Saturday, September 16, 2017

School Shooter in Clovis, New Mexico

Griffin Garbarini
Forensics
Mr. Ippolito
09/10/17
Current Event Review #1

MLA Citation and hyperlink:

Review:
A previously peaceful community, with a quaint public library, was disturbed on Monday August 28th, 2017. Clovis, New Mexico was cursed with resident Nathaniel Jouett who open fired into his public libary, killing two librarians and wounding four others including a young boy. The Associated Press usually does not release the names of juvenile alleged criminals, but Mr. Jouett’s name was released because the DA’s office (district attorney) is going to charge him as an adult. The shooting took the community by surprise as any atrocity of that nature would. The story behind Mr. Jouett shows how manipulative he was and how he took advantage of the local priest. Nathaniel was dating the priest’s daughter. The priest realized through interaction that he had some issues that needed to be worked through if Nataniel still wanted to date his daughter. The priest convinced Nathaniel to come to church and start reading the bible. Nathaniel did wind up going to church a couple times and even brought his family with him. The priest assured the community that this young man had changed. The priest stated "It's just more than we can comprehend. I don't know what happened," Stevens (the priest) said. "His mind had to snap. I don't know any other way to explain it. He was a good kid. He had straightened his life out” (Associated Press). The shooting left the community of “40,000 shocked” and took two souls with it (Associated Press). Mr. Jouett will be charged with “two counts of first-degree murder, four counts of assault with intent to commit a violent felony, four counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and one count of child abuse” (Associated Press).
The article written by the Associated Press helped to inform many of the shooting that occurred in Clovis, New Mexico. Some, including myself, had never heard of the incident and this article not only informed me of the incident, but educated me on the details surrounding the shooting. It sparked the curious side of my mind that made me think about what types of forensic scientists could be involved in this shooting to help the DA proove Nathaniel is guilty and was in the mindframe of an adult. They could ask for the help from forensic psychiatrists, who will determine the mental state of Nataniel, or criminality who can internalize and utilize all the physical evidence to help the DA prosecute. While the article did not have any life changing information, it still help educate people in the forensics community about the use of firearms in a attack in Clovis, New Mexico.

This article was found on forensicsmag.com, yet did not have as large as a forensic involvement as I had hoped. The article failed to mention what type of gun he used, how many times he fired into the library, and how this teaches the forensics community something new. This could have been seriously improved if they had mentioned more forensics related information. For example, they could have explained that the local or county criminalist is going to used the weapon and slugs to prove he was the one who killed everyone. While this information may be obvious to some, it may not be to entry level forensic scientists. Although the article was lacking in some areas, it exceeded my expectations in terms of the investigating that went into interviewing the priest. The interview and information from the priest added a certain angle that made the article very emotional and real as it gave true background to the incident.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Press, Associated. “Police ID Teen Suspect in Fatal New Mexico Library Shooting.” Forensic Magazine, 30 Aug. 2017,

After reading Griffin’s Review of “Police ID Teen Suspected in Fatal New Mexico Library Shooting” I was shocked to see what I would learn. Griffin did a very good job of reviewing and summarizing all parts of the article. ntH into depth about explaining some parts of the article, such as interviews with the neighborhood priest, and even his thoughts on this. I also thought Griffin did a good job of writing his review similar to the language the article used. It kept the reader focused and in tune with the seriousness of the situation, instead of spitting out different facts the article said. After reading the full summary I wish there had been more background on the gunman before the attack. There was mention that he was disturbed and had met with the pastor/priest before and solved his “problems” but this wasn’t very clear. I think it also would have been informative to add more about the court case and maybe any argument the defense attorney is using in order to help his client. I was very impressed with Griffin’s work. I think he did a very good job presenting the important information in the article and made his summary very informative. Though he said there was little to do with forensics entomology, I wish more forensics tactics had been presented in the article for Griffin to go over.

Anonymous said...

