“Now I become death – destroyer of worlds – see you tomorrow Oxford.”
–15-year old Michigan high school shooting suspect, Instagram
The suspect allegedly posted these words and a picture of the semi-automatic handgun used in the massacre on social media before he opened fire on classmates and teachers at Oxford High School, according to the local sheriff.
“He had been shooting with it and posted pictures of a target and the weapon. That’s all part of what’s being looked at. We’re going to do a deep dive on the social media and all the activities of this young man,” he added about the 15-year-old Oxford High School sophomore, CNN reported.
(Yaron Steinbuch. “Michigan school shooting suspect allegedly posted pics of gun before massacre.” New York Post. December 1, 2021.)
Of course, these are the words of Hindu scripture – the Bhagavad-Gita – that ran through the mind of Robert Oppenheimer – head of the Los Alamos Laboratory, the birthplace of the Manhattan Project – as he witnessed the first detonation of a nuclear weapon on July 16, 1945.
“We knew the world would not be the same,” Oppenheimer later recalled. “A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent.” As Oppenheimer, watched the fireball of the Trinity nuclear test, he turned to Hinduism: it was a way of making sense of his actions.
How ironic the suspect (so far unnamed) chose these words from the so-called “Father” of the atomic bomb – a device used on the Japanese to end World War II, beginning the Atomic Age but saving untold thousands of American lives in a planned invasion – to begin his deadly killing spree.
Still, we must live with the results – the bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians
However, the young student took it upon himself to create his own mass carnage for nothing other destruction, death, and grief.
This high school sophomore suspect, who reportedly attended class before he began shooting, likely had learned about Oppenheimer in his history classes at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit – the very place housing the classmates he attacked Tuesday. He killed four students, ages 14 to 17, in the shooting. He shot seven others, six students and one teacher. Some remain critically hurt.
“Destroyer of worlds,” indeed.
In America's gun violence epidemic, the Oxford High massacre is the 28th school shooting of 2021. School shootings have occurred in 19 states in 2021– with the highest number (four) taking place in Texas, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Tuesday's shooting is the largest documented incident of the year. The shooting is the 23rd incident involving gunfire on Michigan K-12 and college school grounds since 2013, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group. Deaths in school shootings have also happened in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Delaware, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana.
The deadly shooting in Oxford Township, a suburb about 35 miles north of Detroit, marks the 651st incident this year in which at least four people were shot, whether fatally or not, according to the archive, which tracks mass shootings.
(Jeanine Santucci. “In America's gun violence 'epidemic,' Oxford High in Michigan is 28th school shooting of 2021.” USA TODAY. November 30, 2021.)
Sandy Hook Promise reports gun violence and school shootings are a uniquely American epidemic. Guns are the leading cause of death among American children and teens, and 1 out of 10 gun deaths are age 19 or younger.
A comprehensive study of school shootings from 1974 to 2000 conducted by the Secret Service and Department of Education found “93% of school shooters planned the attack in advance. In 4 out of 5 school shootings, at least one other person had knowledge of the attacker’s plan but failed to report it. And, guns used in about 68% of gun-related incidents at schools were taken from the home, a friend or a relative.” In most school shootings, the weapon is a firearm left unsecured in the home.
(B. Vossekuil et al. “The final report and findings of the Safe School Initiative.” Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center and the Department of Education's Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program. Washington, DC: 2002.)
In addition, research shows nearly all mass attackers in 2018 made threatening or concerning communications and more than 75% elicited concern from others prior to carrying out their attacks.
(Lina Alathari, Ph.D.
Et al. “Mass Attacks In Public Spaces.” National Threat
Assessment Center. United States Secret Service and U.S. Department
of Homeland Security. August 2020.)
In almost every documented case of active shooters, warning signs were given shown.
(J. Silver, J., A. Simons, & S. Craun, S. “A Study of the Pre-Attack Behaviors of Active Shooters in the United States Between 2000 – 2013.” Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice. 2018.)
How Does The “Destroyer of Worlds” Fit the Profile?
Five minutes after the violence began, the suspect surrendered himself to a school deputy. He did not resist when he was arrested, and is not cooperating with the investigation, authorities said. He declined to speak with investigators after his parents retained a lawyer and denied authorities permission to interview their son, He has been booked into jail as a juvenile but could be tried as an adult,
The 15-year-old student used a 9MM Sig Sauer SP2022 pistol. Two 15-round magazines were found at the scene, at least 12 rounds were fired.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said he was unaware of any previous run-ins with law enforcement by the suspect, a high school sophomore, adding that investigators had so far seen nothing to suggest a history of disciplinary problems or threats.
The pistol the suspect used during the shooting was bought by his father on Black Friday, Nov. 26, according to Bouchard. It was loaded with seven rounds of ammunition when police arrested the suspect.
It is illegal under Michigan laws for someone younger than 18 to possess a gun in public. In schools, it is illegal to carry a concealed gun, and some school districts in the state also ban open carry.
"It's clear that he came out with the intent to kill people," said Bouchard Wednesday on CNN's "New Day," adding that the suspect fired shots from a close range toward the head or chest of some of the victims.
(Monique Beals. “Michigan school shooting suspect 'came out with the intent to kill,' sheriff says.” The Hill. December 01, 2021.)
A search warrant was executed at the suspect's home Tuesday. Bouchard said authorities seized a phone and are examining other seized items.
"We don't have a motive at this point in time," Undersheriff Michael McCabe said Tuesday. "We are still investigating that."
McCabe acknowledged there were rumors about warning signs and said that they were being investigated. At least one parent told the Associated Press that her son was not in school over fears something could happen.
Robin Redding
said her son, Treshan Bryant, is a 12th grader at the school but
stayed home on Tuesday. She said he had heard threats of a shooting
at the school. “This couldn’t be just random,” she said.
