Not long after the 20th Anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School in April, 2019, there was a shooting at a school within a very short distance of Columbine.
Listen to what the students say.
Connect to the link below listen and read the dialogue. Read, listen, act- in your own homes, schools and communities.
Colorado Public Radio interview with 6 students from Colorado Schools
Student attitudes about trusting adults is part of the problem as well because they are afraid to seek help.
The adult attitudes are most of the problem. Previous news reports did state that the shooter, one of two, did threaten to shoot up the school.
The students do discuss other times when kids threaten to hurt people at other schools.
Colorado has a system called Safe to Tell. Safe to Tell
One of the speakers talked about kids knowing how to make bombs. Remember, bombs was the primary weapon of intent with the two Columbine shooters. They resorted to the guns when the bombs failed to detonate as planned. Pipe bombs did go off in Columbine during the shooting and after it as well.
‘He also talked about how he knew how to make bombs.’
At another High School, staff did something.
Mattysen will be a senior at Castle View High School. She said that within the first few weeks of her starting at the school her sophomore year, a student in her math class shared “weird, disturbing stuff” with her.
Mattysen: For a while he was talking about like, how many guns he had. And at one point he said, “Mattysen, when I come to shoot up the school, you’re going to be the first one that I kill.”
So I talked to the teacher about it and I was like, “Can you move me away from this kid, because he’s very creepy.” The teacher emailed the school counselors and was like, “This is happening, in my class. Like, can you do something about it?”
I get called up… and like six counselors, and our school resource officer, all start asking me questions about it and what I had seen. He had shown me actual plans of what he was going to do when he shot up the school
Nalia: Like, typed-up plans?
Mattysen: No, he had just written them down in his notebook.
Mattysen: No, he had just written them down in his notebook.
Lillian: But was the plan like, go to this classroom?
Mattysen: No, it was like, this is how I’m going to shoot up the school, this is when I’m going to shoot up the school. Like stuff like that, and then he also talked about how he knew how to make bombs. And so he would like, try to blow up part of the school before."
The kids recommend Resource Officers in schools, not arming teachers (of which I do agree that arming teachers is not the answer.). As we saw in Parkland, Florida, the armed resource officer failed. Prevention and speaking up before is absolutely necessary.
Marian R Carlino
Marian R Carlino
June 7, 2019
