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January 24, 2013

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Sheriff: 'Stupidity' led to Texas campus shooting

"It was a ridiculous, adolescent confrontation that occurred. But if we can make an example out of anyone, we will"

By Matt Smith
CNN

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — The exact subject of the argument that led to a shooting a Houston-area community college hadn't been determined Wednesday, but Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia said he had a general idea of the cause.

"Idiocy. Stupidity," Garcia told reporters. "We had individuals who did not care about putting other people in harm's way. It was a ridiculous, adolescent confrontation that occurred. But if we can make an example out of anyone, we will."

Pressed for details, Garcia added, "We're still clearing that up. But a confrontation occurred, and somebody thought, in their peanut-sized brain, that maybe a firearm on a campus would be the way to settle it."

Garcia's blunt assessment came a day after three people were wounded at Lone Star College. One of those shot, 22-year-old Carlton Berry, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault and remains under guard at a hospital, Garcia said. The other two were still hospitalized as well, he said.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether a second suspect was involved, Garcia said. And he appealed to the public for help in trying to find the weapon used in Tuesday's shooting, which sent hundreds of students running from the suburban campus and swarms of sheriff's deputies, police and firefighters rushing to the scene.

The shooting happened roughly a month after the massacre at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school that left 26 dead, including 20 children ages 6 and 7. Garcia said that the situation in Houston "was nothing like" the Newtown killings.