RHS school shoot motive, details remain under wraps

Roseburg Police have narrowed down a motive for February’s school shooting, describing a troubled relationship between two teens.

Roseburg police Lt. Pat Moore said this morning details of the motive cannot be released until the prosecuting entities — including the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office and the Douglas County Juvenile Department — agree to do so.

He provided a vague description of a tense relationship between the two Roseburg High School students and their social circle which is believed to have led to the early morning campus shooting.

“There haven’t been any real variations from that,” he said, adding that most rumors police have checked into have been found to be unsubstantiated.

RHS sophomore Joseph Monti, 16, was critically injured Feb. 23 when a fellow student shot him four times with a.40-caliber pistol as students filed to class.

Monti remains in fair condition at Mercy Medical Center. He recently underwent surgery to remove more bullet fragments near his spine, according to his half-brother, Eric Allison.

Some of the bullets were removed immediately after the shooting in a surgery that lasted several hours.

The alleged shooter, 14-year-old Vincent Leodoro, a freshman, remains in custody at the Juvenile Detention Center pending his April 18 trial.

Moore described the relationships between the two boys and their friends as “fairly common to the teen years,” or “angst-ridden years.”

Moore said he would not classify the incident as a symptom of bullying, just that it appears there were “antagonistic dynamics involved in the relationship.”


• You can reach Chelsea Duncan at 957-4246 or by e-mail at cduncan@newsreview.info.