Counselor Christopher Galton, a Licensed Professional Counselor in Surfside Beach, is weighing in on the psychology behind two journals written by 15-year-old Christian Helms.
The solicitor's office released videos and journals Friday that belonged to the teen who was sentenced this week for bringing bombs to school and shooting at a school resource officer.
A NewsChannel 15 story about the Helm's video can be read here.
Galton has never treated Christian Helms. After reading the journals the Solicitors Office released, the counselor says the pages show two sides of the boy who wrote them.
"You can see some change over time within his writing thats preceded the event but you can also see when in his writings after the event...he went back and could put some of this information together and explain in some ways, some of what happened," says Galton.
The first of the two journals is about 32 pages, and displays, what Galton calls "signs of obsessive behavior as a means of coping."
"I've been experimenting with small pipe bombs/home made fireworks," Helms writes. "Now I go onto this website called 'GUNSAMERICA' and imagine what guns I would buy for the shooting."
The first journal also includes drawings of people, with lines drawn where to shoot someone to wound, or kill. In it, he begins signing as "Micro," and includes a list of "people not to kill" as well as a list of 11 more names. Underneath them, Helms writes, "I want to kill them all so bad!"
"While this might seem like a cold heartless act by an antisocial, it is far more like a person, who is very deeply depressed with no sense of hope for nine years becomes fixated on defending themselves and ultimately on revenge." Galton adds.
The second journal, written while Helms was in the Department of Juvenile Justice following the shooting, is more than 50 pages long, and includes accounts of bullying as early as kindergarten.
"I got on the bus one day and showed my missing teeth and my new loose one," Helms writes. "Soon another 5 grader came over to look and said, 'when do you think that tooth is going to come out?' I said 'I didn't know.' So he told me to open my mouth again and when I was nice and open, he slapped me in the face and knocked my tooth out."
Galton says bullying is a theme in both of the Helms journals. He spends pages and pages recalling incidents of being picked on as early as kindergarten.
Originally, he might have been crying for help, Galton said
"Honestly, I think long after during this whole process for the whole year, it went from being a cry for help to I don't have any other alternative but to get back at the people that caused me this," Galton said.
We asked Galton if there could be a chance the recollections of bullying could be made up or embellished in the second journal, he said it was very unlikely.
Galton said the accounts of bullying in the journals could have been enough to cause the teen to bring a gun and bombs to school and shoot at a school resource officer.
He adds it is clear Helms doesn't have a real clear understanding of the extreme nature of his actions on September 21, 2010.
Helms will remain at Department of Juvenile Justice until he's 17 and will then serve the remaining three years on his sentence in adult prison.
"I believe with counseling and additional growing up that he will be doing while incarcerated, he will be able to resolve the hurt and anger that had built up over time and have far more mature and effective coping mechanisms to deal with problems," Galton explains.
He adds there is one main condition though to make that work.
"While he is in DJJ and prison, he isn't bullied again without any ability to defend himself. Even now after a year in DJJ his writings show him to be both intelligent and immature. He has a lot of growing up to do," says Galton.
