School shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia

[Catwoman]

Another school shooting. 😢

According to CNN, "a local hospital is receiving patients with gunshot wounds related to the incident" in Winder, GA.

Horrible. 😞 

 

[zimom]

It is fairly close to me.  Waiting to hear more. 

[HomeAgain]

Those students and families must be terrified.

This is one of my greatest fears and why I am up front with teachers/admin that any rule beyond "phones should be out of sight/not used" is a rule my child will break.  No, it won't be in his backpack.  No, he's not leaving his phone next to a classroom door.  I need to know where his body his: classroom, field, hospital, morgue. I need to reduce the time necessary for him to get care, or reach us, or have someone identify him. 

I hate that this has to be a consideration in the lives of students today.

[Heartstrings]

29 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

Those students and families must be terrified.

This is one of my greatest fears and why I am up front with teachers/admin that any rule beyond "phones should be out of sight/not used" is a rule my child will break.  No, it won't be in his backpack.  No, he's not leaving his phone next to a classroom door.  I need to know where his body his: classroom, field, hospital, morgue. I need to reduce the time necessary for him to get care, or reach us, or have someone identify him. 

I hate that this has to be a consideration in the lives of students today.

I’ve heard teachers say that they don’t feel a need to help calm parental anxiety about cell phones and shootings.  That knowing where your child’s body is is pointless and cell phones don’t keep them safe.  It makes my blood boil.  

Edited September 4 by Heartstrings

[Innisfree]

24 minutes ago, HomeAgain said:

I hate that this has to be a consideration in the lives of students today.

If we weren’t done with school, I’d be homeschooling just for this reason. One dd had to go through a drill in her only year at public high school. The students weren’t told it was a drill until it was over. The trauma is significant. 

[mommyoffive]

7 minutes ago, Innisfree said:

If we weren’t done with school, I’d be homeschooling just for this reason. One dd had to go through a drill in her only year at public high school. The students weren’t told it was a drill until it was over. The trauma is significant. 

This is what I have heard time and time again from parents whose kids go to bm school.  They tell me that their 5-8 year olds tell them this stuff.  This just should not be

[Faith-manor]

Gen Alpha and younger Gen Z kids are just so traumatized that we should be utterly ashamed as a nation, and we for damn sure should not be expecting them to learn anything! 

I don't know what to say. There are no words of comfort for something like this. Hugs to all affected.

[CTVKath]

This is absolutely heart breaking. This is about an hour from us and we have friends in that school district though not that high school. Praying for all of them and the entire community.

[zimom]

The county the other way from us just instituted placing the phones into those packs so phones are not usable all day.   

I'm hearing 4 casualties possibly 20 injured as of right now.   Of course, may or may not be accurate.  Suspect in custody.  

[zimom]

I have one left in college and I recently saw a college where there was an incident and the students were being quickly escorted out via police.    One of mine went through private school, the others homeschooled.  None of them ever had 'drills'.  They would be terrified.  

[TechWife]

1 hour ago, zimom said:

It is fairly close to me.  Waiting to hear more. 

About 15-20 min from where I grew up in Hall County. Praying for the Winder community. 

[lauraw4321]

CNN reporting 4 dead, 30 injured. 
 

Christ, have mercy. 

[Kassia]

1 hour ago, zimom said:

I have one left in college and I recently saw a college where there was an incident and the students were being quickly escorted out via police.    One of mine went through private school, the others homeschooled.  None of them ever had 'drills'.  They would be terrified.  

Even if they had drills, they'd still be terrified.  Nothing prepares you for something like this. 

I know I've posted this several times but one of my sons was in a school shooting at his high school.  In the room and very close to where it happened - he saw the whole thing and had to crawl to safety in a back room where he was trapped with other students hiding.   We were very grateful that he had his cell phone with him and he called us before the shooting was even in the news to tell us there was a shooting and he was okay.  If he couldn't do that, we would have not known for hours if he was dead, injured, or alive.  Three children died that day, one was paralyzed, a few more were injured during the shooting, but so many students, staff, and community members were traumatized.  Drug overdoses and suicides increased greatly in the years following the shooting.  

