Jon Romano was 16 years old in 2004 when he opened fire at Columbia High School in New York. This shooting was quickly stopped, and only one teacher was injured. Now, Romano is a 35-year-old who was released from prison in 2020 after serving 17 years for the school shooting. He took to TikTok in hopes of redeeming himself, his bio stating, “After being a part of the problem, it’s time to be a part of the solution.”
Romano posted a video on TikTok on his account “jonseekingpeace” about his shooting, showing the halls of the school as he explained his thought process throughout. The video went viral, and Romano has now amassed over 276,000 followers on the platform. Romano continues to make videos about mental health, dealing with trauma, preventing tragedy and more.
Through his videos, Romano has openly stated that he is a school shooter; however, he has also said that he regrets his decisions. He stated that “[he] knew that [he would] be traumatizing them.” Many people on the platform have spoken out against Romano, asking “why [there is] an admitted school shooter on [TikTok],” while also calling him out for using his victim’s trauma for his own benefit.
In today’s age, it is relatively easy for someone to become a micro-influencer, and these people can be surprisingly influential in young people’s lives. Allowing Romano to continue to influence others is damaging. Romano’s entire platform is built on the trauma of his victims. He has stated that many of his victims have reached out to him in the past 20 years, addressing the trauma that he has caused them and that they are disturbed after every mass event.
Romano is getting what he wanted all along. In his video showing the halls of the school, he explains beforehand that he had no intent to kill anyone, but he wanted to “die in front of other people” and that he knew he would be traumatizing them, but he wanted to “share [his] pain with others.” Essentially, all Romano wanted 20 years ago was attention, which he is now gaining at the expense of his victims.
While he has addressed that he has spoken to former peers, he has not acknowledged how his victims feel about him using their trauma to gain a following on social media. Romano often avoids questions about this topic, instead sharing that his platform’s purpose is to address mental health issues, as that is what caused him to become a school shooter.
Many people on TikTok have called out Romano, claiming that he is manipulating the story to make it seem like he is the victim. In all, nobody truly knows what his intentions were that day in 2004. In any case, a school shooter should not be given any type of platform in the way that Romano has.
