Valentine Road (2013)

In February 2008, 14-year-old Larry King walked up to fellow classmate Brandon McInerney and, as a dare, asked him to be his valentine…  A few days later, on Valentine’s Day, McInerney walked up to King while he was sitting in the school computer lab and shot him twice in the back of the head …  

Terrific HBO documentary from director Marta Cunningham that explores the bold life and tragic death of Lawrence King; the national media frenzy that surrounded this possible modern ‘hate’ crime;  the controversial court case and odd jury behaviour that ensued and how that Valentine’s Day incident in 2008, scarred the picturesque West Coast city of Oxnard, California and its residents forever…

“First-time director Marta Cunningham spent four years making the new HBO documentary, Valentine Road, which explores the life and death of Larry King. She tells NPR’s Celeste Headlee that her years of research and interviews transformed the way she viewed the crime, the victim and — most surprisingly — the shooter…

“I couldn’t help but feel a tremendous amount of empathy for this child,” Cunningham says, “and I always felt a tremendous amount of empathy for Larry because of how misunderstood he was…”  NPR