Bill,
I remember it very well and am glad that you have brought it up. As a parent of teenagers, I think about it and what a tragedy it was.
As I recall, it was in the Fall of 1968; we were still wearing the traditional uniforms. I was a Freshman and still clueless about what going on in general. But the school was still a very traditional Catholic school for that time..still rooted in the early 60's culture.
This is what I remember...there was a commotion around the start of the school day, we were in homeroom or first period, and a rumor went flying around about a sniper on the roof; people were "freaking-out". I don't remember a PA annoucement, but there may have been one. We had to stay in our classrooms for awhile, but not too long. As you may remember during that time snipers and assisaations were a sad part of life, but to have it happen in bucolic Stamford was a real shock.
I don't remember the boys' name (Irish, I think Kevin McGuinnes or something), but he was a Sophomore, from a nice family. I didn't know him, but many of the Sophomores and Juniors did.
The story was that he climbed up the arches over the gym to get to the roof. I don't believe that he had a large calibre rifle, a .22 or so. He shot at the Dean of Disciplines Office, Fr. Cusack, hitting the window and one or two other shots at the building. He then killed himself with a shot to the head. I don't remember a large police presence either, but this was before SWAT teams.
They never told us what was going on. We continued with class that morning after things settled down. They had a funeral mass that the whole school attended later in the week (Friday). But that was it. Sr. Davies was the Pricipal at that time.
However, I have always felt that it had a profound effect on the school administration and the teachers. The school seemed to have lost its bearings following that episode and with changes in society in general. The school got very,very loose (remember when smoking was allowed on the patio outside of the cafeteria, and religion class consisting of listening to "Jesus Christ Superstar" ). The place seemed to be up for grabs for the following year; the teachers and administration didn't seem to know how to handle the kids. They were probably in shock, unsure of themselves and afraid of another tragic episode.
The school got more settled down by '70 and seemed to regain its balance...but I think that incident, even though it was kept very quiet, had a deep effect on the school for sometime after.
It must have been a devastating for the boys' parents, teachers and everyone involved. He should be remembered.

dear sam thank you for your reply. this incident has stayed in my mind for all these years.i often think of that poor lost boy, when sadly, these events have become almost common place.i was a freshman that year as were you and your note has joged my memory.yes, father cusak was his intended victim and yes he did climb the arches and use a 22 rifle. i can not remember his name but i wish i could.i do remember that his brother was killed in viet nam the year before his suicide.the story i heard at the time was that the police rushed him on the roof with weapons drawn and he killed himself.i had the chance to meet with with fr cusack three years after this terrible tradegy.as you might imagine,this had a profound impact on him.fr cusak had a reputation as a hard nut back in those days.[yelling hitting jacking you up in the hall, far to many of those "priests"]he was deep in prayer and searching for meaning and peace when i last spoke to him.that was thirty years ago.i hope he found both.it was a tough time in 68/69,so much violence and death,we were all drifting.i will never forget that boy on the roof.he will be remembered.thank you for your reply

This may be a morbid way to remember the name of that poor kid on the roof,but here arehe names of Stamford's dead from the Viet Nam War. Even after all this time it's STILL difficult to see these names listed.

#1, Norm Spenard was on his way out of the front door at SCHS in the fall of 1965.He had come by to say goodbye to his old teachers.
At the door he stopped long enough for John Theis and I to wish him luck. He was killed in a matter of weeks.
SPENARD NORMAN JOSEPH GEO LCPL MARINES 05DEC65
ANDREWS STUART MERRILL COL AIR FORCE 01DEC77
BANKOWSKI ALFONS ALOYZE SSGT AIR FORCE 23MAR61
BRANSON JAMES ALLAN LCPL MARINES 10SEP66
BROADHURST RICHARD EDWARD PFC MARINES 04AUG65
CAUTHERN ROGER ROBERT CPL MARINES 08NOV67
CHOWKA ANDREW DANIEL PFC MARINES 14MAR68
CONNORS FERGUS FRANCIS JR CPL ARMY 11JUN67
DWYER ROBERT KEEFE 1LT ARMY 15JUL67
FLEMING DUNCAN HARTWELL SP4 ARMY 03JUN67
FRANCE RONALD LYNN LCPL MARINES 12MAR69
GANDY KENT ELLSWORTH MAJ ARMY 13AUG66
JOBST KURT KARL JR SP4 ARMY 24AUG68
KERR CHARLES DAVID 2LT MARINES 16DEC67
KISER ROBERT JESSE SSGT ARMY 03APR71
NICKERSON WILLIAM BREWSTE LTJG NAVY 22APR66 PELLEGRINO JOHN PETER SGT ARMY 13OCT68
RICH RICHARD CAPT NAVY 11NOV76
RICHARDS CHARLES EDWARD LCPL MARINES 04FEB68
SAPP ISAAC PFC MARINES 27MAY69
SHELTON JEROLD JEROME SSGT ARMY 28JAN69
VAGNONE MICHAEL JOHN SSGT ARMY 18APR70

"fr cusak had a reputation as a hard nut back in those days.[yelling hitting jacking you up in the hall"

I remeber the incident and Cusaks' discussion of it in my classroom (class '69) afterwards. The substance of the discussion was don't blame the police.. they were just acting like cops, at least that's what I recall. (I remember that the police shot the kid, but I could be wrong, it was a long time ago)

Regarding the reputation, I always wondered why the shots were aimed at Cusak. Yes he was tough, but,IIRC, it was the dean of discipline that meted out the discipline. Cusack was class advisor, and I do not recall him ever "roghing up" or being physical with a student. He was definately forceful in making his opinion known (no mistakes there), but I don't recall him touching a student

I did not know the student. Does anyone remember a specific interaction between him and Cusack that might have precipitated the incident? I'm assuming here he took a shot at Cusak for a reason other than college planning advice. Or, am I off base? Was cusak just a convient target?

No criticism of the police, I was not making decisions that day, but I always wondered why they had to rush the kid. At the very least, that rush with guns drawn was the precipitating incident for the kid's death. I wondered why they could not have covered him, evacuated the school, and got his mother or father in to talk him off the roof. Does anyone know of a formal review of the incident?

I wonder if a police report survives form that error.

Thanks for bringing up the incident. I think about it too after all these years (before I saw it here) and wondered if anyone else rembered that poor kid.

--george

"I wonder if a police report survives form that error."

Talk about your Freudian slips... I wanted to say "from that era"