[118] Rocori High School, Cold Spring, Minnesota

Columbine High School on April twentieth, nineteen ninety nine. The shooting we are covering today wasn't as deadly and didn't seem to make the same kind of impact in the media as Columbine School mass shootings are much more common today than twenty one years ago, and perhaps the media held itself to a slightly higher standard. Still, all these years later, the students at Rocori High School are adults with children and and even some grandchildren of their own.

They have watched the world around us become complacent and almost indifferent to maschool shootings, feelings that they will never comprehend or share with the world. Worse, they face the very real possibility that the person who shattered their innocence will one day walk free, free to wander the same streets as their children and grandchildren. For their sake, we pray that the way we view guns, mass shootings, and

mental health has changed significantly by then. Today's case is dedicated to the two deceased students, Seth Bartel and Aaron Rawlins, as well as any injured survivors. We'd like to make a special mention in honour of the students and faculty at Rocori High School, along with their families and loved ones who are impacted by this tragedy. Active Shooter the podcast is a High five Holly production, and I'm your

host JT. If you've listened to our prior episodes, you know that the Active Shooter podcast team has taken the no notoriety pledge and we will not be sharing the real name of the shooters that we cover. We will be giving the shooters a pseudonym and refer to them by that name throughout the episode. This will help in clearing up any confusion in the story while remaining true to our pledge and not naming the shooter by their

actual name. We will refer to today's shooter as Gabe. Wednesday, September twenty fourth, two thousand and three commenced much like every other morning for students at the Rocori High School, located at five point thirty four Fifth Avenue North in cold Spring, Minnesota. Cold Spring is situated within Stearns County and sits approximately fourteen miles southwest of Saint Cloud, the

twelfth largest city in Minnesota. Cold Spring, for its part, is a rather small town, consisting of just over four thousand residents as of the twenty ten census. The morning was chilly, as many autumn mornings in Minnesota are, and it was cloudy, though it warmed up to the mid fifties. There was only one student attending classes that morning who knew that each student would leave that day an entirely

different child than they were walking into the building. Only fifteen years old, Gabe was aware of the panic and palpable fear that would soon permeate the hallways of their educational institution. It's important to note that this was two thousand and three. School shootings were not commonplace, and most students still felt a sense of safety within those hallways and classrooms. Before Gabe came to school on Wednesday morning, he snuck into his parents' bedroom and stole his dad's

twenty two caliber semi automatic stainless steel handgun. The weapon wasn't loaded, and the bullets were hidden elsewhere in the house. That didn't matter to Gabe. He knew where everything was hidden, so he collected the bullets, loaded the gun, and placed it into his backpack. Gabe left for school wearing a T shirt that was either black or blue with a white stripe. Today was the day that Gabe was going to make sure that his school bully, Seth Barton Tell,

was going to pay. Whether Seth was truly. Gabe's own personal bully is debatable, but in Gabe's mind, there was no doubt he felt tortured by Seth and had for many years. Gabe couldn't take it anymore, and he finally decided that he'd put an end to the constant bullying. He would take his father's gun to school shoot Seth, and the consequence would be that everyone would know, you don't mess with Gabe. You don't tease him or call him pizza face. You don't laugh or point or push him.

Today he was going to show Seth why. It was very evident, both from his full confession and from his writings that were discovered later, that Gabe's sole motive and intention was to seek out Seth and shoot him. Just before Jim class started, Gabe took his backpack and entered the locker for reference, The locker room is located in the basement of the school, while the gym was one floor upstairs. Gabe withdrew the firearm, entered a bathroom stall,

cocked it, and replaced it into his bag. He then sat on a bench to wait for his target. Other students entered and exited, but Gabe didn't ever see Seth enter. After sitting there for a few minutes, Gabe suddenly noticed Seth walking towards the exit. He had apparently entered without Gabe's seeing and changed in another part of the locker room where he wasn't visible. Seth and another student were walking towards the hallway when Gabe again pulled the gun