It's just horrifying that this keeps happening.  😞 

Edited September 4 by Kassia

[Sneezyone]

2 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

Those students and families must be terrified.

This is one of my greatest fears and why I am up front with teachers/admin that any rule beyond "phones should be out of sight/not used" is a rule my child will break.  No, it won't be in his backpack.  No, he's not leaving his phone next to a classroom door.  I need to know where his body his: classroom, field, hospital, morgue. I need to reduce the time necessary for him to get care, or reach us, or have someone identify him. 

I hate that this has to be a consideration in the lives of students today.

I got up in front of my school board last year and said it to their faces. I will say it again this year, Governor Yahoo be damned. ‘Away for the day’ will give way everytime to the need to access my child’s whereabouts in an emergency. Unless they intend to bodily remove my child from school property, he will have his phone with him at all times.

Edited September 4 by Sneezyone

[prairiewindmomma]

I’ve also posted about my kids’ experiences with emergencies. My kids keep their phones tucked away on their person, even in classes where there are pockets. It’s a hill I will die on….and the only time my kids have gotten asked about it, my kid replied, “Name a year when we havent had an emergency early dismissal in which we were evacuated and you had to go pick up car keys and phones for students one by one.”  (The last incident was June 2024, a few months ago, fwiw.)

Our district has a freaking template for the emergency notices, same for student deaths. I am super sick of seeing both.

[Catwoman]

6 minutes ago, Kassia said:

Even if they had drills, they'd still be terrified.  Nothing prepares you for something like this. 

I know I've posted this several times but one of my sons was in a school shooting at his high school.  In the room and very close to where it happened - he saw the whole thing and had to crawl to safety in a back room where he was trapped with other students hiding.   We were very grateful that he had his cell phone with him and he called us before the shooting was even in the news to tell us there was a shooting and he was okay.  If he couldn't do that, we would have not known for hours if he was dead, injured, or alive.  Four kids died that day, one was paralyzed, a few more were injured during the shooting, but so many students, staff, and community members were traumatized.  Drug overdoses and suicides increased greatly in the years following the shooting.  

It's just horrifying that this keeps happening.  😞 

Every time I hear about one of these shootings, I think of your son.  😞  It's awful that he had to experience something so horrific.

I know most people would say he was very lucky, but I sort of feel like those kind of comments minimize the fact that no one is "lucky" to be in the middle of a mass shooting, and it's certainly not "lucky" to know that people like your son will have those horrible, terrifying memories for the rest of their lives. Thank God your son is alive, but so many people seem to focus only on the victims and ignore the lifelong impact an experience like a mass shooting will have on the survivors.

I would say more, but I don't want this thread to get shut down for being political. 

 

 

[TechWife]

I'm once again sharing this here.

I'm a Shooting Survivor, If You're Going to Pray for Us, Here's How

Taylor Schumann has also written a very good book, When Thoughts and Prayers Aren't Enough, about her experience as a community college employee &  school shooting survivor.

 

 

[Miss Tick]

9 minutes ago, TechWife said:

I'm once again sharing this here.

I'm a Shooting Survivor, If You're Going to Pray for Us, Here's How

Taylor Schumann has also written a very good book, When Thoughts and Prayers Aren't Enough, about her experience as a community college employee &  school shooting survivor.

 

 

I was surprised to read no mention of advocating for gun control of any kind. You are more familiar with her writing, do you have any thoughts on why that would be? Perhaps her book delves into that aspect?

[TechWife]

17 minutes ago, Miss Tick said:

I was surprised to read no mention of advocating for gun control of any kind. You are more familiar with her writing, do you have any thoughts on why that would be? Perhaps her book delves into that aspect?

It’s because the article is focused on how to pray for survivors & families.
Her book does delve into it, recognizing a lot of the nuance intrinsic in the topic. She has done several podcast interviews as well. 

