Two days after Florida House passes the school safety bill is when another violent incident was witnessed in an Alabama high school where a 17-year old student was shot dead by an unknown perpetrator.
Violence in schools is now becoming a trend following the Stoneman Douglas high school shooting that saw 17 people dead and the Central Michigan University shooting where a 19-year old student shot his parents. Indeed, it is important to make schools safer by introducing laws such as those of the Florida State which advocates for restrictions on rifle sales and arming teachers.
The laws passed may have been Florida’s initiative but should be adopted in all American states. Schools are a gun free environment but considered gun violence targets.
The Alabama Shooting Incident
In an unclear circumstance, a female student was shot dead while a 17-year-old boy was injured in the same incident. Authorities investigating the incident claimed that the shooting may have been accidental. They refused to lead on further details about the shooting. The alleged accident is said to have happened during the school dismissal period, a period when students are meant to leave for home.
Orlando Wilson, the Birmingham Interim Police Chief stated that investigators are seeking to find out what exactly happened in Huffman High School on Wednesday afternoon. The school is marked as the largest in the state and is set to send panic among parents with students attending it. Wilson informed reporters that their investigative team will rely on scouring school surveillance video and student interviews to try and patch up what happened.
After the shooting, the school experienced a brief lockdown to try and ascertain the nature of threat before any other student could be allowed to exit the school. They were released late on Wednesday while the security authorities stated that the shooting was perpetrated by someone from inside the school. Wilson declined to reveal who the perpetrator was and what kind of weapon was used.
Reactions from Leaders in Alabama
Randall Woodfin, Birmingham’s Mayor intimated personal details about the deceased. He stated that the deceased student had aspirations to be a nurse and would have turned 18 in about 30 days. He made the statement to imply that the senior high student was not just a statistic but a person who would have amounted to somebody in future. He added that their hearts were heavy.
Lisa Herring, Birmingham’s City Schools Superintendent declared that her goal was to support the family of the deceased and reassure parents that schools were still safe.
Kay Ivey, Alabama’s Governor stated that the tragedy reaffirmed that there was no place for students to possess weapons on campus. The incident took place a day after the Governor constituted a safety council to make recommendations on school safety.