out of his bag, aimed and fired at Seth. It was eleven forty four am when Seth was struck in the chest by the first shot. He clutched his side and rushed towards the hallway leading up to the gym, the classmates by his side. Gabe followed after him, guns still aimed at Seth's retreating back, Gabe attempted to shoot again, but the gun jammed. He quickly cleared the jam and raised the weapon and fired off another shot before Seth

managed to make it to the stairs. He missed Seth, and the bullet struck student Aaron Rawlins in the neck, killing him instantly. Aerin was in the midst of walking towards Gabe, trying to reason with him when he was suddenly hit. Aaron's hands immediately flew up to his neck, where he desperately tried to apply life saving pressure to the wound. As he fell to the ground, Aaron murmured, quote, help me, I'm hurt, Help me, I've been shot. Sadly, Aaron was shot in a place and manner where life

saving intervention wasn't possible. Seventeen year old Aaron Rawlins was born on February third, nineteen eighty six, to Tom and Sherry Rawlins. His hobbies included golfer hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, and most of all, spending time with his family and friends. Those who knew him best say that Aaron was outgoing and easily got along with others. The entire senior class at Rocori was named honorary pallbearers, sitting together at the funeral for one of their own, a child who should

have been graduating with them in a few months. Students at the funeral wore black and white T shirts that bore Eron's photo on the front. His death profoundly affected everyone who knew him. Meanwhile, Seth and his classmate made it to the stairs and were climbing up when Seth

lifted his shirt exclaiming quote, look, I'm shot. The two boys made it into the gym, where they sought out their pe teacher Gabe entered the gymnasium directly behind the boys and raised his gun once more, walking towards Seth. Though eye witness accounts of how close he was differ, it seemed that Gabe was approximately only two feet away from Seth when he shot him again, striking him in

the forehead. Fourteen year old Seth Bartel was born coincidentally the same date as Aaron Rawlins February third, but three years later in nineteen eighty nine. Seth was adored by his parents, Raleigh and Kim Bartel, and was sibling to Jesse and Whitney. Loved Ones described Seth as a high energy young man who was an extreme sports enthusiast. He snowboarded and skateboarded, and was happiest when he was out

in active. Seth was buried at Saint Boniface Cemetery in Cold Spring, and he is deeply mourned each and every day. Pe teacher Mark Johnson was sitting on the jim bleachers working on paperwork when he heard a commotion and looked up in time to see a student Gabe shoot his classmate seth in the head. In disbelief at what his eyes had just witnessed. Mark began to walk after Gabe, who was headed towards the exit. He stopped and turned to see his teacher, and he aimed the gun at Mark.

Mark stopped, raised his hands in the surrender motion while loudly and sharply saying no. Gabe lowered the firearm, ejected the remaining shells onto the ground, and dropped the gun. Mark purposely strode to the weapon, snatched it up, grabbed by the wrist, and walked him to the school's administrative office. Four minutes after the shooting started, police were on the scene. Students were gathered from all corners of the school and released on the east side of the building as classrooms

were cleared one by one. Police escorted petrified students to the elementary school nearby, where those students and faculty who witnessed the shooting were sent to the media center at the high school to be interviewed and give statements. It's a very stark contrast to the way we respond to school shootings today. Emergency technicians arrived on the scene and began attempting life saving measures on aaron Rawlins as he was rushed to Saint Cloud Hospital, where he was declared

dead on arrival. Seth was airlifted by Lifeling Helicopter Services to Saint Cloud Hospital, where he was sprinted into surgery to treat massive head and brain trauma. Seth succumbed to his extensive injuries, passing away sixteen days later on October eleventh, two thousand and three. As expected, police immediately whisked Gabe away to the local station for questioning. He was eventually interrogated by Agent Ken MacDonald of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Gabe fully admitted to shooting Seth, but he expressed surprise that anyone else was shot and killed, claiming that wasn't his intent. He only meant to shoot Seth, but he admitted that he could have missed and thus shot someone else by mistake. When he was informed of Aaron Rollins's death, Gabe began to weep, claiming he didn't want to kill anyone.