[Corraleno]

Every time there's a school shooting, the thing that makes me completely lose it is reading texts from the kids. From CNN:

Erin Clark was at work Wednesday morning when she got a series of text messages from her son who was attending class at Apalachee High School. 
“School shooting,” “I’m scared,” “pls,” “i’m not joking,” the flurry of messages, sent one after the other, said. 
“I’m leaving work,” Clark replied. 
“I love you,” her son, Ethan Haney, 17, wrote back.
“Love you too baby,” his mom texted before racing to the high school.

I'm 3000 miles away with kids long past HS, and that made me sob. The trauma we are inflicting on an entire generation of children is unconscionable and utterly indefensible.

Edited September 4 by Corraleno

[Indigo Blue]

@KassiaI didn’t know that about your son. I’ve never seen your posts about that. How terrifying. I’m glad your son was safe. How tragic for the others involved. 
 

My ds had a deadly shooting on his college campus a few years ago. Two casualties. One student had tried to stop the shooter, but he ended up being one of the casualties. There is a memorial to both students on campus. Ds was in his dorm when it happened. It occurred in a classroom on campus. The dorms were locked down immediately and ds was not allowed to come out for hours. He called me to let me know what was happening. I was walking outside and had no idea. The shooter was taken into custody. 
 

I’m so glad that I am forever and ever done with anything that involves school. 

[TechWife]

2 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

Every time there's a school shooting, the thing that makes me completely lose it is reading texts from the kids. …

The texts are disturbing. The fact that media exploits children & their families by publishing and making money off of their trauma, at a time when they are likely in shock & can’t really give consent, much less informed consent, is abhorrent and makes me angry. 

 

[Pam in CT]

re what, concretely, to pray FOR

1 hour ago, TechWife said:

I'm once again sharing this here.

I'm a Shooting Survivor, If You're Going to Pray for Us, Here's How

Taylor Schumann has also written a very good book, When Thoughts and Prayers Aren't Enough, about her experience as a community college employee &  school shooting survivor.

 

 

I have not seen this before (I often skip these threads; there are too many of them). So thank you for posting it again. It is very good.

 

Prayer is a reasonable and therapeutic response to the immediate gut punch of these events; and to the ghastly helplessness that accompanies that gut punch. And focusing prayers around specifics such as those in Schulman's list 

Quote

Pray for physical wounds, pain, and future treatments...

Pray for their invisible wounds...

Pray for wisdom for doctors, nurses, and all medical specialists they encounter...

Pray against nightmares and for the ability to sleep and rest...

Pray for financial provision for medical costs and other needs...

Pray they would have a strong support system for the long haul...

provides a sort of liturgy, a focal point that gives structure to that inchoate grief. Like counting off a rosary can calm the mind; like working through other liturgical sequences (the choreographies of the Yom Kippur series and the Stations of the Cross) can propel participants through a psychological process and highlight particular hard-to-hold emotions / provide catharsis with way stations along the way.

There are also some concrete suggestions that are maybe not obvious to those who haven't personally walked the walk

Quote

Pray for shielding from photos and information of the shooter.

I will never forget waking up and seeing the face of the person who shot me next to my picture on the front page of the newspaper or seeing my name scroll across the ticker on the national news. As videos and photos make their way into the coverage, pray that the survivors are shielded from hearing about the shooter and reliving their trauma over and over again...

..Pray for guidance and support during the legal process.

In incidents where the shooters are taken into custody, survivors face a long and tedious legal process full of court proceedings. They will be asked to testify about the worst day of their lives and forced to listen to the traumatizing details. I know firsthand how overwhelming this process can be. Pray they would have support and guidance as authorities work to bring shooters to justice.

It is very good.

 

and

also

overwhelming though the knotted mess of problems and facets of repeated mass shootings is, we do not have the luxury of retreating into being overwhelmed.  

Action is a form of prayer too.  Pray for all the specifics outlined in the liturgy that Schumann suggests.

And then go forth.

[Heartstrings]

1 hour ago, Corraleno said:

Every time there's a school shooting, the thing that makes me completely lose it is reading texts from the kids.

Maybe it’s a conspiracy theory, but I think these text and recordings from calls made during shootings are behind 95% of the move to ban cell phones from school.  They are a distraction, blah, blah, blah.   Schools don’t want the texts/audio getting out because it makes them look bad and pro gun governors don’t like the sympathy they garner.  

