Jon Romano / JonSeekingPeace TikTok

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About

Jon Romano, also known by his TikTok handle JonSeekingPeace or as some call him the TikTok School Shooter, is an American school shooter responsible for the 2004 shooting at Columbia High in East Greenbush, New York. Romano was convicted and later released after a 17-year prison sentence. Romano started his TikTok account in January 2022 and first went viral for posting about life in prison and his life after surviving a sword attack in a homeless shelter. In October 2023, internet users began to criticize Romano for supposedly capitalizing on his violent history to garner internet fame or "TikTok clout."

Background

On February 9th, 2004, then 16-year-old Jon Romano fired a shotgun and wounded a special education teacher at Columbia High School in East Greenbush, New York. He was ultimately tackled and disarmed by an assistant principal, with the incident resulting in no fatalities. Romano was charged and convicted at the age of 16 and subsequently released in 2020 after serving 17 years in prison.^[1]

Romano was reportedly inspired by Michael Moore's documentary Bowling For Columbine and had left a note on his bed the morning of the shooting blaming his school for spreading the news about his previous stint in a psychiatric unit.^[2]

On August 29th, 2022, Jon Romano was left severely injured after being attacked at a homeless shelter he worked at.^[3] Randell Mason, 42, wielded a sword to inflict severe damage to Romano's arms and legs, which had to be reattached surgically. In a statement issued from the witness stand at Mason's hearing, Romano wished his attacker well, saying:

“Some people think that I’d be filled with anger and rage, but I’ve learned that would do me no good. That would harm me. I want you to know that although my life will never be the same, I will move forward and do well. And I wish you well.”

Online History

On January 22nd, 2022, @JonSeekingPeace posted his first TikTok video. The clip^[4] showed him dueting a former prisoner doing sign language (seen below, left). @JonSeekingPeace also posted another video^[5] duetting someone saying "Some of y'all need to be humbled and realize that the only reason you didn't go to prison is because you never got caught or you had the resources to pretend like it never happened" (seen below, right).

On January 27th, 2022, Romano posted a video^[6] discussing why he went to prison, gathering over 500,000 plays and 27,000 likes in over a year (seen below, left). On August 7th, 2023, Romano posted security footage^[7] of the sword attack against him, gathering over 10 million plays and 790,000 likes in two months (seen below, right).

On September 20th, 2023, Romano posted a video^[8] answering a query about whether he had spoken to the classmates he attacked back in 2004. The post gathered over 3.4 million plays and 160,000 likes in two weeks (seen below, left). On October 4th, Romano responded to a comment saying, "Bring back shame" to talk about his experiences with mental health and shame. The post^[9] gathered over 3 million plays in a day (seen below, right).

Following

As of October 2023, Jon Romano has gathered over 250,000 followers on TikTok.

Online Reactions

As Romano garnered attention online in late 2023, various internet users criticized Romano for perceivably capitalizing on his violent history to gather internet fame. On October 3rd, 2023, TikToker^[10] @alyssaphobium stitched a clip of Romano saying racism against white people exists, using the sword attack against him as an example (seen below, left). Also that day, TikToker^[11] @bodacious_bobo posted a video criticizing Romano for having an internet presence as well, gathering over 160,000 plays and 4,000 likes in a day (seen below, right).

X users reacted to news of Romano's TikTok fame as well, with user @bluepantheress^[12] posting a meme on October 4th, 2023, with the caption, "what do mean there’s a school shooter on tiktok with a large following? surely I’m not hearing this right," gathering over 18,000 likes in a day (seen below, left). Also on October 4th, X^[13] user @abby4thepeople made a post criticizing Romano as well, gathering over 6,000 likes in a day (seen below, right).