Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Enough already!


Today there was an anonymous shooting threat at my daughter's university. I am angry. Angry that someone would think it was funny, angry that students, parents and faculty have to worry about things like this, and angry that it has come to this in my children's lifetimes.


While rationally I felt my daughter was safe in her dorm room, I could not stop thinking about all the times the real thing has occurred - not only in the U.S., but around the world. And I could not help but acknowledge the reality - that the last 2 school shootings were prefaced by false alarm threats in the month(s) before.


I am angry that I am afraid but worse than that - I am angry that my daughter has to be.


Feb. 2, 1996
Moses Lake, Wash.

Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class.

March 13, 1996
Dunblane, Scotland

16 children and one teacher killed at Dunblane Primary School by Thomas Hamilton, who then killed himself. 10 others wounded in attack.

Feb. 19, 1997
Bethel, Alaska

Principal and one student killed, two others wounded by Evan Ramsey, 16.

March 1997
Sanaa, Yemen

Eight people (six students and two others) at two schools killed by Mohammad Ahman al-Naziri.

Oct. 1, 1997
Pearl, Miss.

Two students killed and seven wounded by Luke Woodham, 16, who was also accused of killing his mother. He and his friends were said to be outcasts who worshiped Satan.

Dec. 1, 1997
West Paducah, Ky.

Three students killed, five wounded by Michael Carneal, 14, as they participated in a prayer circle at Heath High School.

Dec. 15, 1997
Stamps, Ark.

Two students wounded. Colt Todd, 14, was hiding in the woods when he shot the students as they stood in the parking lot.

March 24, 1998
Jonesboro, Ark.

Four students and one teacher killed, ten others wounded outside as Westside Middle School emptied during a false fire alarm. Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, shot at their classmates and teachers from the woods.

April 24, 1998
Edinboro, Pa.

One teacher, John Gillette, killed, two students wounded at a dance at James W. Parker Middle School. Andrew Wurst, 14, was charged.

May 19, 1998
Fayetteville, Tenn.

One student killed in the parking lot at Lincoln County High School three days before he was to graduate. The victim was dating the ex-girlfriend of his killer, 18-year-old honor student Jacob Davis.

May 21, 1998
Springfield, Ore.

Two students killed, 22 others wounded in the cafeteria at Thurston High School by 15-year-old Kip Kinkel. Kinkel had been arrested and released a day earlier for bringing a gun to school. His parents were later found dead at home.

June 15, 1998
Richmond, Va.

One teacher and one guidance counselor wounded by a 14-year-old boy in the school hallway.

April 20, 1999
Littleton, Colo.

14 students (including killers) and one teacher killed, 23 others wounded at Columbine High School in the nation's deadliest school shooting. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, had plotted for a year to kill at least 500 and blow up their school. At the end of their hour-long rampage, they turned their guns on themselves.

April 28, 1999
Taber, Alberta, Canada

One student killed, one wounded at W. R. Myers High School in first fatal high school shooting in Canada in 20 years. The suspect, a 14-year-old boy, had dropped out of school after he was severely ostracized by his classmates.

May 20, 1999
Conyers, Ga.

Six students injured at Heritage High School by Thomas Solomon, 15, who was reportedly depressed after breaking up with his girlfriend.

Nov. 19, 1999
Deming, N.M.

Victor Cordova Jr., 12, shot and killed Araceli Tena, 13, in the lobby of Deming Middle School.

Dec. 6, 1999
Fort Gibson, Okla.

Four students wounded as Seth Trickey, 13, opened fire with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun at Fort Gibson Middle School.

Dec. 7, 1999
Veghel, Netherlands

One teacher and three students wounded by a 17-year-old student.

Feb. 29, 2000
Mount Morris Township, Mich.

Six-year-old Kayla Rolland shot dead at Buell Elementary School near Flint, Mich. The assailant was identified as a six-year-old boy with a .32-caliber handgun.

March 2000
Branneburg, Germany

One teacher killed by a 15-year-old student, who then shot himself. The shooter has been in a coma ever since.

March 10, 2000
Savannah, Ga.

Two students killed by Darrell Ingram, 19, while leaving a dance sponsored by Beach High School.

May 26, 2000
Lake Worth, Fla.

One teacher, Barry Grunow, shot and killed at Lake Worth Middle School by Nate Brazill, 13, with .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol on the last day of classes.