Edited September 4 by Heartstrings

[TechWife]

9 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

Maybe it’s a conspiracy theory, but I think these text and recordings from calls made during shootings are behind 95% of the move to ban cell phones from school.  They are a distraction, blah, blah, blah.   Schools don’t want the texts/audio getting out because it makes them look bad and pro gun governors don’t like the sympathy they garner.  

I don’t think that is correct at all. The desire to ban phones and schools comes from a legitimate, research-based concern that has no easy solutions. Please don’t promote your theory. 

[Heartstrings]

I’m reading that the school had a call this morning that there would be a shooting at one of their schools.  They obviously didn’t act on that.   That’s so heartbreaking.  It happens locally a few times a year.  An email  goes out, or there’s some chatter on Facebook, some parents keep their kids home but they always hold school anyway.  It feels like Russian Roulette every time.  I guess this school just lost the gamble today.  

[Heartstrings]

22 minutes ago, TechWife said:

I don’t think that is correct at all. The desire to ban phones and schools comes from a legitimate, research-based concern that has no easy solutions. Please don’t promote your theory. 

If they followed the research on later start times, more recess, and followed evidence based math and phonics instruction I’d be more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt.  They disregard all of that but suddenly want to follow the science on cell phones?  

Edited September 4 by Heartstrings

[Corraleno]

I'm confused by the reports that someone called the school "earlier this morning" saying that there would be multiple school shootings today and Apalachee HS was first on the list, yet it doesn't seem that any additional precautions were taken. Police say they got the active shooter call at 10:20 and were there "within minutes," but I would really like to know what time that phone call came in and why there wasn't a police presence there before a 14 year old managed to get a gun into the school and shoot 13 people. 

ETA: A student who was in class with the shooter said he left partway through Algebra class and then returned with the gun, but the students who saw the gun refused to unlock the door so he went next door to another classroom and shot people there. If they had a warning about this, why were there no resource officers patrolling the hallways? How did this kid smuggle a gun into school on a day when there was a credible threat and no one was searching backpacks or lockers??

Edited September 5 by Corraleno

[HomeAgain]

12 minutes ago, TechWife said:

I don’t think that is correct at all. The desire to ban phones and schools comes from a legitimate, research-based concern that has no easy solutions. Please don’t promote your theory. 

This might be true if the students weren't all walking around with chromebooks and ipads.

My kid's chromebook can go online, it can use social media (Discord, snapchat, etc), it can be a distraction during class, it can let him listen to music.  What it can't do: give parents a clue as to what the kids were doing on them and how long (that's not available data to parents or the tech support), let them communicate effectively, and give location.

The schools will lean hard into the chromebooks and ipads but communication devices are a no.  So please don't call it a legitimate, research-based concern.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

21 minutes ago, TechWife said:

I don’t think that is correct at all. The desire to ban phones and schools comes from a legitimate, research-based concern that has no easy solutions. Please don’t promote your theory. 

I’m a parent who strongly promoted our school’s policy to have students check their phones in the beginning of a class in my daughter’s junior high. They get them back at the beginning of class. This was a parent driven policy at our school, not from the administration. There was a lot of parental pressure to limit phone usage while in school.  But wait till 8th for a phone is a big movement in our school district and community as well. (There are parents who are strongly against this policy but in our school they are the minority, so the policy passed). They do have Chromebook’s and I’m sure some kids get around the restrictions but the school laptops stay at school, the kids aren’t allowed to take them home, and I’m pretty comfortable with the restrictions.

 

Edited September 4 by Mrs Tiggywinkle Again

[Heartstrings]

17 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

I'm confused by the reports that someone called the school "earlier this morning" saying that there would be multiple school shootings today and Apalachee HS was first on the list, yet it doesn't seem that any additional precautions were taken. Police say they got the active shooter call at 10:20 and were there "within minutes," but I would really like to know what time that phone call came in and why there wasn't a police presence there before a 14 year old managed to get a gun into the school and shoot 15 people. 

