um, you missed something . . .

In that article, it noted that Lawrence King had been hitting on Brandon (at least in jest), and that was one reason why Brandon shot him.

It would appear that Lawrence King had some problems of his own, and had been - in effect - bullying Brandon. Not physically bullying him, but repeatedly making loud comments suggesting that Brandon was gay and his lover - which in high school terms can be pretty humiliating for someone who doesn't want to be the object of that sort of attention.

This is not to excuse Brandon's actions. There is no justification for that. However, it would appear that this was not a simple case of a hate crime, as has been widely reported.