Was Teen Shooter Victim of Bullying, Sexual Harassment?

Oct. 6, 2011 — -- Why would one teen boy shoot his classmate? Was he motivated by homophobia and hate? Or was the shooter himself also a victim, subject to bullying and abuse that precipitated a shocking crime?

Lawyers raised both arguments at the first murder trial of Brandon McInerney, a 14-year-old charged with the murder of his classmate, 15-year-old Larry King. That trial ended in a hung jury last month and Tuesday, the prosecutors in the case announced that they would try Brandon again.

This is the second part of a two-part story. Click here to read part 1.

On Feb. 12, 2008, Brandon shot Larry twice in the back of the head in their eighth-grade English classroom at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, Calif. Larry died two days later. Brandon was charged as an adult with first degree murder and a hate crime.

Police weren't the only ones calling the shooting a hate crime. Friends of Larry said Brandon, a popular jock, was disgusted with Larry's "flamboyant" persona. He was humiliated, they said, when Larry, an effeminate boy who had recently started wearing make-up, asked Brandon to be his valentine.