I think people get complacent.  I have some (only some) sympathy for the “boy who cried wolf” thought process. If they get 3 such calls a school year since Columbine and it’s always been a false alarm, maybe you don’t bother going into high alert.  It’s at their own peril though because every once in awhile there really is a damn wolf.  😢. 

[Carrie12345]

20 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

I'm confused by the reports that someone called the school "earlier this morning" saying that there would be multiple school shootings today and Apalachee HS was first on the list, yet it doesn't seem that any additional precautions were taken. Police say they got the active shooter call at 10:20 and were there "within minutes," but I would really like to know what time that phone call came in and why there wasn't a police presence there before a 14 year old managed to get a gun into the school and shoot 15 people. 

ETA: A student who was in class with the shooter said he left partway through Algebra class and then returned with the gun, but the students who saw the gun refused to unlock the door so he went next door to another classroom and shot people there. If they had a warning about this, why were there no resource officers patrolling the hallways? How did this kid smuggle a gun into school on a day when there was a credible threat and no one was searching backpacks or lockers??

I’d like those answers, too.

Way back in the early 90s, before school shootings were a “thing”, kids used to regularly call in bomb scares. Every. Single. Time., there was a full response even when everyone was 99.999% certain it was a prank.

Our local schools lock down or close at any whiff of suspicion.

I can’t understand how this could have gone ignored.

[Murphy101]

Another day, another shooting.

As for banning phones. They can pry our phones from our cold dead hands used to be an extreme saying but now it’s just a growing more likely outcome.

I just have absolutely zero respect for anyone suggesting anything in response to this other than gun/ammo regulation.  There’s plenty more that needs done to help reduce creating people with so much hate-filled mental illness. But we can start with not giving them easy access to guns and limitless ammo. 

[Murphy101]

3 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said:

I’d like those answers, too.

Way back in the early 90s, before school shootings were a “thing”, kids used to regularly call in bomb scares. Every. Single. Time., there was a full response even when everyone was 99.999% certain it was a prank.

Our local schools lock down or close at any whiff of suspicion.

I can’t understand how this could have gone ignored.

Bad math is why.

Lack of manpower is a serious global problem in nearly every sector of society.  The schools nearest me have approx 2000k just in their graduating class each year. For comparison, my graduating class in this area 30ish years ago was 900ish.  But the staff and the local law enforcement agencies have NOT grow at the same exponent rate.  If even 1% make such call, that’s a LOT of staffing time of various departments to handle it. And frankly. That’s staff availability literally doesn’t exist. And worse, the staff that is there cannot wait to get the hell out bc the job sucks in every way. 

[lauraw4321]

The name of the shooter… did his parents name him after a gun manufacturer and common gun color? 😭

[KidsHappen]

This is very close to where my two dds lived when they were in GA. I am so glad that they are here now and that all of my grand babies are homeschooled.

[kbutton]

1 hour ago, Heartstrings said:

I’m reading that the school had a call this morning that there would be a shooting at one of their schools.  They obviously didn’t act on that.   That’s so heartbreaking.  It happens locally a few times a year.  An email  goes out, or there’s some chatter on Facebook, some parents keep their kids home but they always hold school anyway.  It feels like Russian Roulette every time.  I guess this school just lost the gamble today.  

Our schools always indicate that they are working with police before declaring school open for the day. It’s never a blanket statement; it’s crafted for the situation. I am sure they could make a wrong call, but I feel confident that they take it seriously. They also say what they can about if disciplinary actions are taken and applaud students when a student raises a concern about something someone said on a bus or social media or whatever. They do their best to make reports welcome. 

 

I have not heard teachers and staff in our local schools calling for no cell phones while allowing over the top computer use, but YMMV. We had difficulties with a previous school’s phone policy, but it was for medical reasons.

My son’s school has a no phone policy, but it’s fine for them to have them out of sight and check between classes. They offer places to put them to help kids with no self control.

[Sneezyone]

1 hour ago, TechWife said:

I don’t think that is correct at all. The desire to ban phones and schools comes from a legitimate, research-based concern that has no easy solutions. Please don’t promote your theory. 

