Comment

Comment by Robert M. Siegfried on August 2, 2012 at 11:45am

While I must agree With Professor Duminiak's assessment, you also have to feel for Professor Reinscheid.  Burying a child is a nightmare for any parent, but to lose a child to suicide after (s)he has been bullied (or after perceived bullying) can be an outrage.  While this does not justify what he allegedly said, it does beg the question of whether this was just talk or something that he actually planned to do.

Comment by Leon B. Duminiak on August 2, 2012 at 10:21am

This individual clearly needs a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation.

Comment by FacultyRow Director on August 2, 2012 at 1:35am

D.A. filing: UCI professor's email says 'I will shoot 200 students'

By VIK JOLLY and SCOTT MARTINDALE / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

NEWPORT BEACH – A UC Irvine associate professor charged with setting five fires has described in chilling emails a plan to obtain machine guns and shoot at least 200 University High School students before killing himself, according to court documents.

The professor's emails also threatened to harm school officials he held responsible for his son Claas Stubbe's suicide in March after the 14-year-old was disciplined at the Irvine high school, court documents show.

Rainer Klaus Reinscheid, 48, of Irvine, booking photo.

COURTESY OF THE ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

 

The University High counselor who was present at a March meeting when Claas Stubbe's step-sister was informed of her step-brother's suicide was one of three school staff members in the room. The conversation was led by Principal John Pehrson and another staff member. Because of incorrect information provided to the Register, this information was incorrect when the story was initially published online.

"I will find this vice-principal and find out where he lives, then I will wait for him and kill him," Rainer Klaus Reinscheid, 48, of Irvine, wrote in one April email to his wife, Wendy Reinscheid.

"I will make him cry and beg, but I will not give him a chance, just like he did to Claas. I will make him die, slowly, surely. ... Next I will set fire to Uni High and try to burn down as much as I can, there should be nothing left that gives them reason to continue their miserable school that goes over dead bodies, only to save their scores."

Superior Court Judge Craig Griffin ordered Reinscheid held without bail Tuesday after prosecutors said the emails show he poses a threat to the community.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 8.

In an April 28 email to himself, Reinscheid says, according to court documents: "I am thinking about getting a dozen machine guns, then going to the school and shooting down that a------- vice-principal, then the principal and the stupid counselor lady, but I will stick the gun inside her (private part) before I pull the trigger, she deserves it. Then I will shoot at least 200 students before killing myself ..."

Reinscheid has been charged with two felony counts of arson of another's property, two counts of arson of a structure, one count of arson of an inhabited residence, one count of attempted arson, and one misdemeanor count of resisting or obstructing an officer. The fires were set between July 4 and 24 – three of them at the home of University High assistant principal Michael Georgino in Costa Mesa and two fires at University High School, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in court.

The emails, obtained by the Orange County Register, are included as an exhibit and quoted in the motion prosecutors filed to have the court hold Reinscheid without bail.

"In summary, the emails describe the defendant's plan to exact revenge against University High, particularly the assistant principal, whom the defendant holds responsible for the hanging suicide of defendant's son in March after being disciplined by the assistant principal," Deputy District Attorney Andrew Katz wrote in his declaration.

Prosecutors say Irvine police discovered the emails on Reinscheid's cell phone after he was arrested July 24 in connection to an attempted arson at Mason Park in Irvine, where Stubbe killed himself.

Irvine police also provided information that Reinscheid, a German citizen, demonstrated his intent to flee to his native country, Katz wrote. He has been in the United States for about 13 years, court documents said.

A police report included in court documents says Reinscheid was granted a leave of absence from UC Irvine from July through late September so he could travel abroad.

When Reinscheid was rearrested Friday, he was in possession of a newly signed will dated the same day, the police report states.

In graphic detail in the emails – two to his wife and one to himself, the latter reading like a journal entry – Reinscheid described how he would sexually assault and shoot a University High School counselor and expressed a desire to rape another woman.

In the emails to his wife sent on April 26 – titled "plans" and "love and time," respectively – Reinscheid outlined his plans for University High, spoke of his sadness about Stubbe's passing, said he has to be with his son "because he needs me" and asked for her understanding "because you would have done the same for your children."

In the April 28 email to himself titled "a good plan," Reinscheid said he had taken some medicine that was keeping him awake and he ought to cut down the dosage. He was also, he said, into his second bottle of wine.

"I need a gun, many guns, and then I have the ride of my life, first (the women), then the school administrators, then the rest of the school, then myself ... I will give myself a wonderful ending and be with Claas very soon. I like this plan, finally a good idea," the email concludes.

Reinscheid's wife, Wendy, said her husband "has been suffering from deep depression and sadness since his son's" suicide, according to court documents.

She initially agreed to allow Irvine police to search the couple's Irvine home, but later withdrew her consent, according to the search warrant affidavit.

Irvine Unified spokesman Ian Hanigan said Wednesday that the emails were shocking to school officials because the professor's interactions with University High administrators had not raised any alarms.

