There are signs students can look out for to help prevent school violence

An Oakland manhunt for at least two shooters after a gang-related shooting: Six students and one teacher died in a school complex on King Estate

The manhunt for at least two shooters continues in Oakland, Calif., after gunmen opened fire on Wednesday at a school complex in what police said was a gang-related incident.

Six adults suffered gunshot wounds on the King Estate campus, which houses four different schools, shortly before students were released for the day, Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said during a Thursday press conference.

There were four students who died that day. The other teens are: Tate Myre, 16; Hana St.-Augiol, 14; and a 17year old named Justin Shilling. Six other students and one teacher were injured.

The officials have not yet said who that person may have been. They are trying to identify what caused the shooting.

He believes that the violence is related to conflicts in the city that have driven the violence throughout the city.

“We also know that there were over 30 rounds fired on this campus. That is wholly unacceptable. Many more students were not hurt as a result of this action.

There is video footage and other evidence that shows the attackers breaching the gates of the Rudsdale high school portion of the King Estate campus.

The massacre of children and adults in Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 shocked the nation but failed to change the politics of gun reform, as college undergrads grew up under the shadow. In a horrible and extreme example of how gun violence is a constant companion for today’s young people, some Michigan State University students who survived Monday’s mass shooting had also escaped with their lives from a November 30, 2021, shooting at Oxford High School, about an 80-mile drive east of the MSU campus in East Lansing.

During a press conference last month, Armstrong called the surge of such violence a “people problem,” explaining that, “It is people in our community who have become unable to solve conflict without using firearms. And that’s sad because it’s leaving so much trauma in our communities.”

A 17-year-old student at a Michigan high school in custody charged with shooting four students and wounding seven others: A trial for James Crumbley

A teenager is to plead guilty to murder charges Monday for killing four students and wounding seven others at a Michigan high school last year.

Crumbley, who was 15 when the shooting happened, previously pleaded not guilty to the charges, but is expected to change his plea at a hearing in Oakland County Circuit Court.

The parents of the teenager who shot and killed four people were accused of giving him easy access to a gun, and ignoring signs that he was a threat before the shooting.

The couple’s attorneys argued in court documents that they should not be held responsible for their son’s crime because the charges have no legal justification.

The trial for the parents was initially scheduled to begin Monday but was postponed last month to start in January. James and the Crumbley are still in jail.

The teacher crawled over and asked for assistance moving the lockers to the door so she could’ve gotten in. There were shots fired from the door and glass broke from the outside.

Police said the teenager had a long gun and a dozen high- capacity magazines, which he could have used to harm a lot of people.

Authorities credited locked doors and a quick police response – including by off-duty officers – for preventing more killings at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School.

“This could have been much worse,” police Commissioner Michael Sack said. The individual had a lot of high-capacity magazines on him. There are a lot of victims there.

Jean Kuczka: A Missing Live-Old Gymnast, Likely to Make a Future with a Shot,” Sack, told CNN

Alexandria was looking forward to Sweet 16, her father said. Kuczka was looking forward to retiring in a few years, her daughter told CNN.

Sack said that the shooter died at the hospital after a gunfight with officers. The man is a graduate from the school last year.

We need to inform the public about how we can prevent gun violence. We should never allow that to be something we need to live with, because it is preventable.

Alexandria was a member of the high school junior varsity dance team and loved to dance, according to her father.

She was supposed to celebrate Halloween with her friend, Dejah Robinson. She kept the smile on her face, and was always funny, according to Robinson.

Jean Kuczka had a huge impact on her students, and she was remembered fondly by alumni. “She was kindhearted. She was sweet. She made you laugh even when you weren’t trying to.

In her biography on the school’s website, Kuczka said she had been at Central VPA High School since 2008. She believed that every child should be given a chance to learn.

The incident of a teenage gunman at a high school in Seattle, South Carolina, police commissioner told reporters at the time of the shooting

Seven other teens were injured, some with gunshot or graze wounds. One had a broken ankle. They were all in stable conditions, the police commissioner said.

“When he entered, it was out … there was no mystery about what was going to happen,” the commissioner said. “He had it out and entered in an aggressive, violent manner.”

Adrianne Bolden, a freshman at the school, told KSDK that students thought it was a drill until they heard the sirens and saw their teachers were scared.

