Columbine High School shooting took place in 1999. More than 1800 kids in the school that day; 13 were killed and another 20 injured. Since that shooting, more than 23 years ago, more than 311,000 students have experienced gun violence at school, according to an analysis done by The Washington Post.
Esther Bell, Sun City resident, was unfortunate to feel that fear. Bell said, “My granddaughter is a student at Oshkosh West High School. Last year the school was evacuated during a threat. It was terrifying for her parents and myself. A teenager had stabbed the school’s resource officer in a struggle for his gun. The officer managed to keep the gun away from him by shooting the teen while being staffed.”
Bell’s granddaughter, Marin Bell, and her classmates were lucky because even well-trained and well-armed police officers cannot always stop a teenage shooter with multiple rifles and body armor.
Bell said, “I was more scared than she and so angry afterwards.”
Was her granddaughter frightened to go back to school after the incident?
Bell said, “They were not allowed back in the school for a couple of days. When they evacuated the school, they left everything behind. When they returned, the parents went into the school with them. Marin said she was not scared to go back because it probably wouldn’t happen again. She’s doing well at school. She’s in the school band and National Honor Society. She baked bread during Covid and sold it. She made $900, donating all the proceeds to the food pantry.”
Parents and families all over felt pain for the Texas victims, who reminded them of their own children, and Bell for a moment relived that terror.
Bell said, “The shooting at Uvalde brought back the terror of those hours. I am frightened for not only the children, but the parents and grandparents.”