Griffin did a really good job presenting this review. I thought that especially the detail that he went into when describing what happened really helped me understand what had happened in the shooting. I thought that by describing the people and what charges they were facing also really helped me understand. I thought that he was able to make it flow well and kept the reader intrigued throughout. He was also able to inform the reader of something that they may have not heard about and that makes someone more aware of their surroundings and what is going on around.
I think that throughout the review there were some parts of it that were choppy and I think clearing those up would have helped a lot. I think that overall this was a great review although maybe incorporating some more details about the victims.
I had not heard about this shooting and I think that the fact that Griffin had brought it to my attention was really good, because now I’m aware of the situation.

Press, Associated. “Police ID Teen Suspect in Fatal New Mexico Library Shooting.” Forensic Magazine, 30 Aug. 2017,

Anonymous said...


I read Griffin's review of the article "Police ID Teen Suspect in Fatal New Mexico Library Shooting" I enjoyed reading his review for three reasons. The first reason is that he chose to review an article that I have a genuine interest in. This kept me entertained throughout his review. The second reason is that he wrote a very good summary of the article and issue at hand. The third reason that I enjoyed his summary is that he quoted the article which added lots of credibility to his argument.

Although there was lots of good aspects of this review there were two aspects that needed improvement. The first was that he could have included more quotations from the article as he mentioned that the article was written about a crime, so I would have liked to see actual quotes from CSI people. Also, he could have included how the victims of the attack were doing, and if there were any dead.

This article brings awareness to the violence in America; but media has often portrayed shootings as a “no big deal” kind of thing, but reading an article about the forensics and aftermath help to bring about the real gravity of a shooting then normal media tends to place around it.

Olivia Lewis said...

Griffin reviewed an article that was written recapping the events that took place in late August in a small town in New Mexico. I think that he did a good job in summarizing the article and explaining the decisions that were made regarding the case that was being evaluated along with describing the reactions to the case and the events that followed. I also think that he did a good job of showing which types of forensic sciences would be necessary in this case, including forensic psychiatry. He made clear points as to how the information found would influence the case and why it would be used. He also showed how these disciplines could directly impact the trial and the importance of them. Finally, I think that the critique of the article was very accurate and all of the suggestions he made were well thought out.
I think that this review could have been improved by making more connections to the effects of this event on society and how it might relate to what we are learning in class. I also believe that the review could have been improved by making some parts of it more clear and concise. This would have made the points he was trying to make more prominent and be more impactful to the reader.
Overall, I think this review was very educational, as I had not heard of the shooting before reading this review, it also gives an insight into how different disciplines of forensic sciences are used in the judicial system and the importance of them.

Anonymous said...

Griffin dove into the ambiguity of the shooting, a teen with perhaps no motive was soon exposed to me with Mr. garbarini's take on the article. He stressed Juotte's personal vendettas and aspiriations to start a new by the church and earn his girlfriend's father's respect who happened to be the priest of said church. although out on a ttwo day suspension for a physical confrontation at school, people including the priest generally had believed that he had turned over a new leaf. Griffin's marvelous use of quotes shape a motive that the frustrated teen simp-ly "snapped" and that he needed to channel his anger on about just anybody even innocent bystanders. I also found it interesting how Griffin described the quiet arizona community to which I equated somewhat to Bronxville. However It would have been better if griffin spoke about how this teen obtained firearms, aswell as other possible motives like the original article it is extremely ambiguous. I also think Griffin implements his opinions a little to mmuch especially on the perpetrator whom we are given very little information about. I was very shocked to learn about the situation while still being deprived of information, even in the original article it does not specify the type of gun used or even how he would obtain such a thing.

Anonymous said...


I thought Griffins current event review was very good. His explanation of the shooting and how everything happened was very well presented and described. I didn’t hear about this shooting and Griffins explanation helped me understand very well. I also thought that his use of quotes were very well thought out and used appropriately. By using quotes It helps the reader see what a person that was there when the shooting happened helps use better understand what happened and it gives us someone’s point of view of what happened I thought that it was good how he mentioned how the town was affected by the shooting because a town can be in very shaken up by something like a shooting in a school and how the student are affected by it because sometimes articles just talk about who did the crime and what happened some people aren’t as focused on how the people around the crime are affected about how the people are affected by something like a shooting because that can affect a person for the rest of their lives.

