Girl Admits Catholic School Shooting

ByABC News
April 4, 2001, 12:21 PM

W I L L I A M S P O R T, Pa., April 4 -- A 14-year-old girl admitted shootingand wounding a classmate at a parochial school, telling a judge injuvenile court today that she was upset over being teased bythe victim and her friends.

Elizabeth Bush was asked whether she took the .22-caliberrevolver to Bishop Neumann Junior-Senior High School inWilliamsport with the intention of shooting 13-year-old KimberlyMarchese on March 7.

"Yes," Bush said. "My original intent was to shoot myself andshow everybody how much it hurts so they could see."

Judge William S. Kieser asked what changed her mind.

"It just happened, sir. I don't know," Bush said. "I justwanted to scare her."

Bush, who has been held at the Tioga County Youth DetentionCenter since the shooting, said she shot Marchese because of "thepain they put me through." No one else was injured.

Teasing Led to Depression

Marchese, who was wounded in the shoulder as she sat at a tablein the school cafeteria, was wearing an arm sling as she sat in thecourtroom. Bush's parents said their daughter wasdepressed in the weeks before the incident, apparently because ofteasing by other students at the school, where she had recentlytransferred from a public school.

District Attorney Thomas Marino said he decided to prosecute thecase in the juvenile division of Lycoming County Common Pleas Courtrather than in an adult court, where she could face a sentence ofseveral years in prison. Marchese's parents also said they did notwant Bush tried as an adult.

Marino called several witnesses at the hearing, including school officials, a police investigator and Marchese's father.

Bush's attorney, George Lepley, said the judge could sentence hisclient today. One option would be to move Bush from thedetention center to a "secure placement facility," where shewould have access to psychiatric treatment and counseling services,he said.

Lepley said his client would likely have to spend at least ayear at such a facility.