Despite growing pressure from news media, Sparks, Nv., police and their legal adviser refused to release the name of the 12-year-old boy who took a handgun to Sparks Middle School on Monday, killed teacher Michael Landsberry, wounded two other students and then killed himself, reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Sparks City Attorney Chet Adams said police would not release names of juveniles involved in the shooting because it has not completed its investigation.
Barry Smith of the Nevada Press Association said the agencies legally cannot withhold the identity of a deceased person. He said releasing the boy's identity has nothing to do with the continuing investigation. “It's not their judgment call,” Smith said. “The Police Department doesn't get to decide what laws it supports and what it doesn't. The boy is dead. You don't get to withhold the identity of someone who is dead.” The Reno Gazette-Journal in a front-page editorial demanded release of the shooter's name and said it has confirmed the name through interviews with witnesses but decided not to publish it until it was confirmed by official sources.