It may not be the rationale but it’s a bonus for those who don’t want these horrors getting the attention they deserve.

[Heartstrings]

1 minute ago, kbutton said:

Our schools always indicate that they are working with police before declaring school open for the day. It’s never a blanket statement; it’s crafted for the situation. I am sure they could make a wrong call, but I feel confident that they take it seriously. They also say what they can about if disciplinary actions are taken and applaud students when a student raises a concern about something someone said on a bus or social media or whatever. They do their best to make reports welcome. 

 

I have not heard teachers and staff in our local schools calling for no cell phones while allowing over the top computer use, but YMMV. We had difficulties with a previous school’s phone policy, but it was for medical reasons.

My son’s school has a no phone policy, but it’s fine for them to have them out of sight and check between classes. They offer places to put them to help kids with no self control.

I don’t know if parents were warned this morning, that part I haven’t heard.  I’m sure the school and police thought they were making well reasoned decisions this morning, but they got it wrong this time.  That’s why I said it’s like Russian Roullete.

 

My state has banned cell phones in schools at the state level.  I’m not sure if it was an executive order or an actual law, I wasn’t paying attention.  It’s much easier to ban phones than to do anything about guns.  

[Sneezyone]

5 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

I don’t know if parents were warned this morning, that part I haven’t heard.  I’m sure the school and police thought they were making well reasoned decisions this morning, but they got it wrong this time.  That’s why I said it’s like Russian Roullete.

 

My state has banned cell phones in schools at the state level.  I’m not sure if it was an executive order or an actual law, I wasn’t paying attention.  It’s much easier to ban phones than to do anything about guns.  

We have the same issue. They’ve banned cell phones but use Chromebooks in every class! DS has one virtual, asynchronous class, and the AP classes regularly use college board resources. DS texted me on day one just to let me know he had band rehearsal and needed the college board password for course registration. 

[kbutton]

40 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

I don’t know if parents were warned this morning, that part I haven’t heard.  I’m sure the school and police thought they were making well reasoned decisions this morning, but they got it wrong this time.  That’s why I said it’s like Russian Roullete.

I didn’t see a mention of police and school cooperation, so I thought maybe the school didn’t do their due diligence. I do think it’s impossible for schools to always decide correctly and am grateful that ours don’t seem to respond in a copy and paste manner even though there is likely a protocol. 

[Faith-manor]

4 hours ago, Corraleno said:

Every time there's a school shooting, the thing that makes me completely lose it is reading texts from the kids. From CNN:

Erin Clark was at work Wednesday morning when she got a series of text messages from her son who was attending class at Apalachee High School. 
“School shooting,” “I’m scared,” “pls,” “i’m not joking,” the flurry of messages, sent one after the other, said. 
“I’m leaving work,” Clark replied. 
“I love you,” her son, Ethan Haney, 17, wrote back.
“Love you too baby,” his mom texted before racing to the high school.

I'm 3000 miles away with kids long past HS, and that made me sob. The trauma we are inflicting on an entire generation of children is unconscionable and utterly indefensible.

My trophy reaction was for that last paragraph.

There is NO forgiveness for the nearly 3 decades of inaction on this. None.

I weep. It doesn't do a bit of good. But the emotions have to come out.

[Corraleno]

This is unreal:

"The teen — identified by state police as Colt Gray, a student at the school — was interviewed by authorities last year after the FBI received several anonymous tips about his alleged online threats to commit a school shooting, the agency said in a statement. “At that time, there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels,” the FBI said, adding that the teen denied making threats." (from WaPo)

So this kid was investigated by the FBI for threatening to carry out a school shooting, but he denied it so they just went oh, well, no point in following up on this.

AND his parents were obviously informed that he had been accused of threatening to shoot up a school, yet somehow allowed him access to an "AR-15 style" rifle.

AND school officials were warned that they would be the first target in a school shooting today, but did not ask for extra security or make any attempt to check student backpacks and lockers.

Who could possibly have predicted this??? Clearly there was no way to prevent it, we can do nothing but offer thoughts and prayers after the fact.