Adrianne told KSDK that the class stayed put until students saw their assistant principal come up to one of the classroom’s locked windows. “We opened it, the teacher said to come on, and we all had to jump out the window,” Bolden recalled.

Math teacher David Williams told CNN everyone went into “drill mode,” turning off lights, locking doors and huddling in corners so they couldn’t be seen.

The school will be out of session for the rest of the week following the shooting, Superintendent Alex Marrero said during a news conference. He said two armed officers would be present on campus when students return.

Asked about the eight minutes between officers’ arrival and making contact with the gunman, Sack said “eight minutes isn’t very long,” and that officers had to maneuver through a big school with few entrances and crowds of students and staff who were evacuating.

As officers searched for people who had called in from different places, they escorted them out of the building.

A SWAT team that was together for a training exercise was also able to quickly load up and get to the school to perform a secondary sweep of the building, Sack said.

School Shootings: What We Know About the Public, How We Learn about It, and What We Don’t Know About It, or What to Do About It

But “the general public, they really don’t know what to look for,” said former FBI special agent and profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole, who has studied school shootings for more than 20 years.

The key is to look out for drastic changes in behavior, said school safety consultant Melissa Reeves, past president of the National Association of School Psychologists.

For some, it’s increased outward behavior. An increase in grievances will be seen. An escalation, potentially, in anger. We will see an increase in difficulties managing their emotions.

Changes are still occurring, but they may be starting to withdraw. They don’t interact with groups of friends. They are spending more time on the internet.

Leakage can also involve a fixation on previous mass shootings “to the point where the English teacher knows about it, their friends at the lunch table know about it,” O’Toole said.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/26/us/school-shootings-warning-signs-red-flags-xpn/index.html

How do you know when a student is going to school? An Instagram comment on the 15-year-old suspect’s picture of a gun is a cry for help

The person is really excited about what they are going to do, so they are usually done. Some people claim it is a cry for help and they can be used for that purpose if discovered prior to the event.

But for those bent on violence, “They plan it. They think about it. They are interested in it. They prepare for it. That period of time that they are done with, it is pleasant for them. They enjoy it.”

A few days before the 2021 school shooting in Oxford, Michigan, the 15-year-old suspect posted a photo of a gun on Instagram with the caption: “Just got my new beauty today. Karen McDonald is a prosecutor for Oakland County.

By itself, that post is not necessarily a cause for alarm. In Michigan, residents under age 18 can possess a gun under certain circumstances.

The prosecutor said that a teacher found a drawing by the suspect depicting violence and phrases such as “blood everywhere”, “My life is useless” and “thoughts won’t stop help me”.

While a troubling social media post or a disturbing comment in class might not indicate any threat, it’s still worth telling a teacher or school official because others might have additional concerns, O’Toole said.

“Educate the students and the faculty to what the red-flag behaviors are … and make it so that students can call in on a confidential line,” O’Toole said.

She said that they strive for prevention, based on knowing what warning behaviors are and how to use appropriate intervention in an objective and compassionate way.

The US Department of Education and the US Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center recommend that students’ messages be continually monitored and that any information that comes to their attention should go to a school threat assessment team.

The core team “should include an administrator, at least one school mental health professional (school psychologist, school counselor, school social worker), and a school resource officer (SRO)/law enforcement,” Reeves and colleagues wrote about behavioral threat assessment and management in K-12 schools.

“Oftentimes, when we’re doing the threat assessment is where we find out there’s abuse going on in the home. Or that one parent just got arrested for domestic violence and they’re sitting in jail. Or the one grandma that was their caretaker who they loved just died. Now they feel that they have nobody,” Reeves said.

Law enforcement won’t need to be involved if a threat is found to be not true or low level. School personnel can work with the student and the parents if they implement a problem solving and conflict resolution process.

An officer of the law may become engaged in a consultative or direct role if the threat needs to be mitigated. Local law enforcement should be aware of the reports of weapons, threats of violence, and physical violence.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/26/us/school-shootings-warning-signs-red-flags-xpn/index.html

The Boundary Law for Students and School Personnel to Report a Violent Act at the Home of Stabbing at Green Valley Elementary School

The student was taken to the guidance counselors office after being removed from the classroom and told that he was making a video game.

“It’s a very low bar for a school to search a backpack or a locker,” CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig said. The Supreme Court knows it’s reasonable suspicion, which is very low.