One thing that I would suggest is that some parts of the article were a little bit unclear so maybe try clarify some things up for the reader. But other than that it was a very well written article.

I don’t have any other suggestions for Griffin because his review was very well thought out and I was glad that Griffin talked about how he felt about the article and how he felt about the . Overall a very well written review.

Anonymous said...


Press, Associated. “Police ID Teen Suspect in Fatal New Mexico Library Shooting.” Forensic Magazine, 30 Aug. 2017,

Griffin’s Review of “Police ID Teen Suspected in Fatal New Mexico Library Shooting” was very well written. One reason why I thought he did a good job was because he included quotes from the article, which brings in important facts from the article into the review. Another reason why I thought it was well written was because of the way he summarized the article; one example of this is how he explained the decisions that were made involving the case and described the reactions to the case. Lastly, I think the topic he chose also made the review a lot better. It gives the reader knowledge on major events that are happening around us that we may not be aware of.
Although I thought that Griffin did a very good job writing his review, there are a couple things that would make it even better. One thing I would have liked to seen was more information about how this event has been affecting the society, like more information about how they are dealing with this event. Another thing I wish he included was more of a background and information on the teen suspect that the police caught.
Overall this review was very well written and very informative. Like many others, I had not heard of this important event before reading Griffin’s review so I am glad that he brought this shooting to our attention.

Anonymous said...

Hana Eddib 09/24/17
Forensics current event 2

https://www.forensicmag.com/news/2017/08/police-id-teen-suspect-fatal-new-mexico-library-shooting
Press, Associated. “Police ID Teen Suspect in Fatal New Mexico Library Shooting.” Forensic Magazine, 30 Aug. 2017,

Griffin’s review of, “Police ID Teen Suspect in Fatal New Mexico Library Shooting” was very well written. He did a great job providing back story of the events that caused the shooting by describing the events that happened in the library. I also appreciated how Griffin included the quote for the Priest who worked closely with the suspected shooter, providing detail about his life and character prior to his heinous act. I also appreciated how Griffin was able to relate this article to the forensics, discussing how the DA would probably enlist the help of forensic labs to help prove his guilt.
While Griffin’s review was very well written, there were two aspects he could improve on. It would’ve been helpful had it had been included whether the shooter was a member of the New Mexico community because it wasn’t clarified. This could have shown how much of an impact this was to the community. I also wish there was some insight on the reaction of the community and how the community reacted. I know it was acknowledged but I feel like it could’ve been discussed in larger detail.
Overall, Griffin wrote a great review of the article. I was so shocked to read about this. With all of the larger news stories circulating now, this wasn’t a story I was familiar with.

Anonymous said...

Zach Zucker

https://www.forensicmag.com/news/2017/08/police-id-teen-suspect-fatal-new-mexico-library-shooting
Press, Associated. “Police ID Teen Suspect in Fatal New Mexico Library Shooting.” Forensic Magazine, 30 Aug. 2017,



From Griffin’s review of “Police ID Teen Suspected in Fatal New Mexico Library Shooting”, I felt that I was able to learn many new things that he explained. Griffin incited many great details in his review. For example, Griffin did a good job explaining the background of the story and kept the timeline throughout the review very clear. This made it easy for readers to understand his review. Secondly, Griffin added quotes from the article which gives the reader another incite about what others thought about the shooting incident. For example, Griffin used the quote "It's just more than we can comprehend. I don't know what happened”. Also, I thought Griffin did a good job on adding his own thoughts and opinions into the review rather than just straight facts.
Although, Griffin could add a few more ideas to his review to make it perfect. First, I think that Griffin should add more about the forensics part of the crime. Along with this, there are parts where Griffin can make his point more clear and concise through the review.

Overall, I think Griffin did a good job summarizing the article and adding his own thoughts and opinions. I found this review interesting and informative because I have never heard of this case and I am happy Griffin brought up this article for his review.

Anonymous said...

