Teen Says He Killed Teacher by Accident
V E R O B E A C H, Fla., May 13, 2004 -- — To this day, Nathaniel Brazill says he never meant to shoot his teacher.
"My first mistake, my very first mistake that led to this whole situation was taking the gun in the first place," Brazill told ABCNEWS' Robin Roberts in a jailhouse interview. "Had I not have taken that gun, I wouldn't be here right now."
It was four years ago this month that the country was shocked by the Lake Worth, Fla., school shooting. Barry Grunow, a popular middle school teacher, was shot in his classroom on May 26, 2000, the last day of school before students were to start their summer break. Brazill was a 13-year-old student at the school.
Now 17, Brazill has served nearly four years of a 28-year sentence after being tried as an adult and convicted of second-degree murder. He is incarcerated at the Indian River Correctional Institute in Vero Beach, and is appealing his conviction.
‘In the Blink of an Eye’
At the time of the shooting, Brazill says, he was fascinated with guns and dreamed of a career in law enforcement.
"It just was something that I was always fascinated with, and also I wanted to go into law enforcement and be a Secret Service agent, and I wanted to know how to shoot, I wanted to learn how to shoot the gun," Brazill said.
He has trouble explaining how he went from his dream of someday protecting the president of the United States to ending up in jail on murder charges.
"It all happens in the blink of an eye," Brazill said. "Quickly my life went from being on a straight path to being in prison. And that's why I say, to every child, person, kid, that is watching, 'Think really hard about decisions that you make.' Because like I said, had I not taken the gun from that cookie tin, I wouldn't be here right now."
Grunow, 35, left behind a wife and two young children, now 9 and 4 years old.
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