The most reliable information you can have is self-reported. The former FBI special agent said you need other sources to corroborate what someone is telling you.

She said that you want to look for anything else that might suggest that the person is experiencing violent thoughts. That means talking to the parents, teachers and even law enforcement to see if there have been any reports of incidents at the home.

Therefore, “these types of consequences should be implemented only after careful team consideration and should always be paired with supportive interventions,” the team of school psychologists wrote.

It’s better for the student to be at school supervised and have more time to research and plan how to carry out a violent act at home.

“We need parents to be more aware of what is happening in their child’s life and what they may have in their possession. While we need students and school staff to report, we also need more parent engagement at home and also need them to reach out when their child is struggling.”

The Saint Louis Public Schools’ chief said that reading, writing, and arithmetic are important for gun safety.

“It’s the totality of all those behaviors. One person could potentially know about it. One person may know, ‘Yeah, I heard that he has access to a gun.’” There is possibly a concern about the same student reported by another person.

Reeves said students are often in the best position to notice red flags – whether those clues are on social media, in the classroom or outside of school.

When the teacher and her students walked into the cafe, the store representatives called to report that there were people injured at the school and the teacher told the police what she thought happened.

According to a news release from the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office, there was a call about multiple stab wounds at Green Valley Elementary School. It’s 40 minutes west of Baltimore.

When the school locked down, a teacher accidentally left after a sixth grader was shot in the foot: an incident that happened in a woods

Earlier in the day, the teacher had allegedly attempted to call the front office to get permission to take students outside but did not receive a response and believed the school seemed “eerily quiet,” the sheriff’s office said.

The teacher then decided to lead the students through the woods up to a nearby cafe – a decision which authorities say she made due to her taking a part in emergency management procedures.

The children have to take off their bright colored clothes and remove their own bright colored shirt to avoid detection when going through the woods, said the sheriff’s office.

The teacher wasn’t criminally arrested or charged, as authorities say that she was taken into custody. She was taken to a hospital for an evaluation and not handcuffed, they said.

School officials met with parents of students who were affected in order to get information and services for them and will have more mental health staff at the school in the future, district officials said.

A student at the school described the harrowing moments when the school was locked down after a teacher was shot by a 6-year-old boy.

“We were doing math … an announcer came on she was like, ‘lockdown, I repeat lockdown,’” said fifth grader Novah Jones, who was located in a different classroom. “I was scared … it was like my first lockdown and I didn’t know what to do, so I just hid under my desk like everybody was.”

The teacher wounded in Friday’s shooting, whose injury was initially described as life-threatening, was listed in stable condition by Saturday, according to the Newport News Police Department.

James Madison University identified her as the teacher who taught in the Newport News public school district.

The Newtown Elementary School Shooting: The Case of a 6-year-old Student killed in a shooting on the 15th anniversary of the Florida high school shooting

The 6-year-old boy was taken into police custody, Police Chief Steve Drew said in a news conference, adding that “this was not an accidental shooting.”

The student had a gun and the teacher had an altercation with him, Drew said. There was a single round fired and no students were involved.

Though she was able to return home safely, Novah said she had trouble sleeping that night, worried that “he still had the gun and he was going to come to my house.”

As the investigation continues, the elementary school will remain closed Monday and Tuesday to give the community “time to heal,” Principal Briana Foster Newton said in a statement.

A legal notice was sent to the Newport News School Board by Zwerner’s attorney that said a student was suspended for one day for swearing at guidance counselors two days before the shooting.

The authorities are working diligently to get an answer to the question we are all asking. We are also working to ensure the child receives the supports and services he needs as we continue to process what took place,” Jones said.

America’s latest mass shooting wrote a new community in the roll call of colleges stigmatized by tragedy. Adding Michigan State University will make it a part of Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois and the University of Virginia.

The cycle of sudden death that can strike anyone, anywhere, is what horror is in this city. The Michigan State shooting on Monday night, which killed three students and injured five more, occurred on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the massacre at the Florida high school that left 17 people dead. Tuesday was also the 15th anniversary of a mass shooting that left five students dead at Northern Illinois University.

The day brought the familiar futile anger over the tortured politics of gun control and splits among Americans about firearms that mean that – even after more senseless deaths – nothing will be done.

Studies show that school shootings are getting more frequent as more kids are exposed to such horrors and that millions more feel that it could happen to them.

