Nevada school shooter parents: ‘We had no idea he was so upset’

The parents of the 12-year-old boy who shot and killed a Sparks, Nev., schoolteacher and wounded two other students before killing himself in October have come forward to express their condolences.

The parents of Jose Reyes also said they had no idea the boy would turn violent.

“We knew that he had been teased and that he was trying to work through a speech problem that he had,” said Jose’s father, who is also named Jose, reading from a prepared statement videotaped by the Reno Gazette-Journal on Monday. “We never heard Jose say anything bad or unkind about any particular teacher or student, and we had no idea he was so upset and so troubled.”

On Oct. 21, just a few days after watching an antibullying documentary in which a bullied student flashes a gun at her tormentors, Jose brought a gun to school and shot and wounded two classmates.

Then Jose shot a teacher, Michael Landsberry, a 45-year-old former Marine, who was trying to reason with him.

Jose then turned the gun on himself.

“We miss Jose very much,” his father said in occasionally halting English, sometimes sniffling, as his wife, Liliana Reyes, watched him speak.

“It has been a horrible experience knowing that our son killed another person and injured fellow students. It has been very difficult and hard to understand why Jose took his own life and did what he did. We wish there was something we could have done to have prevented this nightmare.”

Jose Reyes then paused for several seconds to gather himself before continuing. He was speaking on the day the family was set to pick up his son’s ashes.

“We wish this had never happened and we are hopeful that everybody involved can heal and go forward as best as they can with their lives,” Reyes then continued. “We want to thank all those people in the community who have recognized that we, too, have experienced a tragic loss.”

Reyes then thanked the police for their compassion during the investigation into the shooting, which is still ongoing.

The Gazette-Journal reported that the Reyes’ two other children -- two girls, 7 and 8 -- have moved to different schools since the shooting. Liliana Reyes told the newspaper that the older daughter had been crying on Sunday.

“[She] said the only thing she wants for Christmas is for her brother to be here,” Liliana Reyes said.

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