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Florida teacher Barry Grunow, who was killed by the 13-year-old student

Florida teacher Barry Grunow, who was killed by the 13-year-old student

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(This story is part of the new series of the Palm Beach Post on true crimes.)

Victim: Barry Grunow, 35

killer: Nathaniel Brazill

Where: Lake worth

Date: May 26, 2000

It was the last day of school.

Barry Grunow, loved English teacher at Lake Worth Middle School for 17 years, landed the day.

The seventh grader Nathaniel Brazill was to get an “f” in Grunow's English lessons and was just suspended because of a waterball fight. So he went to the family's house and found a pistol of the caliber .25.

Then he returned to school. Brazill stood on Grunow's classroom door and asked for his friends. Grunow laughed and declined. Brazill closed the gun and shot the father of two children in the face and killed him.

Nathaniel Brazill: “What did I think?”

It is the only time that a teacher was killed in a school in Palm Beach County. It was 25 years ago and Brazill is still in prison.

When Detective Brazill said Grunow died, he sobbed: “What do I think? What did I think?”

It was a time of children in their early teenagers who had committed murder but got no mercy. Tronneal Magnum was 15 years old when he killed 13-year-old classmate John Pierre Kamel outside of Conniston Middle School in 1997. They argue about a wristwatch. Magnum was sentenced to life in prison, but was released at the age of 39.

“Murder is a crime for adults that is only committed by someone in a 13-year-old body,” the then public prosecutor of the public prosecutor Beach County, Barry Krischer, told CNN.

Brazill was convicted of murdered second degree and sentenced to 28 years in prison after being brought to trial as an adult.

The 35 -year -old Grunow was not only a teacher, but also a co -trainer of the middle school basketball team. He was known for how well he related to his students.

Barry Grunow grew up in Palm Beach County

Grunow was born in Detroit. His father died young and he grew up in the Cabana colony of the working class near Palm Beach Gardens.

He took all-Conference honors at the Jupiter High School, then he graduated from Florida Atlantic University and closed in 1987. They had two children.

Pam Grunow sued the friend of the Brazil family, who owned the pistol, the Palm Beach County School Board and the Pfandhaus, who sold the pistol. These cases were paid with more $ 1 million. Grunow also submitted a lawsuit against the weapon manufacturer, which led to a 1.2 million dollar judgment of 1.2 million US dollars. However, the legal judge cited the judgment, and in 2005 the 4th Court of Appeal confirmed the judgment.

While he was in prison, Brazill received a Paralegal certificate.

Now Brazill 38 is older than Grunow 'when he died. Brazill is to be released on May 18, 2028 after serving his entire prison sentence – when he is 41 years old.

Holly Baltz, who has a passion for true crimes, is the investigative editor at the Palm Beach Post. You can reach them at hbaltz@pbpost.com. Support local investigative journalism. Subscribe to today.

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