And that's when I fired the first shot.

You know, one of those students, he was somebody I was friends with when we were little kids,

when I used to play Little League and everything. He was somebody I was on a Little League team with.

And then, yeah, so they turned back around that corner and ran for their lives.

Welcome back to other people's lives. I'm Joe Sanagato. I'm Greg Dybeck. For anyone out there,

they would like to be a guest on our show. Don't hesitate to reach out. Our email is oplpodcast

at gmail.com. Just send us your story and we'll get back to you.

Today, we're speaking to a man named John Romano. On February 9, 2004,

John, who was 16 years old at the time, walked into his high school with a 12-gauge shotgun

and opened fire. John was released from prison in 2020 and obviously we understand that

this could be triggering for some to hear this perspective and the recounting of events.

But John, since his release, has aimed to be part of the solution when it comes to school safety

and he's here today to offer insight into his mindset at the time and what he believes led him to commit that terrible act.

So, John, thanks so much for reaching out to us and being on the show today.

And thank you for having me on your show. I do believe this is going to be hard for some people,

but it's an important conversation to have.

Yeah, absolutely. So, to kick this conversation off, can you just bring us back to your 16-year-old self

before you walked into the school with a gun? Who were you as a kid and what was it that you were feeling

that ultimately led you to attempt a school shooting?

Yeah, so first I would like to say that when I talk about some of my sexual abuse issues

that I'd had happened in my life or the mental health issues I had, I'm not blaming what I did on that.

I just believe it's important to address those issues as I wish more people would be able to talk about these things

...