School shootings are always tragic. As a mother it is my worst nightmare. We send our kids to school as a safe space for learning. But each year there are more and more kids that get a hold of firearms. Each kid is trying to outdo the Columbine killers as if killing their classmates will make them famous. In the media we are always struggling with how to cover these stories. Do we publish the shooter’s name? Photo? Are we making them famous? We have to call the people who witnessed the shooting, the people who knew those who were killed and those who knew the shooter. Hearing their stories is always devastating. There are always heroes and there were always warning signs.
So this week when we heard about multiple fatalities at a Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin my heart lurched. We started by calling the usual law enforcement experts to tell us about the response and what the investigation will entail. We booked a father who had run to the school where his son attended when he heard the sirens. And his son told us about what he experienced at school that day. An all too familiar story.
Then we booked the girl whose locker was next to the shooter. She was so thankful that her life was spared, that the shooter hadn’t pulled the gun out of her locker and shot at her. She had been kind to the shooter and felt like that may have spared her life. She was strong and brave in sharing her story.
I spent hours on the phone with her mother and learned so much about their community. It was a small school and a tight-knit community where everyone knew everyone. When they had arrived to pick up their kids everyone described it as one big family reunion. Siblings were running to hug one another, and parents were consoling each other. They told me that “the kids went through hell” that day. This scene has played out too many times in too many schools across our country. It has been estimated that 31,000 kids have been impacted by school shootings in America. That’s 31,000 kids whose lives will never be the same. And that’s 31,000 kids too many. I know it is only a matter of time before we have to do this whole familiar routine again. It has almost become routine. And that is a tragedy. Our kids deserve better!