He said he didn't even mean to seriously injure anyone, that he only wanted to shoot Seth in the shoulder or arm so Seth would have a scar and always remember Gabe just like Gabe would always remember the bullying he endured. Gabe continued his confession, saying he didn't believe a twenty two was powerful enough to cause much harm, let alone kill someone. Gabe admitted that he planned the

shooting for at least two days prior. He essentially cased the school by looking for metal detectors and security cameras throughout the building. To a casual observer or listener, it might have seemed that Gabe truly thought he could shoot someone and only injure not kill them. However, when agent MacDonald asked Gabe if he believed he'd done something wrong, Gabe responded in the affirmative, replying simply, yeah, it was obvious.

Gabe knew he did something absolutely terrible. He understood that he had taken not just one, but two lives, and he most assuredly grasped that every action he took on September twenty fourth, two thousand and three, had a deadly conscert sequence that he must pay for. Gabe understood he

would be going to prison. Fifteen year old Gabe was born on July nineteenth, nineteen eighty eight, the only child to loving parents who adored their son Gabe's parents married in nineteen eighty five, and after having their son, their family settled in a home in Cold Spring. They each had children from previous marriages, giving Gabe a total of five half siblings, three from his father and two from

his mother. All of his siblings were quite a bit older than Gabe, and none were living at home at the time of the shooting, though each had briefly lived together before the elder children started moving out. Gabe's dad worked for Cold Spring County Sheriff Department as a deputy sheriff. He worked in law enforcement for twenty one years, with fourteen of them spent working in undercover narcotics enforcement. Gabe's mother worked at the Golden Plump Factory, a job she

held for over fourteen years. The couple split up in two thousand, separating for a period of about six months. Gabe and his mother moved into an apartment in Saint Cloud. Gabe took this separation very very hard. It affected the young boy immensely, so much so that when his parents eventually got back together, Gabe went out of his way

to never upset his mother or misbehave. He was constantly anxious that something he did would cause them to separate, and if they even got into an apartment, Gabe shut down and became paranoid that his family would break up again. Not apartment, He was constantly anxious that something he did would cause them to separate, and if they ever even got into an argument, Gabe shut down and became paranoid that his family would break up again forever this time.

His mom described her as having a normal childhood and she had a typical pregnancy with him. There were no early childhood illnesses, injuries, or other known traumas. He was something of a quote mama's boy, and that he gravitated towards his mother more and developed an exceptionally close bond with her. In two thousand, which was during the separation time frame, Gabe and his mom lived in the Saint Cloud apartment, Gabe's behavior became increasingly combative with his mother.

She attributes the change in his behavior to the anxiety experience because of the separation, which seems to track because Gabe seemed to simultaneously become very protective over his mother. When his folks reconciled, Gabe was relieved, yet he felt conflicted. He couldn't enjoy his family being back together, because he lived in a perpetual state of distress that they would

separate again. Around the same time Gabe's parents got back together, he began noticing thoughts and feelings he was experiencing that didn't feel normal. Gabe seemed to have some sense of his mental health decline, but he was unable to vocalize his fears to his parents because he worried it would throw off their delicate balance at home. He developed an irrational paranoia that he would cause his parents to separate again. So the more his mental health deteriorated, the more Gabe

withdrew from the world. He became very isolated and started spending nearly all of his time alone. Gabe had little interest in physical activity. He occasionally went snowmobiling with his older brother, but typically his time with his family was spent doing things like playing card and board games. Gabe made an effort to interact with his family just enough to ward off concerns. He tried out for the football team in seventh grade, but he didn't make the team

due to experiencing blackouts when he physically exerted himself. Gabe later claimed that he never told anyone about the blackouts, because again, he was worried about upsetting his parents or causing issues that would make his parents split up again. There doesn't seem to be any indication whatsoever that his parents fought a lot after getting back together, or that they gave Gabe a specific reason to fear their separation.

