunshot wound

[MartinBrody]

This was in SEPA near West Chester, EMS responded to a car accident but found the victim had a gunshot wound to the head. Police think it was self inflicted but unintentional, the M.E. said it was a suicide. Either way a very tragic story.

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2...0004825628.txt

Police: Rustin senior in car crash died from gunshot

James Francis Cooke III
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 2:01 PM EST

By DAN KRISTIE, Staff Writer

WEST GOSHEN — A gunshot wound to the head was the actual cause of death of James Francis Cooke III, a Bayard Rustin High School senior who was found in a Feb. 28 car crash, according to West Goshen police.

EMS personnel found Cooke at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday in a silver 2003 Ford Mustang that had traveled off Paoli Pike and into the Chestnut Grove Cemetery at East Gay Street and Garfield Avenue, according to police.

No one else was in the car.

At first, EMS personnel assumed Cooke's injuries were caused by the car crash. But as they were transporting him to the helicopter pad at the Good Fellowship Ambulance Company, they discovered a gunshot wound, according to West Goshen Police Chief Michael Carroll.

EMS personnel phoned investigators at the crash and informed them of the discovery. The investigators then found a handgun on the car's driver's side floor, Carroll said.

Carroll said investigators found no evidence indicating Cooke had been speeding. While the Mustang was damaged, he said, EMS personnel had no trouble removing Cooke from it.

That morning, Cooke was expected to arrive at Henderson High School for Saturday classes, according to West Chester Area School District communications director Rob Partridge. The school is less than a quarter-mile from the crash site.

Cooke was airlifted to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, where he was pronounced dead.

The Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office ruled his death "suicide by a gunshot wound to the head," according to Philadelphia Health Department spokesman Jeff Moran.

But Carroll said he disagrees with the medical examiner's ruling. He said he has several reasons to believe Cooke's death was accidental.

"He was seen by family members that morning, and they said he seemed to be upbeat and in a good mood," Carroll said. "And I don't think someone contemplating suicide would endanger the general traveling public by committing the act on a public highway."

Investigators determined that Cooke had removed the magazine from the gun before firing it but had neglected to remove a bullet that was still in its chamber, Carroll said.

"The fact that the magazine was out of the gun leads me to believe that he thought the gun was unloaded, and that he was fooling with it when it went off," Carroll said.

Cooke's friends and classmates at Rustin said he was always cheerful and upbeat. They said they cannot imagine him killing himself.

"He was always happy," said Annie Seagraves, a senior and close friend of Cooke's. "It's completely shocking."

"He seemed like he was always in a good mood, sort of," said Kurt Bevilacqua, a 12th-grader at Rustin who said he did not know Cooke well but took an SAT prep class with him.

Wyatt Stoup, also a senior at Rustin, said Cooke was a "good kid" who played for the hockey team.

"I think this was just a complete accident," said Stoup, who described himself as an acquaintance of Cooke's. "The only thing I can think of is that he was playing with the gun and it went off."

Caroline Adams, Cooke's girlfriend of more than a year, said she had no reason to believe he was troubled.

"I had no idea something was wrong with him," she said. "He had such a positive attitude toward life. He really did."

Adams, a senior at Rustin, described Cooke as a determined and enthusiastic person who had a lot of friends and got good grades.

"He always got honor roll, and never got a C, except maybe in Latin, which he didn't like," she said.

Adams said she and Cooke had been accepted to Indiana University of Pennsylvania and planned to go there together in the fall. She said that until the accident, she didn't believe that he had a gun.

"He would never want to bring that up to me, and I didn't know that he actually owned that," she said. "It was a big shock to me."

Carroll said police are still investigating the origins of the gun that was found in the Mustang.

Partridge said there are grief counselors on hand at Rustin to help teachers and students through this tragedy. They will remain at the school as long as needed, he said.

Seagraves, Cooke's close friend, said being in school on Tuesday was "surreal."

"Everyone was silent," she said. "It's never going to be the same."

Adams said she was too upset to go to school Tuesday.

"He was so special to me," she said. "He was a really big thing in my life. It's so sad. It feels so unreal to me. It doesn't feel like he's gone. It's so depressing. It really is."

Partridge said that the entire school district "grieves with the Cooke family and the Rustin High School community during this most difficult time." He said the district is asking everyone to recognize that the viewing is tonight and the funeral is Thursday.

Partridge said the school district is asking everyone to refrain from speculating about what happened to Cooke until the whole story is known.

Cooke's funeral will be held 11 a.m. Thursday at Ss. Simon and Jude Church on the corner of routes 3 and 352 in Westtown. His viewing will be from 6 to 9 tonight at the Donohue Funeral Home, 1672 West Chester Pike, Westtown. Both will be open to the public. Interment will be private.

To contact staff writer Dan Kristie, send an e-mail to dkristie@dailylocal.com.

[eells]

this is unfortuneate. my cousin goes to westchester. my question is how did a highschooler get a handgun, and why was it in his car?

[jsb889]

A terrible way to lose a friend or family member...my heart goes out to them.

Hopefully we will learn it was a ND, but a gunshot to the head while driving in any normal holster seems a bit...awkward to say the least. From the info given I'd guess suicide, but there is not much to the physical description of the incident.

[SuperMoose]

Weird. My brother graduated from Rustin last year and now goes to IUP. I just asked him and he said he knew the kid. Even more creepy is where he crashed is where a girl I knew from high school died last year. She had been going down the road and went off it, hit the steps to the cemetary and went into a telephone pole. Nasty accident from what I heard. Shame that spot has taken two people's lives now.

[lildobe]

a gunshot to the head while driving in any normal holster seems a bit...awkward to say the least. From the info given I'd guess suicide, but there is not much to the physical description of the incident.

Investigators determined that Cooke had removed the magazine from the gun before firing it but had neglected to remove a bullet that was still in its chamber, Carroll said.

"The fact that the magazine was out of the gun leads me to believe that he thought the gun was unloaded, and that he was fooling with it when it went off," Carroll said.

I'd say that right there says is was an ND, not a suicide. How many stories have we heard about people who forget to clear the chamber and end up shooting themselves?

Then again, it IS a newspaper story, so we have no idea about the veracity of the facts presented.

[Kaos]

I've been with folks who like to play with their guns while out and about, and generally end up spazzing on them for it...

I went to the bathroom at a restaurant once and a friend I was eating dinner with came in shortly after an occupied the stall next to me...I hear the slide rack and then a click.

Im like "wtf are you doing"


"playing with my gun, I always do this when Im on the crapper"

Just...no.

We lost touch not long after that for other reasons...good kid, but head not on completely straight.

[lildobe]

"playing with my gun, I always do this when Im on the crapper"

He wouldn't happen to live in Utah, would he?

http://forum.pafoa.org/concealed-ope...eath-john.html

[mrwildroot]

1. Magazine not in weapon to me a dead giveaway (no pun intended). If attempting suicide, I would want an easy second shot if first one failed....

2. Car in gear and rolling, second indication of unplanned discharge. Killing yourself doesn't usually involve taking others with you, unless you are towelhead suicide bomber....

3. Girlfriend, family and others all agreed he was upbeat and not in dark, depressed mood, and especially on that day. Although some studies show that an upbeat attitude can come from the making of a final decision like suicide, it was apparently his normal nature.

IMO, AD/ND occurred while driving and handling a loaded weapon.
Tragic for sure, but not that uncommon, unfortunately.

mrwildroot