Press, Associated. “Police ID Teen Suspect in Fatal New Mexico Library Shooting.” Forensic Magazine, 30 Aug. 2017

Griffin's article was very well written, and had many aspects that I liked. The first was his use of quotes. He incorporated them into the article very well and used them to help us as the readers get a better sense of what had happened. I also liked how he picked something rather obscure, something that very few people had heard about, and helped shed light on a tragedy. I also liked how he wrote about his own thoughts about how forensics could have been used in this case, since it wasn’t mentioned in the article. Although he did use quotes well, I feel as if he could have used them in a more concise way, rather than just adding them to the end of a sentence. Since I had heard nothing of this shotting everything I read was new to me, and that made the read more enjoyable to me.

Anonymous said...

Niksic, Sabina. "At Least 65 Skulls Found So Far at a Mass Grave in Bosnia." Forensic Magazine, 20 Sept. 2017, www.forensicmag.com/news/2017/09/least-65-skulls-found-so-far-mass-grave-bosnia. Accessed 23 Sept. 2017.

This article I read was about how a mass grave from the Bosnian war was found in August and is from August of 1992. The grave was found near the Koricanske Stijene cliff near Mount Vlasic and they found about 65 skulls that belonged to non Serb civilians who were executed by the Bosnian Serb forces there as part of the genocide in Bosnia. There was another site found close by that had 117 victims which was found earlier this year. The Bosnian Missing Persons Institute is leading the excavation of the site and their forensics teams are working to identify the bodies as there are about 220 at the site and there are still about 7,000 unaccounted for people since the war ended. Since the end of the war they have found and identified more than 25,000 bodies.
This article is important not just to me but to the world because it talks about identifying the victims of the worst genocide since the second World War. By identifying the victims it can help give people who lost loved ones closure on what happened to them and it helps to shed light on people who will most likely face war crime charges, many of those being Serb police officers who let the atrocities take place and helped the Serb forces in their killings. It will also help to bring new light to something that happened over 20 years ago and has been largely forgotten and many born after it happened probably know very little about what happened in Bosnia.
The article had a lot of good information in it but it presented more of a story about what happened to the victims rather than going into detail about the excavation effort. If the article had highlighted what the Bosnian Missing Persons Institute was doing it would have added a lot to the article. I also would have prefered it to have the article consist of large paragraphs rather than a couple sentences here and there as it would have flowed better.

Anonymous said...

Niksic, Sabina. "At Least 65 Skulls Found So Far at a Mass Grave in Bosnia." Forensic Magazine, 20 Sept. 2017, www.forensicmag.com/news/2017/09/least-65-skulls-found-so-far-mass-grave-bosnia. Accessed 23 Sept. 2017.

This article I read was about how a mass grave from the Bosnian war was found in August and is from August of 1992. The grave was found near the Koricanske Stijene cliff near Mount Vlasic and they found about 65 skulls that belonged to non Serb civilians who were executed by the Bosnian Serb forces there as part of the genocide in Bosnia. There was another site found close by that had 117 victims which was found earlier this year. The Bosnian Missing Persons Institute is leading the excavation of the site and their forensics teams are working to identify the bodies as there are about 220 at the site and there are still about 7,000 unaccounted for people since the war ended. Since the end of the war they have found and identified more than 25,000 bodies.
This article is important not just to me but to the world because it talks about identifying the victims of the worst genocide since the second World War. By identifying the victims it can help give people who lost loved ones closure on what happened to them and it helps to shed light on people who will most likely face war crime charges, many of those being Serb police officers who let the atrocities take place and helped the Serb forces in their killings. It will also help to bring new light to something that happened over 20 years ago and has been largely forgotten and many born after it happened probably know very little about what happened in Bosnia.
The article had a lot of good information in it but it presented more of a story about what happened to the victims rather than going into detail about the excavation effort. If the article had highlighted what the Bosnian Missing Persons Institute was doing it would have added a lot to the article. I also would have prefered it to have the article consist of large paragraphs rather than a couple sentences here and there as it would have flowed better.