talk about holding a grudge and not being able to take a joke. A 73-year-old man shot his former high school classmate in the head for putting a jock strap on his head in a gym locker room. Click below to read the rest of the story.
From the moment 73-year-old Carl Ericsson rang his old high school classmate’s doorbell in January, verified the man’s identity and then shot him dead, the question had been what prompted him to confront a man he hadn’t even spoken to in years.
The startling answer, a prosecutor said Friday, was a 1950s locker room humiliation that festered in Ericsson’s mind for a half-century. “He said that a jockstrap was put on his head,†Kenneth Meyer said. “It’s the only thing he’s ever mentioned in talking to law enforcement.†Ericsson, who a psychiatrist said suffered from anxiety and depression for years, last month pleaded guilty but mentally ill to second-degree murder in the death of Norman Johnson. “I guess it was from something that happened over 50 years ago,†Ericsson told a judge then. “It was apparently in my subconscious.†He was sentenced Friday to life in prison. Johnson was a track star at Madison High School, and Ericsson a student sports manager. The prosecutor said he had no other details about the locker room story, which never was corroborated. “I know of no one that remembers it or acknowledges it other than Carl,†Meyer said.
