A student at Sparks Middle School in Nevada spoke to CNN on how an anti-bullying video showed in class may have worked as inspiration for the shooting that occurred on Monday, The New York Daily News reported.
Amaya Newton, an eighth grader at the school, claimed the shooter was bullied by other students and a video showing a bullied girl bringing a gun to school could have "gotten into his head."
"She brought a gun on the bus to scare them and threatened to kill them," Newton said of the video. "It was an anti-bullying movie but it could have gotten into his head about the girl scaring the bullies with the gun."
Newton went on to describe the shooter as "a really nice kid" who "would make you smile when you were having a bad day."
However, other classmates were often "tripping him in the hallways, bugging him for money so they would give it to him."
One witness of the shooting, Michelle Hernandez, 14, claimed she heard the boy shout "Why are you people making fun of me? Why are you laughing at me?'" during the incident.
The anti-bullying video was played on Oct. 11 -- the last day before students were released for a week-long break, returning on Monday, according to Newton.
The shooting at Sparks Middle School began at 7:15 a.m. and left the shooter and 45-year-old math teacher Michael Landsberry dead. In addition, two other students were wounded and in critical condition.
Though the idea of an anti-bullying video inspiring a shooting seems contradictory, just last week the father of a boy who committed suicide suggested the same idea.
Brad Lewis, whose 15-year-old son Jordan killed himself, said he viewed an anti-bullying video in school the day before his suicide.
"When they see a video shown at school that, 'hey, this is an easy out, just go home and take your life,'" Lewis said, adding "for one I think the school should send letters out to parents asking if it was right for their kids to see this type of video."