Gabe acted as though another separation was inevitable, but research only seems to suggest that his parents worked things out and were happy to be back together. During seventh and eighth grades, Gabe continued to isolate and withdraw. His parents may have intervened, but Gabe went out of his way to present an image of a high schooler who regularly hung out with his friends and did high school boy things.

He was rapidly losing touch with reality, but no one seemed to know because Gabe was able to hide it from everyone around him. It seems impossible, but at the risk of being repetitive, it was two thousand and three. Social media wasn't nearly as prevalent, and people weren't broadcasting every minute of their life to the entire world. Gabe faked it for his parents, and because he had a genuine connection with his mom, he enjoyed running errands with

and for her, and helping her cook. He did a lot around the house to keep his mother from stressing out. Keeping his mom happy and worry free is how and why Gabe would later claim that he successfully concealed his downward spiral from her. After the separation, Gabe developed a fascination for making things, things being explosive devices like bombs. He told a psychiatrist after the shooting that he made the bombs in response to a voice in his head

that instructed him to do so. He created explosive out of test tubes he stole from school, shotgun shells, and wires. Gabe's interest in the military increased at this time because he associated making bombs as something one would do in the military. Gabe began to be convinced that he didn't even need to attend school, believing his intelligence to be off the charts and indeed certainly far more advanced than

his classmates. The only issues that seemed evident was Gabe's claim that he was experiencing intense teasing that rose to the level of bullying. He would say that Seth Bartel was the main bully who relentlessly made fun of Gabe's acne, which admittedly was rather severe. Allegedly, Seth called Gabe pizza face, and he pushed, shoved, poked, and slapped Gabe. There don't appear to be many, if any reports to the school

that Gabe was having a difficult time. Again, being that this was two thousand and three, the world didn't acknowledge that such behaviors like teasing and rough housing could indeed be very dangerous and harmful to a young person. As a young teen, Gabe's father introduced him to firearms, though not in any sort of nefarious way. Because his dad was in law enforcement, he wanted to ensure his son

understood guns, safety and how to properly handle firearms. Gabe completed a firearms safety class, and he eventually took and passed the Minnesota Fire and Arm Safety Training Exam. Because his dad was a police officer a narcotics officer, that his dad watched Gabe for signs of being overly interested in guns, and he never noticed his son spending an inordinate amount of time handling them, researching, or reading about them. Academically,

Gabe struggled in elementary school. His grades were below average. When he was in seventh grade, his language usage and expression was rated at a fourth grade level. His report cards contained score such as outstanding, satisfactory, though most were needs improvement. During the summer following seventh grade, Gabe attended a summer program where he reached the partial mastery in

problem solving. Despite no clear understanding of how or why, Gabe's brain just seemed to stop developing normally in his preteen in early teen years. By eighth grade, he was failing four classes, yet in his own mind he was rather brilliant and didn't actually need school. Most of the background on Gabe didn't come out until after the shooting. Gabe claims that he kept everything a secret from his family because he knew it would cause problems, which he

immediately assumed would break his parents up. It was around the time he was in sixth grade when Gabe started to hear a male voice. The first time it happened, he was walking home from a friend's house when he heard someone say his name. It was a muffled voice, but they most definitely said Gabe's name. He was so sure that he heard the voice that he looked up and around, but no one was around, so he let it go. The next time it happened, he was on

the school bus. Gabe reported. The next time he recalled hearing the voice was when he was playing with his dog, a Doberman pincher. Gabe stopped when he heard the voice speak very clearly. However, it was obvious to Gabe that the dog didn't hear anything. The dog was very territorial and would have reacted if someone it didn't know was around. He reported that the voice told Gabe that he was

