School shooter freed Columbia High student who fired at teachers and students released from prison.
East Greenbush principal stopped youth’s rampage
Jon Romano, who as a teen in 2004 fired a 12-gauge shotgun at students and teachers inside East Greenbush’s Columbia High School, was released from state prison on Tuesday, state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision records show.
Now aged 33, Romano was released on parole after spending more than 15 years in prison for attempted murder and other charges connected to the Feb. 9, 2004 shooting at the suburban high school. Romano left the Auburn State Correctional Facility to live in Albany County, the records show.
Years after the shooting, Romano wrote to the Times Union to praise the assistant principal who ended his rampage.
“John Sawchuk is a hero who I owe my life to,” Romano said in a 2018 handwritten letter from Coxsackie Correctional Facility. “I know whenever another horrible shooting happens, he and all of my victims are hurt all over again from what I did to them. I want to take away their pain but knowing that I cannot, I want to prevent others from experiencing this pain.”
Sawchuk, who went on to become Columbia’s principal, subdued Romano. A special education teacher, Michael Bennett was shot in the leg when the gun went off as Sawchuk restrained Romano. Bennett went on to become a principal and then assistant superintendent in the Schodack district.
School officials said they were aware Romano had been released but declined further comment. Bennett declined to comment on Romano’s release.
Romano was sentenced to a 17-to-20-year term and five years of post-release supervision after his guilty plea in Rensselaer County Court.
On Oct. 27, a state parole board rejected Romano’s first
attempt for parole. Romano was released under the limited credit time allowance which under state corrections law grants up to six months credit for completing certain programs in prison.
Romano was eligible on Sept. 21 but didn’t compete his final program until Dec. 15. when he was released. The state parole board didn’t release Romano. He would have been released on March 21, 2021 to parole as required by law.
Troy attorney E. Stewart Jones said Romano’s prison sentence was too harsh. Jones said the parole board was presented materials and information about Romano’s progress.
“He did not deserve to be imprisoned for the length of time he served,” said Jones, who handled the unsuccessful appeal of the sentence’s length. “He
was a young man with a significant psychological problem.”
On the day of the shooting, Romano left a suicide note on top of his bed and put a shotgun his mother had recently bought for him in its case, drove to school, and carried the gun inside and into a bathroom. He sat in a stall and loaded the gun with five Winchester Super X heavy-game loads.
After almost changing his mind, he came out of the bathroom and fired two shots at students, which missed, pointed the gun at others and into classrooms without firing and was then tackled by Sawchuk.
In a suicide note Romano left on his bed that morning, the then-16-year-old student said he was angry at the school because word got around that he had spent some time in a psychiatric care facility for emotional prob
lems and for talking about suicide. “So Columbia, it’s your fault,” he wrote.
Romano said he watched the documentary “Bowling for Columbine,” a documentary about the notorious school shooting in Colorado, and fantasized about going to his high school and “shooting up the place.” He pleaded guilty to nine counts of an 86-count indictment, including three counts of attempted murder and six counts of reckless endangerment.
“Obviously, we’re thankful no one was killed. I certainly hope he used the time behind bars to better himself and to consider his actions on that day,” said Joseph Ahearn, now a defense attorney in Troy, who was first assistant district attorney when he handled the response to Romano’s appeal of his sentence.
Romano wrote to then-times Union Executive Editor Rex Smith in response to Chris Churchill’s Feb. 21, 2018 column, which featured an interview with Sawchuk.
Sawchuk could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
In addition to thanking Sawchuk for saving his life, Romano praised the students at Parkland, Fla., who have become gun control activists in the wake of the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting that killed 14 students and three faculty members.
“I believe the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland are courageous and inspiring for demanding action from politicians,” Romano wrote. “Everyone nationwide should accept nothing less than meaningful, life-saving policy changes from their politicians.”