Four Fatal School Shootings in One Week–Why?

February 16, 2008     Posted in Reality

t1home2044victimsap.jpg February 8th: Female student shoots two fellow students to death before ultimately killing herself at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge.


By Ccandyjessica

February 11th: 17-year-old student shoots and critically wounds a fellow student during high school gym period in Memphis, TN.

February 12th: 14-year-old boy shoots a classmate, 15, at junior high school in Oxnard, CA. The victim is declared brain dead.

These three shootings preceded the most recent school tragedy to take America by the heartstrings. February 14th, 2008 will not go down in history as just another Valentine’s Day: instead, it will be remembered as the day of another fatal college campus massacre, this time, at Northern Illinois University.

Six people, including gunman Steven P. Kazmierczak, were shot to death, with 14 more shot and wounded. The gunman appeared from behind a curtain in a geology class minutes before the period ended and began to open fire.

It was less than a year ago that the Virginia Tech massacre (the deadliest ever at a U.S. school) happened; 33 students and faculty members died, and 20 more were wounded.

According to reports by CNN and Yahoo News, Kazmierczak was dubbed an outstanding student, celebrated by his peers and teachers. Whereas the Virginia Tech shooter described his motives and anger in a horrifying video and was classified as mentally ill, Kazmierczak simply showed no warning signs; he won awards and excelled in school (although new reports now say he recently came off of medication and exhibited “erratic behavior” in the last two weeks).

As I read the coverage of this latest tragedy, so many questions flood my mind, and I don’t know where to begin.

How much is too much? As young adults, our moods and personalities fluctuate all the time, especially with the aid of various medications. When is there a reason to worry–when does a seemingly average mood swing turn into something more, something fatal?

Maybe it’s an issue of school security. Maybe schools should start incorporating metal detectors and an airport-esque security process. Or maybe background checks on the mental stability of each student should be run. Maybe the focus should be on prevention? As the New York City subways say, “If you see something, say something.”

Are all of these shootings reflective of the scary access U.S. citizens have to guns, or the mental states of certain members of the population? Is there an outside influence in the media, with images of violence in the news, video games and movies affecting some people too much?

I attend a very small private college in a secure Manhattan neighborhood–and I’m still shaken up about going to school. I can only imagine what it’s like to attend a large college with an actual campus. But I don’t know or understand the root of my fear–why are these shootings happening?

I want to be able to point the finger at someone or something, to know what’s causing this. We have to determine the cause before we can come up with a solution. Right?

What are your thoughts on this matter? What is going on with America and school shootings?

To all the victims and families affected by all of the recent shootings, our thoughts and prayers here at College Candy are with all of you.

6 Comments on "Four Fatal School Shootings in One Week–Why?"

  1. Cathy says:
    Sat, 16th Feb 20085:38 am 

    TWLOHA.com claims that many people commit suicide days before or around the 14th of February. A lot of people feel alone at this time and the media ads stress the importance of being in love and being in relationships. It can take a toll on some people. It's really just sad

  2. Jessica - Marymount says:
    Sat, 16th Feb 20086:42 am 

    Hey Cathy–that's a great point, albeit a really, really sad one. TWLOHA (To Write Love on Her Arms) is like a great giant press release for love.

  3. tawy says:
    Sat, 16th Feb 200812:10 pm 

    the most obvious reason why this is such a problem in america is the ready availability of guns to the public. why else do you think it happens so much less anywhere else in the world?

  4. Cathy says:
    Sat, 16th Feb 20086:31 pm 

    I'll also have to agree with Tawy….I'm doing Vag Monologues this year again and do you know in some states it's illegal to sell vibrators but its perfectly fine to carry around a hand gun?

    What has this country come to? We need a president who is finally going to nip this issue in the bud. NRA has to go down, the gun laws have to be more strict.

  5. Dave says:
    Sun, 17th Feb 20089:40 pm 

    to say that gun laws need to be more strict is a little much its not exactly easy to get a handgun which is the weapon of choice in most shooting and to make it harder to get a rifle just takes away some of the freedom that you enjoy as americans. first it was the music then the movies but now where to point the finger were going to blame the goverenment or valintines day is boarder line insane blame ourselves for passing these people by how many years have we celebrated valintines day and always plenty of people do stupid stuff because this girl played a joke on me or billy said i was fat. maybe rather then up security we should possibly think about practicing humanity a little more then we do. don't kid yourselves with the illusions of safty because if someone really wants a gun they are going to get it legal or not its not hard def not in an avereage college town with 50,000 plus people, someone will always need money.

  6. Des UIC says:
    Mon, 18th Feb 20081:59 pm 

    I agree that weaponry are too available to to anyone who seeks them.

    I also have to say that it was a mistake for the media to air the tape that the virginia tech killer made following the incident last year. It shows others that may have similar unstable and destructive emotions that shooting up a school will give them instant recognition… or gratification. Who knows whats going on in their heads.

    Following the NIU school shootings, my school sent out a notice of e-mails that they recieved of threats of a shooting sometime in the spring. The other day they made an arrest of the person they think to have been the author of the e-mail. But how do you really know? How do you prevent this sort of thing? You really can't.

    I sit next to the aisle by the exits and completely avoid the front and center seats. My strategy to get out in case of an emergency. What about all these proposals for metal detectors? My school can't afford it. My tuition is too much as it is. People should just be considerate. Get help. Life is hard for the rest of us too.

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