Dread & Terror: Apalachee High School Mass Shooting by a 14-year old Student
Just yesterday. And yes, with an AR-15 style rifle.
Had enough of violence? Apparently violence has not had enough of us.
Just 3 days ago in NY:
Unexpected Chaos Strikes Annual New York Celebration, Multiple Casualties Reported
And now, yet another mass school shooting:
A 14-year-old student opened fire at a Georgia high school and killed four people on Wednesday, authorities said, sending students scrambling for shelter in their classrooms — and eventually to the football stadium — as officers swarmed the campus and parents raced to find out if their children were safe.
The dead were identified as two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, about an hour’s drive from Atlanta.
At least nine other people — eight students and one teacher — were taken to hospitals with injuries. All were expected to survive, Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith said.
Note that this “shooting is at least the 45th school shooting in 2024 and the deadliest this year, according to a CNN analysis.”
Consider that this week students returned to school. Aren’t previous fears parents already had about the safety of their children rekindled now? What about the children? They certainly will get wind of it, especially high school students. What kinds of emotional reactions and behaviors will we see now? How will the seemingly never ending debacle surrounding gun control, and especially access to assault weapons so easily available like AR-15 style rifles, unfold across a nation alarmed once more about how easy it was for another school mass shooting to occur?
What can we who write for public consumption say by way of coping, providing emotional first aid, and risk management strategies? And how do we address concerns raised by our own patients? At work? In our personal lives?
News reports indicate that this particular school already had conducted drills and had safety measures in place. Even with drills and safety measures in place, we simply can’t foreseeably prevent such shootings or similar occurrences in the future when AR-15 style rifles are so easily accessible.
Written by: Roy Aranda, Psy.D., J.D.