Loukaitis’ Dark Moods Recalled Teen Made Menacing Remarks About Teacher And Classmate

Before killing two classmates and his teacher in a Moses Lake classroom, Barry Loukaitis said he wanted to be known as a murderer and made menacing remarks about the people he killed, witnesses told a jury Wednesday.

Former classmate Amos Frisbie, now of Idaho, said Loukaitis’ mood also became dark, and that the poetry he wrote in their English class was frightening.

Frisbie said Loukaitis also made threatening remarks about algebra teacher Leona Caires and Manuel Vela, both of whom he shot dead at close range with a high-powered rifle on Feb. 2, 1996.

Vela, 14, and Caires died on the classroom floor. Arnold Fritz, 14, was pronounced dead at the local emergency room. Another student, Natalie Hintz, was seriously wounded.

Loukaitis, now 16, is charged with three counts of aggravated firstdegree murder, one count of assault and 16 counts of kidnapping in connection with the shooting.

He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. If convicted, Loukaitis would spend the rest of his life in prison. If he’s found not responsible for his actions, he would be confined until a judge determines Loukaitis is no longer a danger to himself or others.

A tape recording of Loukaitis’ confession to Moses Lake police, just hours after the killings at Frontier Junior High School, was played for the jury as Loukaitis sat motionless at the defense table, his face buried in his hands.

On the tape, Loukaitis said Vela was the only victim he killed on purpose. As for shooting the others, Loukaitis said “that was kinda crazy.”

After he started shooting, “reflex took over, sort of,” Loukaitis said. He didn’t cry or seem troubled; he could have been describing an errand to the grocery store.

When police Sgt. Dave Ruffin asked Loukaitis whether he was mad at Caires or any of the students he killed, the teenager said, “No,” nonchalantly.

Before the shooting, Frisbie said he was told by Loukaitis that Caires had marked him down for an incorrect answer on a test, but he believed his answer had been correct.

“Once when we were playing cards, he said he was mad at her and he was going to kill her,” Frisbie testified.

Loukaitis also quarreled with Vela, who called him a “faggot,” Frisbie said. “Then Barry said, ‘Do you treasure your life?’

“It was calm, like he knew what he was saying … It struck me as frightening. People have said things like that but not in anger and not in the way he said it.”

Students who survived the shooting described Loukaitis as methodical as he mowed down his classmates, shot his teacher in the back, then ordered them to the back of the room one by one and attempted to take another teacher hostage.

“He was calm and stern, like he was in control and he knew what he was doing,” said Niki Greenwalt, 15, the student seated closest to Loukaitis during the rampage who lived to tell the story.

Emily Stuber, 15, said Loukaitis was careful to try to take a hostage to protect himself. “He said, ‘I imagine there is going to be snipers and cops.’ He anticipated it.”

When Loukaitis was read his rights in a patrol car, “he looked up at me and cracked a smile and said, ‘I know my rights, man,”’ said Officer Jay Petersen of the Moses Lake Police Department.

Also Wednesday, Grant County Prosecutor John Knodell displayed evidence seized from Loukaitis’ house after the killings that Knodell claimed showed premeditation. The evidence included a pocket cut out of a black trench coat Loukaitis wore to conceal his rifle.

The pocket had been carefully cut from the coat with pinking shears and buried in the kitchen trash can under household garbage, along with an empty box of shells for the gun.

Physical education teacher Jon Lane, who subdued Loukaitis, is scheduled to testify today. Knodell is expected to rest his case this afternoon. The defense begins Monday.

Attorney Michael Frost will try to prove that Loukaitis was suffering from a psychotic disorder at the time of the killings that made it impossible for him to understand that what he was doing was wrong.

The case was moved to Seattle because of extensive pre-trial publicity in Grant County.

, DataTimes