39 Shootings since January 2014
Maryville H.S. Shooting: One of Six School Shootings in Six Months
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There have been six fatal school shootings during which innocent victims were killed in the past six months within the United States. However, there have been a total of 15 school shootings in as many months. Of these documented incidents since May, nine of the shootings lead to injuries and no deaths. One of the 15 shooting was death by suicide (a bullied 14 year-old Lamar Hawkins killed himself in a middle school restroom). Since January 2014 there have been a total of 39 school or university related shootings, as a result of which some combination of injury, death or both was reported. Not all are student related. One incident involved a knife-wielding man who was shot and killed on the San Jose University campus. Two of the 39 documented shootings since January were fatal marital spats. One man murdered his wife in a school parking lot and then later turned the gun on himself. 33 year-old Michelle Wilcox also suffered the same fate as she was shot and killed by husband Antonio Wilcox behind a Miami preschool. One other student, Zachary Leyes, like Lamar Hawkins decided to take his own life.
No other country experiences this type of violence amongst its youth. This seems to be unique to the United States. Why? Is it the deterioration of family values? Could it be as simple as a desire to commit copy-cat murder? Perhaps.
But in today’s incident, the school shooter was reportedly NOT bullied by peers. However it is rumored that popular freshman Jaylen Fryberg might have been publicly taunted via social media regarding his relationship, or lack thereof, with a female love interest. Regardless, what is unanimously reported is that Jaylen was a popular, well-liked, football player and had been recently crowned “Homecoming Prince.” It has been revealed that he just came off school suspension after fighting with another student. Now, older tweets by students are surfacing and various news sources and student witnesses claim that Fryberg apparently asked the girl out but she basically rejected him. As a result, he shot and killed her, wounded four other students and ultimately took his own life. Perhaps, Jaylen Fryberg had difficulty dealing with rejection and humiliation.
1.) October 24, 2014,
Maryville, WA
Maryville High School Shooting
Four injured, one dead not including the killer (Jaylen Fryberg) who shot himself.
2.) October 3, 2014,
Fairburn, GA
Langston Hughes High School (Parking Lot)
One dead (18 year-old Eric Dana Johnson Jr. was arrested alive).
3.) September 10, 2014
Lake Mary, FL
Greenwood Lakes Middle School
One dead (14 year-old Lamar Hawkins shot himself in the school bathroom).
3.) June 10, 2014
Troutdale, Oregon
Reynolds Oregon High School Shooting
One teacher injured, one student dead not including (15 year-old Jared Michael Padgett) who shot himself.
5.) June 5, 2014
Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington
Two injured, one dead. 26-year-old Aaron Ybarra is currently being held at King County Jail.
6.) May 23, 2014,
Isla Vista, California
Six injured, six dead not including the killer (Elliot Rodgers) who shot himself.
Bottom Line:
Are kids so fragile in the 21st century that they can’t deal with bullying, not being liked, being unpopular, or a relationship break-up or rejection? No matter how “well adjusted” youth or kids today might appear? Fryberg was NOT the typical isolated, bullied, 14 year-old with a history of mental illness. Was he mentally unstable? Well, to do what he did I would say so. However, no one expected this from a popular kid. Though, he was overly excited when his parents decided to buy him a GUN for his birthday, one that he was rather proud of, as he gloated with a picture via Instagram. Perhaps parents ought not to buy their kids guns, and guns should not be so readily accessible to our youth today. Above all else, we need to seriously consider MANDATORY parenting classes in hopes to instruct parents, as well as educators on how to teach healthy coping skills to vulnerable/fragile/mentally unstable teens and young adults.
Writing With Hope 