Students hardly ever walk into school expecting a tragedy. Most do not expect the day ending in police sirens; shootings are usually not hanging in their minds throughout a normal day. Despite the drills and the horrific headlines, no one thinks that it will come to them.
Sophomore Lalitha Konda said, “Stuff like this is on the news so much now that unfortunately, it’s not very surprising to me anymore.”
However, a school shooting in Middletown on Feb. 29 proves that these things do not just belong in districts thousands of miles of way, but much closer to home.
A 14-year-old student of Madison Jr/Sr High School in Butler County, a small school housing students from grades K-12, shot two students during lunch. Two others were injured indirectly. Everyone hurt was taken to the hospital and stabilized.
Sophomore Ryan Tufts said, “I have never heard of any procedures [here] for a gun-related incident during lunch. The ironic thing is, lunch is the time when a school shooting would be most deadly.”
The shooter ran from the school but was found and taken to the Butler County Juvenile Detention Center and is charged with two counts of attempted murder and two of felonious assault.
While police suspect a motive it has yet to be released.
Tufts said, “I think the administration has prepared students as much as it could without having an actual lockdown. The only exception is during some non-classroom period.”