“They are terrified, their parents are terrified,” Michigan Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin told CNN on Tuesday after meeting survivors and family members from Michigan State, which is in her district. “It’s terrorizing and we either do something about something that is terrorizing our population, or we don’t care about it.”

When she dropped off her kids at Michigan State a year and ahalf ago, Nessel thought it was going to be a miracle that they wouldn’t have an incident like this.

Monday’s killings led to a heartbreaking only-in-America moment, when a young Parkland survivor counseled stricken Michigan State Spartans on how to process their nightmare and what they would experience in the years ahead.

In 1999 there was a school shooting in Colorado that killed 12 students and a teacher, and in 2007 there was a mass shooting at Virginia Tech that left 32 people dead.

Billy Shellenbarger, of the Clawson Public Schools, said that Alexandria Verner, one of three students who died, was everything he would want his daughter or friend to be. The two other students killed were Arielle Anderson and Brian Fraser who both graduated in 2021 from high schools in Grosse Point, Michigan.

“How is it possible that this happened in the first place, an act of senseless violence that has no place in our society and in particular no place in school,” asked Jon Dean, superintendent of Grosse Pointe Public Schools. It touched the community twice.

Such is the inertia surrounding gun politics in Washington, that it’s become a cliche in itself to write that the usual rituals of regret and condolences played out in the capital after a mass shooting but without any expectation that politicians would respond with meaningful measures to stop it happening again.

The most significant gun safety law in decades was passed by President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators, but it failed to ban any weapons and fell short of what the White House, gun control advocates and most Americans want to see. The Republicans now hold a narrow House majority and that is a bad thing for future gun control legislation.

The Democratic sweep of Michigan’s governorship and the state legislature will open the possibility of change to the gun law, but it won’t do much for swing states who want to cling onto power.

One of Biden’s main criticisms of mass shootings, is that they are a family’s worst nightmare that’s happening far too often in this country.

Arguments against gun control are as well rehearsed as those for it. Second Amendment absolutists often say the answer is more guns on the streets to allow people to defend themselves and to “harden” institutions like schools and universities. Many point out that often, shootings are perpetrated by gunmen with troubled mental histories or who become isolated or alienated from their society.

But there is rarely any concentrated effort from Republicans in Washington to spend the vast amounts of money needed to overhaul mental health services. Republican governors and Legislatures are easing guns laws in a way that is likely to lead to even easier access to weapons.

While police are still searching for a motive for the Michigan State gunman’s rampage, his father, Michael McRae, said that after his mother died several years ago, he became “more and more bitter … angry and bitter … evil angry.” The sister of the man who killed nine people told CNN that her brother was a criminal with weapons and was socially isolated. The police said he had a history of mental health issues.

Despite the deadlocked debates over guns rights and gun control, more pro-active action by loved ones and others might allow some red flag laws that could see weapons taken from the mentally ill to work. Katherine Schweit, a former FBI senior official and active shooter expert, said people who see relatives deteriorating mentally need to act.

The story of three Michigan State students and one Norristown mom arrested for shooting a 6-year-old girl in a school bus

“We have to follow through, we have to report stuff,” she told CNN’s Jake Tapper. In the United States, terrorist events have been prevented by the phrase “see something, say something”. We need to do the same thing for these types of situations.”

This could save lives in the future. But it is not enough for three Michigan State students who will never graduate or the other Spartans whose college years have been scarred by gun violence.

Police were alerted to the gun on campus after a group of students on a school bus with the 6-year-old that morning told the school’s secretary he showed them the weapon and bullets.

In Pennsylvania, a mother in Norristown was arrested after her 6-year-old son brought a gun to Joseph K. Gotwals Elementary School on February 9, prosecutors said.

The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release that she was indicted on felony endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangering for failing to secure a firearm in her home. It is not known if he has an attorney.

The children who notified the school officials immediately have been credited by the police with preventing another tragedy at the school. These kids were the true heroes in this unfortunate incident. Their notification to school officials resulted in an immediate response by Norristown Police, ensuring the safety of everyone at the school.”

Marvin Ray Davis, 58, of Rocky Mount, is charged with a misdemeanor count of improper storage of a firearm to protect a minor

The statement from the district attorney’s office stated that Devlin obtained the gun through a straw purchase. Straw purchases happen when a person is ineligible to buy a gun for another person.