Dante lu Cassilvara. Gabe denied picking the name up from a video game or having heard of it from anywhere besides the voice. Gabe said that the voice later changed its name to Jake. Jake continued to speak to Gabe, and although he tried his best to ignore Jake, he started to do things like build bombs at Jake's sto direction, but Jake wanted him to blow things like buildings up. He knew this was concerning, but he still refused to share with his parents what he was experiencing due to

his paranoi about causing them undue stress. He didn't tell anyone else because he knew people would think he was strange, and people would talk about him even more than he already believed they did. Gabe made up stories, telling his dad that he regularly ate lunch with friends at school and attended social events. His dad seemed to believe it. There didn't appear to be any reason not to believe

his son. He told detailed, believable stories. His classmates, on the other hand, seemed much less inclined to believe Gabe's tall tales. He talked about being a paintball champion, winning tournaments, and traveling the country. In the summer of two thousand and three, Gabe spent even more time alone than normal. He reported that he started to experience hallucinations and they intensified at a startling rate, and he claimed to smell

metal and aluminum. His feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and depression increased, and a feeling of pain like a vibration, would run from his hand to his foot. During the same timeframe, summer of two thousand and three, Gabe met a group of individuals in which he started hanging out with. He would later describe the group as a meth dealing drug gang. These friends were essentially imaginary. They existed only in Gabe's mind.

While he recognized that he was seriously losing control over himself, Gabe just to seriously believe that this drug dealing gang of friends from the Woods was real. His story about

being with this group were vivid. He described helping the drug production by creating maps on his computer, and he could describe the vehicles they drove, a van, their clothing, and he alleged the group kept him protected all while running a methamphetamine lab Gabe's He said that the gang buried one hundred thousand dollars in the Woods and that was his payment for all the work he did for them. He further went on to say that he never had an urge to try the drugs because he knew what

drug use could do to a person. He'd seen it in his dad's work, but he never seemed concerned that his father, who was an narcotics police officer, might catch the gang. Gabe reported that when he decided he was going to shoot Seth for bullying him, he asked the gang to come up to the high school and shoot him in the head when it was over. After the shooting, Gabe said he saw the van arriving at school, but

they were too late. To carry out killing him. After the shooting, Gabe was held at the Prairie Lake Detention School and he was evaluated by a number of psychiatrists and doctors. He was prescribed a variety of different medications with varying results. However, in time, as he began to adjust, Gabe later reported that he became aware that the gang was probably not real, but when he was living in real time, he truly and completely believed that they were.

He admitted he didn't really know what was real and what wasn't. When teachers at the detention facility interviewed Gabe about how he functioned at school, he claimed he thrived excelling at school and was at about an eleventh or twelfth grade, which simply isn't true. It was determined that Gabe struggled with perceiving concepts and subtle or abstract meanings. He lacked motivation and was far behind in math skills.

He showed a keen interest in very few subjects and was often caught staring intently at other inmates, causing friction because it was so off putting. Each of his teachers at the detention school agreed that Gabe functioned emotionally cognitively at the level of a twelve year old and did not display the typical maturity of a sixteen year old.

While in the facility, Gabe disgussed having auditory hallucinations. He was diagnosed by one psychiatrist as being schizophrenic paranoid type and noted that there was evidence of cognitive and hallucinatory experience of schizophrenia. In December of two thousand and three, Gabe reported that the voice Jake appeared at a morning meeting. When Jake entered, Gabe asked someone who the new guy was,

thinking it was perhaps a staff member. It quickly dawned on Gabe that no one else saw the man, and he became aware that the voice was truly only heard by him. Yet he still failed to communicate these things to anyone, even doctors. In December of two thousand and four, Gabe detailed a visual hallucination in which he he saw dead bodies hanging from the ceilings in the bathroom. He could smell the rot and decay and immediately became ill, but again chose not to report because he was afraid

no one would believe him. It wasn't until Gabe was sitting with his attorney's paralegal, that he began describing the voice, hallucinations, and the rest, and she urged the attorney to get Gabe properly evaluated, and he finally made the choice to participate in his own medical treatment. During the initial police interrogation, Gabe told agent MacDonald that his issues with Seth began in the sixth grade and escalated. He claimed that Seth

