Student in Bomb Case May Seek Psychiatric Defense

The lawyer for a student accused of bringing 18 bombs, a sawed-off shotgun and a loaded pistol into a high school said Thursday his client may pursue a psychiatric defense.

Jeremy Getman, a senior at Southside High School, is a “nice guy, very quiet,” said public defender Richard Rich.

Classmates of the 18-year-old Getman expressed surprise at the incident, which forced the evacuation of the school’s 1,100 students Wednesday. About 300 students didn’t return to the school when it reopened Thursday.

“It was out of the blue, really,” said Chris Mothershed, a 16-year-old junior who had a class with Getman. “A couple of people feel sorry for him because they think he is sick in the head.”

Getman was arrested in the school cafeteria Wednesday after other students told school officials about the weapons, said Dist. Atty. John Trice. The school is in Elmira, about 75 miles south of Syracuse.

The student had near him a gym bag containing 14 pipe bombs, four other bombs and a sawed-off shotgun, and he was armed with a loaded .22-caliber pistol, Trice said. Police also confiscated two bombs at Getman’s home.

“This could have been Columbine,” said John Murnan, a special agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Getman was arraigned late Wednesday on 10 felony counts of first-degree criminal possession of a dangerous weapon and jailed on $500,000 bail or $1-million bond.

Each felony count carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. Getman also faces one count of second-degree criminal possession of a dangerous weapon, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Getman has waived his preliminary hearing, sending the case directly to a grand jury. Trice said it would take about a week to complete the investigation.