Suspect Confronted Bullies, Lawyer Says

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The 14-year-old girl who allegedly shot a female classmate at a Roman Catholic school this week had recently clashed with school bullies over their treatment of an Asian girl, her lawyer said Thursday.

Attorney George Lepley said eighth-grader Elizabeth Bush had been at odds with a group of students who harassed classroom outcasts at Bishop Neumann High School.

Bush, the first female suspect in a recent series of highly publicized U.S. school shootings, faces juvenile charges for allegedly walking up to 13-year-old Kimberly Marchese in a crowded cafeteria Wednesday and shooting the girl in the shoulder with her father’s .22-caliber revolver.

Marchese was hospitalized overnight and released Thursday.