(Image via nbcnews.com)
Staff Writer: Gwen Pichette
Email: gpichette@umassd.edu
“Enough is Enough” is what White House Secretary Karine-Jean Pierre had to say following the latest school shooting.
What should’ve been an exciting first few weeks of a new school year for students this September has been rife with tragedy as multiple school shootings have been reported across America.
The first occurred September 4th, in Apalachee High School, Winder, Georgia.
The perpetrator? An Apalachee freshman: 14-year-old Colt Grey.
He reportedly exited his second-period algebra class to go to the bathroom, which was nothing out of the ordinary.
Until he returned with an AR-15, opening fire on fellow classmates and teachers in the hallway.
Four are dead, and nine are injured in what is now known as “the deadliest school shooting in Georgia’s history.”
Colt Grey is now being charged with four counts of felony murder and will be tried as an adult if convicted.
The fatalities included 14-year-olds Mason Schermerhorn, and Christain Angulo and beloved math teachers Cristina Irmie and Richard Aspinwall.
Winder was once considered a quaint, unassuming town with a small but closely-knit community.
Its unassuming appearances now serve as an unsettling warning: tragedy can strike even in the most unlikely places.
Rebecca Satarath, mother to a 16-year-old survivor of Apalachee, agrees. She commented that Winder provides “a false sense of rural security” as residents unknowingly believed it to be “this tight-knit little country town that nothing bad could ever happen in.”
Yet, despite the horrific circumstances, the community is now bonded more than ever.
Survivors of the massacre have taken to popular platforms, such as TikTok, to connect and share their horrific experiences with other survivors.
One first responder to the Sandy Hook Massacre in 2012 (that resulted in the deaths of 20 students and six staff members), Sheriff Christopher Vanghele, also weighed into the discussion about preventative measures: “What did this person say in his past threats? What could have been done to stop it?”
As more details emerge daily, the answer becomes clear: many things could’ve prevented this tragedy.
Evidence of this can be traced back to May of 2023, when the FBI was investigating Colt Grey for some alarming comments that he made on Discord, the popular online messaging platform.
The comments he made were threats of committing a school shooting.
But with Grey’s denial of the threats and nothing else to go off of, the investigation was readily dismissed by police.
A video was obtained to show the exchange, which is linked below. It is downright chilling to watch, knowing the gruesome events that would transpire only a year later.
In the haunting video from May 2023, Colin Grey, Colt Grey’s father, is also present. Colin has admitted to his son having access to firearms in the household but stated that Colt “knows the seriousness of weapons and what they can do and how to use them and not use them.”
Colin Grey is also facing charges alongside his son, including second-degree murder, manslaughter, and a slew of second-degree cruelty to children charges.
Many, like Sarah Licona, a senior at Apalachee High School, are putting the blame primarily upon the father for giving his son easy access to the firearms: “I definitely feel this was preventable. That’s just the worst thing he could have done.”
Vigils are being held around the clock to honor the victims.
But sadly, Winder is not the only community in shock.
Another shooting was reported mere days later, putting students across America on high alert.
Shots were reported at Omaha Nebraska High School during lunchtime on September 10th.
It began as a verbal altercation between two students until the accused pulled out a firearm and fired.
The 15-year-old victim is in critical condition after suffering severe gunshot wounds to his stomach.
Now, the perpetrator will be charged as an adult with first-degree assault, possession of a gun on school property, and use of a gun to commit a felony.
It has also not escaped the public’s notice that both perpetrators of the shootings were the same age: 14.
These tragedies bring up concerns about how a teenager is able to find such ready access to guns—and bring up questions of firearm accessibility in general.
While Omaha police are adamant that there is no threat to the community at this time and that it was merely an “isolated incident between two students,” it certainly did not feel like it to other students at the school.
One Omaha student commented about how dangerous the environment feels there:
“School is supposed to be safe for us.”
Another student commented,
“Do I feel safe at school? No.”
According to NBC, since 2013, 122 people have been killed by gunfire in a total of 64 premeditated school shootings. Gun violence has now surpassed car crashes and cancer as the leading cause of death among teens and children.
This has led school shooting survivors from previous attacks to feel frustrated at the lack of change in gun reform and has prompted them to speak out.
One Sandy Hook survivor, now 18 years old, Emma Ehrens, expressed her feelings regarding broken promises of change for gun violence.
“We were told that this would be what turns everything around. It really breaks your heart a little bit every time.”
Yet some of the Sandy Hook survivors from the very same class as Ehrens can’t help but feel a kernel of hope with the upcoming presidential election this November.
This is because the Democratic Party is typically in favor of stricter gun laws, and this will be the first election the survivors will be eligible to vote in.
This rite of passage has more significance than a life milestone, but it also holds a bittersweet symbolism.
18-year-old survivor Lilly Wasilnak leaves a powerful statement regarding gun control:
“I’m casting a vote for the 26 who can’t.”