[Faith-manor]

3 hours ago, TechWife said:

I don’t think that is correct at all. The desire to ban phones and schools comes from a legitimate, research-based concern that has no easy solutions. Please don’t promote your theory. 

This doesn't hold water. They ignore TONS of evidence based research on learning and childhood development all the time, for a variety of mostly illegitimate reasons. At this point, school administrators can stuff it where the sun doesn't shine!

The same schools banning phones are dependent on Chrome books which are NOT good for students at all. Does that stop them? No. 

 

[Heartstrings]

3 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

This is unreal:

"The teen — identified by state police as Colt Gray, a student at the school — was interviewed by authorities last year after the FBI received several anonymous tips about his alleged online threats to commit a school shooting, the agency said in a statement. “At that time, there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels,” the FBI said, adding that the teen denied making threats." (from WaPo)

So this kid was investigated by the FBI for threatening to carry out a school shooting, but he denied it so they just went oh, well, no point in following up on this.

AND his parents were obviously informed that he had been accused of threatening to shoot up a school, yet somehow allowed him access to an "AR-15 style" rifle.

AND school officials were warned that they would be the first target in a school shooting today, but did not ask for extra security or make any attempt to check student backpacks and lockers.

Who could possibly have predicted this??? Clearly there was no way to prevent it, we can do nothing but offer thoughts and prayers after the fact.

I hope his parents are prosecuted.  That is negligence.  I don’t know how else we’re going to convince parents to take their responsibility to safe guard firearms seriously.  We’re never going to get to a place where 100% of guns are poofed in thin air, so this is a necessary step regardless of what we do on gun control. 

[Faith-manor]

5 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

This is unreal:

"The teen — identified by state police as Colt Gray, a student at the school — was interviewed by authorities last year after the FBI received several anonymous tips about his alleged online threats to commit a school shooting, the agency said in a statement. “At that time, there was no probable cause for arrest or to take any additional law enforcement action on the local, state, or federal levels,” the FBI said, adding that the teen denied making threats." (from WaPo)

So this kid was investigated by the FBI for threatening to carry out a school shooting, but he denied it so they just went oh, well, no point in following up on this.

AND his parents were obviously informed that he had been accused of threatening to shoot up a school, yet somehow allowed him access to an "AR-15 style" rifle.

AND school officials were warned that they would be the first target in a school shooting today, but did not ask for extra security or make any attempt to check student backpacks and lockers.

Who could possibly have predicted this??? Clearly there was no way to prevent it, we can do nothing but offer thoughts and prayers after the fact.

Well let's see. Will Georgia do what Michigan did to these parents? Is more putting parents in prison for buying their minors weapons and ignoring the warning signs? Is this where we are now? 

Still waiting for the Oxford principal and counselor to face the music. How they have gotten off free and easy, I will never know.

[Heartstrings]

1 minute ago, Faith-manor said:

Still waiting for the Oxford principal and counselor to face the music. How they have gotten off free and easy, I will never know.

I’m not familiar with this one.  

[lauraw4321]

The prosecution of the parents is tenuous. New laws are needed to make sure that supplying or allowing minors access to deadly weapons is a crime if those weapons are used in a crime. 

[Corraleno]

Members of the Georgia House tried to introduce a bill in January (GA HB161 Pediatric Health Safe Storage Act) that would "impose criminal penalties for failing to secure a readily dischargeable firearm or leaving it in a place where a child could access it, with higher penalties if the child discharges the firearm and causes death or serious injury," but it seems to have been quickly killed in committee and never came up for a vote. Apparently expecting gun owners to ensure children don't have access to deadly weapons is just a bridge too far. I would love to see this kid's parents prosecuted, but that seems highly unlikely.

For those who live in Georgia and want to contact state reps about reconsidering this bill, the details are here: 
https://www.billtrack50.com/billdetail/1553688

 

[Corraleno]

18 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

I’m not familiar with this one.  

That's Ethan Crumbley's school. The principal and counselor saw his threatening drawings and called his parents, but did not bother to search his backpack or require that his parents remove him, they just sent him back to class — with a loaded weapon in his backpack.