Sept. 26, 2000
New Orleans, La.

Two students wounded with the same gun during a fight at Woodson Middle School.

Jan. 17, 2001
Baltimore, Md.

One student shot and killed in front of Lake Clifton Eastern High School.

Jan. 18, 2001
Jan, Sweden

One student killed by two boys, ages 17 and 19.

March 5, 2001
Santee, Calif.

Two killed and 13 wounded by Charles Andrew Williams, 15, firing from a bathroom at Santana High School.

March 7, 2001
Williamsport, Pa.

Elizabeth Catherine Bush, 14, wounded student Kimberly Marchese in the cafeteria of Bishop Neumann High School; she was depressed and frequently teased.

March 22, 2001
Granite Hills, Calif.

One teacher and three students wounded by Jason Hoffman, 18, at Granite Hills High School. A policeman shot and wounded Hoffman.

March 30, 2001
Gary, Ind.

One student killed by Donald R. Burt, Jr., a 17-year-old student who had been expelled from Lew Wallace High School.

Nov. 12, 2001
Caro, Mich.

Chris Buschbacher, 17, took two hostages at the Caro Learning Center before killing himself.

Jan. 15, 2002
New York, N.Y.

A teenager wounded two students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School.

Feb. 19, 2002
Freising, Germany

Two killed in Eching by a man at the factory from which he had been fired; he then traveled to Freising and killed the headmaster of the technical school from which he had been expelled. He also wounded another teacher before killing himself.

April 26, 2002
Erfurt, Germany

13 teachers, two students, and one policeman killed, ten wounded by Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, at the Johann Gutenberg secondary school. Steinhaeuser then killed himself.

April 29, 2002
Vlasenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina

One teacher killed, one wounded by Dragoslav Petkovic, 17, who then killed himself.

October 28, 2002
Tucson, Ariz.

Robert S. Flores Jr., 41, a student at the nursing school at the University of Arizona, shot and killed three female professors and then himself.

April 14, 2003
New Orleans, La.

One 15-year-old killed, and three students wounded at John McDonogh High School by gunfire from four teenagers (none were students at the school). The motive was gang-related.

April 24, 2003
Red Lion, Pa.

James Sheets, 14, killed principal Eugene Segro of Red Lion Area Junior High School before killing himself.

Sept. 24, 2003
Cold Spring, Minn.

Two students are killed at Rocori High School by John Jason McLaughlin, 15.

Sept. 28, 2004
Carmen de Patagones, Argentina

Three students killed and 6 wounded by a 15-year-old Argentininan student in a town 620 miles south of Buenos Aires.

March 21, 2005
Red Lake, Minn.

Jeff Weise, 16, killed grandfather and companion, then arrived at school where he killed a teacher, a security guard, 5 students, and finally himself, leaving a total of 10 dead.

Nov. 8, 2005
Jacksboro, Tenn.

One 15-year-old shot and killed an assistant principal at Campbell County High School and seriously wounded two other administrators.

Aug. 24, 2006
Essex, Vt.

Christopher Williams, 27, looking for his ex-girlfriend at Essex Elementary School, shot two teachers, killing one and wounding another. Before going to the school, he had killed the ex-girlfriend's mother.

Sept. 13, 2006
Montreal, Canada

Kimveer Gill, 25, opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon at Dawson College. Anastasia De Sousa, 18, died and more than a dozen students and faculty were wounded before Gill killed himself.

Sept. 26, 2006
Bailey, Colo.

Adult male held six students hostage at Platte Canyon High School and then shot and killed Emily Keyes, 16, and himself.

Sept. 29, 2006
Cazenovia, Wis.

A 15-year-old student shot and killed Weston School principal John Klang.

Oct. 3, 2006
Nickel Mines, Pa.

32-year-old Carl Charles Roberts IV entered the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School and shot 10 schoolgirls, ranging in age from 6 to 13 years old, and then himself. Five of the girls and Roberts died.

Jan. 3, 2007
Tacoma, Wash.

Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot fellow student Samnang Kok, 17, in the hallway of Henry Foss High School.

April 16, 2007
Blacksburg, Va.

A 23-year-old Virginia Tech student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed two in a dorm, then killed 30 more 2 hours later in a classroom building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting rampage the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others were wounded.