Devlin’s bond was set at $50,000 and she’s been ordered to not have contact with children as part of her bond conditions. A preliminary hearing in the case is set for February 24.

In North Carolina, Marvin Ray Davis, 58, was charged with a misdemeanor count of improper storage of a firearm to protect a minor after an unloaded 9 mm handgun was discovered in a 6-year-old’s backpack at Fairview Elementary on Tuesday, according to a news release from the Rocky Mount Police Department.

Davis is not related to the child but did live in the same home, a department spokesperson told CNN. He was issued a $4,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Rocky Mount Court on March 1, the release said.

CNN has tried to contact Davis but it is not clear if he has an attorney. CNN has also reached out to Nash County Public Schools for comment.

“The situation … should be a reminder to all gun owners to secure their weapons in a safe manner so that minors cannot possess them,” Rocky Mount Police Chief Robert Hassell said. He said that the situation was preventable.

The Shooting that Shoots a High School Principal: Two Students, One Student, One Bull, One Shot and Two Poliots

A hospital spokesman confirmed that Zwerner was released last month. The teacher has undergone four surgeries since the shooting, NBC reported, most recently on her hand, which Zwerner still cannot fully use.

She told NBC that some days she can’t get out of bed. “Some days are better than others where I’m able to get out of bed and make it to my appointments. But from going through what I’ve gone through, I try to stay positive.”

The boy who allegedly shot Zwerner will not be criminally charged, Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn told CNN affiliate WTKR earlier this month.

The fallout from the incident was swift, drawing harsh criticism from parents and leading the school board to vote to oust Superintendent George Parker III. Richneck Elementary’s assistant principal, Ebony Parker, resigned two weeks after the shooting and the principal, Briana Foster Newton, was reassigned to another school, though the district did not say where.

Branch said those that were aware of the possibility that the student may have had a gun that day did not report it to Mrs.Newton.

Zwerner knew she was shot, but first she thought about the safety of her students, as the bullet went through her left hand and lodged in her chest.

She said she was terrified. “In that moment, my initial reaction was, ‘Your kids need to get out of here,’ you know? This class is not safe anymore. … I just wanted to get my babies out of there.”

The family of the boy whose parents were killed in the shooting said that he was left alone at school on the day of the shooting because he was under a care plan that required a parent to attend. We will be sad to not be here for the rest of our lives.

When will she be with her family and strangers, or if she can help her grieve? A case study of a Denver student who shot and wounded two faculty members

The outpouring of support from her family and complete strangers is “hard to comprehend sometimes,” she said, but is deeply appreciated and “truly inspiring.”

I am looking closely at the Newport News prosecutor to be sure if they charge anyone in this case.

Toscano said that he wanted to hold those accountable and that he was going to do that. Abby’s going to have to deal with this her entire life, both physically, emotionally.”

Indeed, Zwerner – who NBC reported could not get into details about what occurred prior to the shooting due to the potential litigation – is dealing not only with physical injuries, but emotional ones, too.

I am not certain when the shock will ever go away because of how vivid the memories are and I don’t know when that will end. “I think about it daily. Sometimes I have nightmares.

A male student shot and wounded two faculty members at a Denver high school and then fled the scene, spurring a citywide search for his whereabouts.

The Broncos Student at East High School, a Denver Historic Landmark, was killed by an African American student with an afro

The mayor said they were looking for the suspect. “We will find that suspect, and we will hold that suspect accountable for his actions this morning in placing everyone in danger and certainly wounding the two staff members who were doing their job and trying to keep everyone safe at the time.”

The mayor asked residents to look out for the student, described as an African American juvenile with an afro and wearing a hoodie with an astronaut on it. The student should be considered a danger because of his willingness to use the weapon, the mayor said.

In addition, another student was taken to a hospital because of an allergic reaction, the mayor said. Paramedics were in the building when the shooting occurred and they were able to immediately treat the wounded.

The highest-performing comprehensive high school in Denver is East High School, which has 2,500 students in 9th through 12th grades.

The high school is located in the City Park neighborhood of the Colorado capital and is considered a Denver Historic Landmark for its architecture in the Jacobethan Revival style. The clock tower atop the school is similar in style to Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, the school website notes.

School officials will be implementing a “controlled release” of students once police allow, according to a tweet from Denver Public Schools. The students that commuted themselves, the students that ride the bus, the students who are dropped off by a parent will be held on the campus until the bus arrives.