mainly teased him about his acne. A number of students testified at Gabe's eventual trial, and of the twelve that testified, only two could ever recall noticing any issue with Seth and Gabe. These two students reported some pushing and shoving, but they did not mention Seth calling Gabe names or

teasing him about his acne. One of the students testified to the grand jury that they witnessed Seth and some friends approach Gabe and start pushing him around, but on cross examination, the student admitted that they didn't actually witness the interaction. They actually heard the story through the quote rumor mill. During high school, Gabe began to correspond with a female student named Brittany Kelly. They knew each other

since elementary school and became friends of sorts. In middle school, Gabe claimed to Brittany that he had a girlfriend and asked her if she would like to correspond with her too. The pretend girlfriend was a fantastical Japanese female named Suki, though he sometimes referred to her as Soki. She was dominant, fearless, and aggressive. She was everything Gabe was not, which probably allowed him the freedom to speak to his real life

crush in a way he could not. Brittany agreed, and she was soon smiling with both the alleged girlfriend and Gabe, who emailed her from his own account, which had the user name Sharpest Shot two ninety. The fake girlfriend emailed Brittany quite a bit, and Brittany eventually became suspicious that she was really chatting with Gabe, but it wasn't something she could prove. It seems Gabe developed a sort of obsession with Brittany, although he certainly never acted inappropriately towards her.

He emailed Brittany one last time on the morning of

the shooting, saying quote goodbye my love. Gabe was charged with six offenses as an adult, including premeditated murder in the first degree, intentional murder in the second degree and felony murder in the second degree, each of which applies to the murder of Seth Bartel, along with account of felony murder in the second degree for the murder of Aaron Rollins, account of assault in the second degree for the threat to Mark Johnson, and one count of possession

of a dangerous weapon on school property. The trial commenced on July fifth, two thousand and five. Gabe's attorneys argued that Gabe never intended to kill anyone and didn't even really want to seriously injure anyone. He just wanted a scare Seth. The prosecution argued that the deaths were premeditated, as evidenced by Gabe's full confession to police that he made the decision to commit the shooting several days prior to the act. Six mental health experts testified about Gabe's

mental health and state of mind. Three diagnosed Gabe with schizophrenia and the other three diagnosed him with major depression in remission and quote in emerging personality disorder. The trial was a benched trial before the judge rather than a jury, which, given the defense's arguments, was likely the safest rout for their client. A judge is better suited to weigh legal issues than a jury of a defendant's peers. However, the judge found Gabe guilty of first degree and second degree murder.

He sentenced Gab to life in prison for first degree murder and twelve years for second degree murder. The sentences are to be served consecutively to each other. Gabe's attorneys tried to file a claim of guilty by reason of insanity, which would have allowed Gabe to serve his sentence in a mental health facility rather than prison. The judge denied this claim, ruling that Gabe was sane based on his

writing and the videotaped confession to police. His attorneys filed multiple appeals on gabe sentence, citing a life sentence wasn't constitutional for a juvenile, but none have been successful. The shooter is currently thirty four years old and is housed in the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Oak Park Heights. He will become eligible for parole in two thousand thirty eight, when he is fifty years old. Two days after the shooting, the Rocori High School reopened. We all have the unique

ability to help prevent such catastrophic event from happening. If we keep our eyes and ears open and never hesitate to report when something or someone just doesn't seem right. With the delicate balance of mental health reform, education, active shooter training, and common sense gun laws, we may one day realize the dream, the dream that there will be no more active shootings. We pray that love will prevail over hate. Too many have died, we should say to ourselves,

not one more. In the meantime, we urge our listeners to stay aware of your surroundings and keep in touch with your loved ones. If you see something, say something, you never know how many lives you'll be saving. Thank you for listening to today's episode of Active Shooter the Podcast. Remember if you see something, say something, there's no telling how many lives you may be saving. A big thank you to Darren Curtis, who composed some of the songs on our show. You can find him online at www

dot Darren Curtis music dot com. Make sure to check us out on social media. You can find us on Facebook at Active Shooter the Podcast and on Twitter at podcast Active. Thank you and be safe.