Sept. 21, 2007
Dover, Del.

A Delaware State Univesity Freshman, Loyer D. Brandon, shot and wounded two other Freshman students on the University campus. Brandon is being charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless engagement, as well as a gun charge.

Oct. 10, 2007
Cleveland, Ohio

A 14-year-old student at a Cleveland high school, Asa H. Coon, shot and injured two students and two teachers before he shot and killed himself. The victims' injuries were not life-threatening.

Nov. 7, 2007
Tuusula, Finland

An 18-year-old student in southern Finland shot and killed five boys, two girls, and the female principal at Jokela High School. At least 10 others were injured. The gunman shot himself and died from his wounds in the hospital.

Feb. 8, 2008
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

A nursing student shot and killed two women and then herself in a classroom at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge.

Feb. 11, 2008
Memphis, Tennessee

A 17-year-old student at Mitchell High School shot and wounded a classmate in gym class.

Feb. 12, 2008
Oxnard, California

A 14-year-old boy shot a student at E.O. Green Junior High School causing the 15-year-old victim to be brain dead.

Feb. 14, 2008
DeKalb, Illinois

Gunman kills seven students and then himself, and wounds 15 more when he opens fire on a classroom at Northern Illinois University. The gunman, Stephen P. Kazmierczak, was identified as a former graduate student at the university in 2007.


10 Comments:

Stimey said...

That is a horribly long list. I agree. It is completely senseless.

MsCatMinder said...

Horrible , must be there sitting in the pit of your stomach all the time .
Its not something that even crosses our minds here in the UK but I'm sure that in ten years time , or sooner , perhaps around the time my daughter goes off , it will be the same here .

Gemheaven said...

Scary numbers there - as MsCatcalls said its not something we've really had to think about here.... YET - in the UK it seems to be knives not a week goes by with a fatal stabbing of a teenager :(

Day Dreamer said...

No. It's not funny at all.

My nephew (other sisters son) goes to Virginia Tech and was in his dorm during the shootings. My sister was in Kansas when it happened and she didn't hear from him for a little while....she was going completely crazy until she heard his voice.

I cannot believe the length of that list. All those parents, family and friends entwined...all those lives. It's just too much. Even with the list, I don't consider that anything could really happen when I send mine to school.

I'm glad that DDaughter is okay...praying that it remains just a threat.

I'll never ever understand people.

The Beading Gem said...

And where are these kids getting guns from?

palette48 said...

There are so many more things to have to worry about these days than when I was going to school. I know they implemented a warning system at my son's college after the Virginia Tech shootings. So far they only had to use it when they closed down the campus because of bad weather. The school text, emailed and called everyone to let them know not to go to classes and it worked really well. I think they also have a siren too. It is sad that we have to resort to these kinds of things to keep our kids safe.

Jewellery Craft said...

Sad and oh so so scary, I don't understand what makes these people act the way they do...... It leaves me speechless really.

It seems to be knives here, teenagers carrying knives for "protection"..........

xxxx

BetteJo said...

The whole thing is beyond me. I will say the school reacted well, my daughter received a text page on her cell phone that morning with the warning. Classes are as normal today with a heavy police presence on campus.

There is something incredibly difficult for parents in this situation - for most of us this is the first place our children go where they are entirely beyond our protection.

I know, they are beyond our protection a block down at the elementary school too - but there is something about them living away from home that makes it more frightening. I sincerely hope I will have no reason to bring this up again, it makes me so sad and so angry.

I appreciate everyone's responses - I just don't think any of us will ever make sense of these senseless threats or when the unthinkable actually happens. I cannot imagine how the parents who have had to deal with such incredible anguish, loss and pain do so without losing their minds.

BetteJo said...

When my daughter called and said "I'm calling cause I don't want you to hear it somewhere else and get freaked out ..." I was like - uh oh - did she get a ticket for trespassing again? When she said there had been a threat, a shooting threat at her school - my heart sank into my stomach. Horrible feeling, so so scary.

Lisa said...

it's very scary and i totally understand your anger. my son was about 20 feet away when his principle was shot (2003 red lion, pa). a scary day and a scary time. if you need to vent, go right ahead. i'll listen. your blog is beautiful. i'm glad i was on the hunt for some new reads this evening.