Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Cleveland school shooting


When is stuff like this going to end? Here is the latest from CNN:
A 14-year-old gunman shot students and teachers at a Cleveland high school, wounding four, and was then killed, the mayor told CNN affiliates WOIO and WKYC. It was not known if police shot the gunman or if he took his own life.

The shooting victims include two adult men, 57 and 42 years old; and two teenage males, 17 and 14 years old, according to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson. A 14-year-old female hurt her knee in the chaos, he added.
Not that I'm comparing situations, but I remember back about what I was thinking during the Virginia Tech tragedy back in April (Can the cycle be broken, depression = murder?, privacy laws need scrutinized, mental health care delivery in the US).

School shootings are tragic and my thoughts and prayers go to the families affected by this. I'm just not looking forward to the 24/7 news coverage and people jumping on the bandwagon to advance their political agendas. Can we just figure out why this happened (if we can) and prevent it from happening in the future?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree with your writing. This cycle should be broken ASAP.
Let's put our thoughts together and pray for the families involved. Nobody deserves this. Leave your support on this page I made:
http://www.respectance.com/SuccessTech/memories

Anonymous said...

It's just terrible!

Redroach said...

I am not placing blame, but it always makes me wonder (as a teacher) how things get this far.

I understand the depression/clinical side of it, but are parents and teachers that blind?

I tend to believe we(they) are preoccupied, but that doesn't solve anything.

I do think some of our focus in schools is in the wrong place.

Due to nasty circumstances kids are often seen as standardized test scores and not as people.

After sitting through a parent meeting today with two parents and their child (both are fighting for custody) I am amazed that some of our kids are on such an even keel.

TV

Nikki Neurotic said...

I think the 24 hour news coverage is the biggest problem and what spurs other attacks. A major aspect of high profile shootings such as this is the fact that the shooter gains notoriety, other people see all the attention the shooter is getting and they also crave that attention...no matter how negative it might be.

Perhaps if we stop the constant news coverage of events like this we'll see a change.

OHN said...

I come at this from a different direction. My husband is a police officer specializing in school safety. He has traveled the nation teaching and learning and sadly the state of our school safety is scary. Too many school boards stick their heads in the sand, saying "it won't happen here"..well I hate to tell you but it most likely will happen there and many other places. Acts like this shooting are relatively random but the large scope of school safety has not been addressed in most areas. I was shocked to learn the multitude of school buses that have been stolen and bus radios stolen from all over the country, and many other non reported (by the mainstream media) like supplies for explosive makings (fertilizer etc). These things are happening all over and our kids/students have been threatened as future targets. We have to do whatever it takes to protect our kids, whether it be from a random student with an agenda or a terrorist organization creating havoc in our lives.

Sorry for the long post here but I get very fired up when it comes to school (lack of ) safety.

bichonpawz said...

I totally agree with you on this! I grew up in Bay Village and never, ever thought anything like that would happen anywhere even close to us. The sad fact is that it does. It can. Happen Anywhere. I really wish there was a way to put a stop to all the school violence. It does make me wonder about all the medications kids today are taking?