Chilling last moments of a beloved teacher murdered by student
Shocking… In the footage, Philip Chism can be seen with what looks to be a bloodied hand.
Jurors watched video footage from inside Danvers High School in MA in which teacher Colleen Ritzer can be seen in a purple top and black trousers walking down the school corridors.
Another student is seen walking into the bathroom and immediately walking out.
The haunting clip showed Colleen Ritzer walking through the halls of Danvers High School to the bathroom in 2013. He is wearing a blue jumper with the hood pulled up, and puts on a pair of gloves.
The video, shown in Essex Superior Court in Salem on Wednesday, shows Chism following Ritzer to the restroom and pacing back and forth outside the door. He later emerges with the hood of his sweatshirt still covering his head. Chism’s hands were swollen red as well.
Vinicio Pimentel, a supervisor with cleaning company S & J Services on duty at the high school that day, told the jury he entered the bathroom where Ms Ritzer died to find blood all over the floor and splashed on the walls.
Prosecutors have explained previously that the girl saw a male’s bare buttocks and that she left giggling because she thought she walked in on someone changing their clothes, the Boston Herald reported.
Wednesday’s developments came one day after Chism refused to re-enter the courtroom, telling a court officer that he “can’t take this anymore”.
The defense admits he killed the teacher, but says he should not be held criminally responsible because he was driven by a severe mental illness.
The judge at first called a recess, then ended proceedings about an hour earlier than scheduled after trying unsuccessfully to speak to Chism himself.
‘At that point we started to get very upset, ‘ Peggie Ritzer said.