On October 23rd 2013, at around 7 A.M, after being picked on by a group of students, Jose Reyes, a 12 year old 7th grade Hispanic student with speech and psychological problems and a history of bullying, pulled out his fathers 9MM Ruger handgun and shot one of the students in the shoulder. Then a teacher, Michael Landsberry, comes up to Jose and tries to convince him to put down the weapon, however, Reyes says no to the teacher and shoots him dead. Jose then walks around, shooting at students, injuring one, a friend of Jose. Jose also fires at a teacher in a window inside the school, but the teacher is uninjured. He also tried entering the school, but the door was locked. Jose then reloaded his gun, and shot himself in the head. The shooting happened outside the school in the basketball courts before classes even started, plus it ended before the police even arrived, and was even captured on CCTV, but the footage was not released. 2 suicide notes written by Jose were found stating that he was bullied and how he wants revenge on the entire school for his bullying. In one of them he draws a tombstone that says "Sparks Middle School 1963-2013" Jose had hoped that after the shooting the school would close forever. In the other suicide note he left an apology for his parents saying how he wish the shooting didnt have to happen and that he wished he was a better son.
Jose Horacio Reyes (July 2, 2001 – October 21, 2013), was born in Reno, Nevada, to parents from Mexico. He had two younger sisters, and grew up partially in Arizona where his father found a construction job, but later moved with his family back to Nevada. Reyes' parents owned a restaurant in Sparks. In early 2012, Reyes' father was charged with and plead guilty to misdemeanor child abuse for an incident involving his son. Jose was known for sometimes being a little shy and quiet, and in class demonstrated some strange behaviors. Some teachers noted he laughed and talked to himself, would get angry if asked for help, would get angry if he thought students were laughing about him, and cry during changing situations. Jose, like Adam Lanza had an IEP, and a psychiatrist who reportedly evaluated Jose said he showed signs of Autism, but was not diagnosed with it, and was also prescribed Prozac and another drug 3 days before the shooting.
On his phone, police found photos of the Columbine shooters and Chardon High School Shooter T.J Lane. Internet and phone searches also indicate he researched Columbine. But based on other searches, he also researched the Thurston High School Shooting and the Frontier Middle School Shooting. And he looked for school shooting music videos with the song Pumped Up Kicks on YouTube. Another search included "what if nazis won ww2" and police found in his bedroom a duffel bag filled with military magazines and violent video games. Of the 69 Xbox 360 games he owned, 47 of them were of a violent nature, and his parents stated he would play with his little sisters, but then go into his room and isolate himself for hours playing video games. Speaking of video games, another internet search indicated that Jose looked online for Super Columbine Massacre RPG!, though it is not known if he actually played it, as the family laptop suggests he played the computer games Company Of Heroes 2 and Empire Total War. Jose also owned a BB gun and actually intended on using it during the shooting but his mom noticed it in his backpack and while Jose tried lying to her saying his teacher needed it for a science project, she still made him leave it in the car before dropping him off on the day of the shooting. Some of the games Jose liked to play on his Xbox included Hitman Absolution, Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, Call Of Duty Black Ops, Assassins Creed, and Grand Theft Auto 4 and 5, police believe these may of been his favorites, and his mother recalled an incident were she was concerned with Jose playing Grand Theft Auto 5, but Jose assured her that it was only a game, that it was only "fiction".
At his dads restaurant, Jose worked there and was payed by his dad. He was known to buy toys for his little sisters with the money he earned, and customers said he would always smile while at work. However, his dad would yell at Jose if he messed up on something. A Uncle of Reyes stated Jose's dad cheated on his wife and would live with his lover, but eventually he and his lover broke up and the family got back together again. As for what caused the child abuse towards Jose, it is thought that after coming home from work with his dad, Jose saw a video game in a magazine that he wanted and begged his dad to get it. This angered Mr Reyes and he hit him, giving Jose a black eye. The police report also indicates there was a incident during a fight between Jose's mom and dad where Mr Reyes put a gun to his wife's head. It is not known if Jose saw this. And in a 2007 school meeting with Jose's mom while Jose was enrolled at Kate Smith Elementary school, Mrs Reyes said something that indicates Jose saw abuse towards his mother.
Bullying: Jose was reported by other students to have been bullied. Some names he was called included "stupid" "Lazy" "gay" "retarded Micheal Jackson" and was said to have been tripped and pushed in the halls a few times. Jose was also bullied in gym class for being skinny, and was one time had his water bottle knocked out of his hands where some of the water splashed onto his pants and one student then said he pee'd his pants and was then laughed at. This reportedly traumatized Jose, and even mentioned this incident in one of his suicide notes.
Bullying PSA film: It was reported sometime before the shooting Jose had seen an Anti-bullying short film which featured the CCTV footage of the Columbine high school shooting with Eric and Dylan (you know what im talking about) It was conformed Jose was present when this film was shown at Sparks Middle School. This part of the film may of radicalized Jose, as it was probably after this point that he began researching school shootings.
Subject: Sparks Middle School Shooting 
Sun May 27, 2018 1:39 am