"Certainly, whatever interactions he had did not rise to the level where administrators thought there was murderous intent," Hanigan said.

Reinscheid appeared to have expressed anger toward a University High administrator just once, Hanigan said.

A few days after his son's suicide, Reinscheid told school Principal John Pehrson in a phone conversation that he was upset with the way University High administrators had broken the news of the suicide to his daughter, who also was a student at University High and the step-sister of Stubbe, Hanigan said.

School officials pulled the step-sister from her class and informed her of her step-brother’s death, after school administrators were unable to reach any of her emergency contacts, Hanigan said. Three staff members, including a school counselor, were present during that meeting, Hanigan said.

Hanigan cautioned, however, that it was not clear if the “counselor lady” Reinscheid referenced in his chilling emails was the same counselor who was present when his daughter was told of the suicide.

Hanigan also explained that the professor had already come to campus on the day he learned of his son’s suicide. Unfortunately, Hanigan said, he came before school officials realized Stubbe had a step-sister at the school. Reinscheid left the campus without picking up his daughter or making contact with her, Hanigan said.

After Reinscheid left the campus that day and school officials were unable to reach him or any of his daughter’s other emergency contacts, school administrators decided to break the news to her, knowing the news was already starting to spread on campus, Hanigan said.

"I can't even imagine what he was going through at that time," Hanigan said.

Hanigan said Stubbe committed suicide within 24 hours of being disciplined at school. The boy was caught stealing an item from University High's parent-run student store on March 13, Hanigan said. His body was discovered the morning of March 14, with coroner's officials estimating the boy died around midnight.

Hanigan said the assistant principal had not linked the fire at his Costa Mesa home to Reinscheid, although Hanigan added that the school district had not yet been able this week to reach the assistant principal, who is out of the country.

Law enforcement officials believe Reinscheid acted alone and is the only defendant and suspect in this case, prosecutors said.

No charges stem from the emails because the criminal threats were not communicated to any potential victims, D.A. spokeswoman Farrah Emami said.

"The emails themselves do not support a criminal charge, but support a need to hold him without bail," she said.

A colleague at UC Irvine, Bruce Blumberg, said Reinscheid was angry over the probe into his son's death and was considering legal action against the district, according to the Associated Press.

Another colleague and longtime friend, Olivier Civelli, said Reinscheid was devastated by his son's suicide but tried to keep it quiet at work. He showed no signs of the deep anger evident in the emails, said Civelli, professor and chairman of the pharmacology department, according to the Associated Press.

Comment by FacultyRow Director on August 1, 2012 at 10:04pm

Source: www.latimes.com

Professor Wrote of Plan to Kill 200 Students

In emails, a UC Irvine professor wrote of getting a dozen machine guns and shooting at least 200 students at his late son’s high school and then killing himself.

Rainer Reinscheid in April sent two emails to his wife and another to himself, threatening to kill the assistant principal of University High School, shoot hundreds of students and burn the school to the ground in a “firestorm that destroys every single building.”

The emails, which were filed in court late Tuesday by Orange County prosecutors, show that Reinscheid wrote in graphic detail about how he wanted to kill school administrators, sexually torture and assault two female staff members and then kill himself in the same park setting where his 14-year-old son, Claas Stubbe, committed suicide in March.

“I need a gun, many guns, and then I have the ride of my life,” Reinscheid, 48, wrote in one email to himself. “I will give myself a wonderful ending and be with Claas very soon. I like this plan, finally a good idea.”

Prosecutors and acquaintances say Reinscheid was furious at University High for how it handled his son's death, which happened after the student was disciplined for what school district officials called a “fairly minor” matter involving a theft from a student store.

Reinscheid seemed to direct particular venom at one administrator, vowing that he planned to go to the man’s home and force his wife and children to watch while “I will make him die slowly.”

In the emails, Reinscheid also appeared to apologize to his wife, and urged her to return to Germany, get an apartment in Munster and start life afresh. “It is the right moment to set you free from my misery and give you another life,” he wrote.

In another, he asked his wife to pass along only one message to their remaining children. “Daddy was so sad when Claas passed away, he was just eaten away by his sadness and stopped breathing,” he wrote.
Reinscheid, who teaches in UC Irvine’s department of pharmaceutical science, was arrested July 24 on charges of trying to use newspaper and lighter fluid to light a fire in Mason Park Preserve, not far from the wooded spot where his son hanged himself.

The professor posted bail and was released that day. But when police examined his cellphone three days later, they said they found disturbingly graphic, detailed emails.

Police rearrested Reinscheid on Friday at his UC Irvine offices, where officers said they found him crouched behind his computer, drafting a document giving his wife power of attorney over his finances and children.

Police also found a red folder in his vehicle with a newly signed will, according to an Irvine police report filed in court.

Reinscheid had been granted a leave of absence from the university, according to the police report, and he described in emails his intention to flee to his native Germany, where he has citizenship.

The emails were included in a court motion that prosecutors filed Tuesday requesting that he be held without bail.