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By Dominique Paliani
Special to Niagara Frontier Publications
This year, as of Monday, March 27, there have been 17 school shootings according to the Washington Post database. This has installed fear into students and their families in attendings school. That is just the small percentage of the more than 100 mas shootings that have happened so far this year. With these events happening more frequently it's hard for people to not worry and fear the worst.
On Monday morning, the parents and families of a Nashville Christian school received information about a shooting. This shooting resulted in six deaths: three students and three staff members. The suspect, Audrey Hale, was a former student.
In February, Michigan State University students also went through similar events. The shooter, Anthony McRae, killed three students. The shooting took place in Berkey Hall and the MSU Union building on the university’s campus. In both mass shootings, the shooters did not make it out alive. These are just two of the more publicized mass shootings that have occurred this year.
List of K-12 2023 school shootings:
Jan. 17 – Del City High School in Del City, Oklahoma
Jan. 20 – Washington Technology Magnet School in St. Paul, Minnesota
Jan. 23 – Starts Right Here in Des Moines, Iowa
Feb. 15 – Walter P. Carter Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore
March 6 – Palo Duro High School in Amarillo, Texas
March 7 – Thomas Carr Howe High School in Indianapolis
March 20 – Lamar High School in Arlington, Texas
March 21 – Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas
March 22 – East High School in Denver
March 27 – The Covenant School in Nashville
Hearing about these tragic events has sent so much fear into families, no matter where they are from, when sending their kids or loved ones to school.
Gia VanGorder tells me “I have two younger siblings, 10 and 14, and it makes me worried every day dropping them off at school. I always think that I’ll get a call one day that there is an active shooter in their school, and thinking about how scared they’d make me feel so helpless. I never want to worry that today might be my last day picking them up.”
Gia is also a college student, and she said hearing about the shooting at MSU causes her stress while attending class: “There’s no security on campus, and anybody could walk into the buildings if they wanted to. The only buildings you need an ID to get into are the residence halls.”
With over 100 mass shootings in the United States as of March 31, the fear and anger of gun violence has become a bigger issue. These shooting are happening at places that people go to on a regular basis. Last May in Buffalo, there was a mass shooting at a Tops Friendly Market. No one that day could have thought a simple grocery store run could end so horribly.
No matter where you go, there is a risk of a shooting. Still, nothing has prevented these events from occurring. Not even half way through this year, the numbers have shown that.
Zach Deignan said, “I think shootings are a tragedy that should be put on the top of government’s priority list.”
With the amount of deaths happening from mass shootings, communities from all over are coming together and want change to happen.
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This is a Niagara University student-created piece completed as part of the course CMS 226A. For more information, contact the Niagara Frontier Publications’ managing editor.