School shootings are rising in concern and have been all over the news yet again. On September 4, 2024, a fatal school shooting occurred in Barrow County, Georgia at Apalachee High School. Two students, Mason Schermerhorn, Christian Angula, alongside two faculty members Christiana Irime, and Richard Aspinwall, were fatally shot. Schermerhorn and Angula were both 14 when they were killed by their fellow 9th-grade classmate, Colt Gray. In recent years, school shooters have progressively gotten younger.
He then proceeded to walk down the hall, firing 10-15 shots at the other classrooms.
One of the reasons for the rise in violence stems from social media. Children learn certain behaviors from social media which seemingly guide them into certain patterns of thinking. This can happen both intentionally and unintentionally due to social media’s constant stream of information, often amplifying coverage of traumatic events. Children may encounter behaviors such as the glorification of perpetrators, misinformation or dangerous trends which could mimic or encourage violent actions.
In the case of Apalachee High School, the gun that Gray used in the shooting was gifted to him by his father the previous christmas. Gray’s father gave him the weapon even after the FBI investigated his son in November of 2023 for his involvement in online threats to shoot up a school in May 2023. Threats like these can be very serious even if nothing physically occurs. They lead to unsafe circumstances and the only way to make sure students are safe is to take every warning seriously. Even though Gray had exhibited concerning behavior, his father did not see the issue of giving him a gun.
Before the Apalachee shooting, the school received multiple threats that they did not properly look into. Lyela Sayarath, a classmate of Gray, recalled that Gray excused himself from their algebra class a while before the chaos. Supposedly, there was another boy in their class with a name similar to Gray. He had been pulled out of class by the administrators instead, which enabled Gray to take his plan into action. His first target was his math classroom where he knocked on the door to be let in. However, a girl from his class saw him pull out a gun from the window, to which she then retreated and notified the class that Gray had a gun. He then proceeded to walk down the hall, firing 10-15 shots at the other classrooms. The police arrived quickly and rounded up the children. They then safely escorted them out to the football field where they were waiting for their parents to pick them up.
Junior Lovely Conkle’s cousin, Faith Battle, attends Apalachee High School. However, she decided to stay home and skip, “It was scary knowing that my cousin could have been at school the day of the shooting.” Even though she wasn’t physically there, doesn’t mean that she wasn’t heavily affected.
I expect you guys to run, hide and fight.
Recently in Joliet, IL, two girls, ages 12 and 14, were arrested after making threats on social media regarding their school. According to ABC News, these threats pushed their school into remote learning the following Monday resulting in a loss of school time for children.
Additionally, a 17-year-old in Lockport was recently charged with disorderly conduct because he posed a school threat on Snapchat towards his school. This threat was made at Providence Catholic High School where the teachers were quickly informed and contacted state officials. He was later sent to juvenile detention and faced his consequences for posing a threat.
As claimed by Campus Safety Magazine, just a month after the Apalachee shooting, school districts across the US have been dealing with an increase in school shooting threats. These threats similar to the occurrences above happen on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and just about any social media site.
LFA’s Head of Campus Safety, Norman Syndor, is a retired police officer. Syndor emphasized that in cases of disorder, everyone has an instinct to panic, however, he says, “I expect you guys to run, hide and fight.” Syndor made it clear that the best thing a student can do in an event like this is to stay calm and follow instructions given by a faculty or staff member. Every year, LFA goes through state-mandated drills. In the event of a shooting, “The goal is to be so quiet the school shooter gets tired of lonely hallways and tries to go somewhere else,” Syndor said.
Since the Columbine shooting in 1999, more than 338,000 students in the US have experienced gun violence in schools. This is a number that should have never been reached. In recent years the age of school shooters has drastically decreased. Parents should not give their children access to these weapons in any given situation. The decrease in the age of school shooters comes along with the increase in social media use. Social media has been contorting school shooting situations and threats. School shootings are not a situation that should be taken lightly despite their connotation on social media.