Redding didn’t provide specifics about what her son had heard, but
she expressed concern with school safety in general. “Kids just,
like they’re just mad at each other at this school,” she
said.
Bryant said he texted several
younger cousins in the morning and they said they didn’t want to go
to school, and he got a bad feeling. He asked his mom if he could do
his assignments online. Bryant said he had heard vague threats “for
a long time now” about plans for a shooting at the school. “You’re
not supposed to play about that,” he said of the threats. “This
is real life.”
(Mike Householder. “Authorities: Student kills 3, wounds 6 at Michigan school.” Sacramento Bee. Associated Press December 01, 2021.)
The Victims
Three of the shooting victims are in critical condition with gunshot wounds, including a 14-year-old girl who is on a ventilator after having surgery. A 14-year-old boy is in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the jaw and head, Bouchard said. Three students are in stable condition and the teacher who was shot has been discharged.
There were multiple other non-life-threatening injuries sustained by people as they were rushing out of the school, Bouchard said. Most were treated and released at a staging area, he said.
Those who passed …
16-year-old Tate Myre was an honors student who was "beloved by all" and had a "bright future," the Oxford football team said. Myre had been on the school's varsity football team since he was a freshman. The junior player – listed at six feet and 195 pounds – had already drawn attention from college recruiters. He died in a patrol car while deputies were taking him to a hospital, authorities said.
Madisyn Baldwin, 17, was expected to graduate this year. Her family said she had already been accepted into several colleges, some with a full scholarship.
Fourteen-year-old Hanna St Julian has been identified as the third victim of the tragic shooting.
(Amir Vera, Taylor Romine and Kelly McCleary, “Authorities look for possible motive behind 15-year-old Michigan high school shooting suspect. Here's what we know.” CNN. December 1, 2021.)
Upon late word on Wednesday, Justin Shilling, 17, died at about 10 a.m. at McLaren Oakland Hospital in Pontiac, Michigan.
Conclusions
Some sources say this is the first incident involving a school shooting in Michigan with an “active shooter.” The U.S. government defines an “active shooter” as an individual, usually without “a pattern or method,” who kills in a “confined and populated area.” Other school shooting have occurred there … I guess under other official titles.
And, once again, a grieving nation will hear from gun advocates who say this kind of thing can happen anywhere and is largely indefensible, chalking it all up to luck and acceptable losses. We all know no preventable loss of a child at school is acceptable.
The NRA and many Republican leaders will insist once more that the root of the problem is not guns but a range of issues such as mental health, school security, video games, and excessive prescriptions of attention-deficit disorder drugs such as Ritalin.
Many people will call for bigger guns to stop the problem – armed administrators, armed teachers, armed security guards. They will use the old mantra of “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
Some will call for better physical defensive measures at schools such as fewer entrances and exits, ensuring the administration offices are within sight of the main entrance to quickly see who is entering.
But the truth is many of these excuses by gun-control advocates are a strategy employing a clever smoke screen to avoid having to talk about GUN VIOLENCE The cycle repeats with the next mass shooting.
It's true that school security is a complex issue with no simple, single solution; however, not enough is being done in a concerted effort to address the issues causing the rise in gun violence. School shootings are on track to outpace the figures in 2018 and 2019.
A national dialogue is needed – a study of gun violence involving the expertise of school administrators and counselors, health officials, law enforcement, and other pertinent professionals. Then, naturally, directives must be enforced to curb the violence.
Why the desperate need to get at the causes of gun violence?
The Oxford massacre is precisely “why.”
Western Michigan University Cooley Law School's Michael McDaniel, a retired Brigadier General who served in the Pentagon as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense, says district officials and first responders there followed safety protocol well.
While the school doesn't have metal detectors, plexiglass or do bag checks, the district follows the ALICE Training Institute in these situations, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate.
Oxford Community Schools is contracted with the ALICE Training Institute for active shooter training for their district personnel and is working to become an ALICE Certified District. The program encompasses training through both an online certification course for each staff member and live group instruction for active shooter drills.
Oakland County Sheriff
deputies have been assigned to patrol each school location in the
district. These regular, random visits are designed to create a
greater police presence and ensure the officers are familiar with our
schools.
The district also installed Aiphone video intercom
systems at each building’s main entry points. This system requires
guests to be buzzed into the buildings during school hours in an
effort to increase building security.
They re-introduced the
OK2SAY campaign district-wide. OK2SAY allows anyone to confidentially
report tips on criminal activities or potential harm directed at
Michigan students, school employees, or schools. Since its inception
in 2014, OK2SAY has received over 10,000 tips state-wide, preventing
multiple tragedies.
The Oxford district said it had investigated each concern shared by parents and students and found that there were no threats to students or buildings.
And, on November 11, less than three weeks before the shooting, the district sent a letter to parents addressing "rumors" that "created some concern for students and parents." Additionally, the letter highlighted the importance of student and staff safety, noting that there are security guards, a resource officer, counselors, and social workers at the school.
And yet somehow a student turned a deadly pistol on his peers at the school on November 30, 2021. People will say, “It doesn't make sense.” Yet, all the prevention strategies – so many wonderful, life-saving measures – failed to protect the students that day.
In retrospect, signs were there. The future shooter put out obvious signals. My God, the Instagram message said “See you tomorrow, Oxford.” And, the (troubled? deranged?) youth had access to a recently purchased weapon – one procured a very short time before the shooting – a weapon and clips capable of killing mass numbers of students. The message, the gun, the risk – all slipped through the net of school security.
Why? Why did a student with a decent record choose to murder classmates? Was he bullied or was he mentally ill or both? Why did his father purchase the weapon and allow the suspect to have access to it? Why did the suspect really take the weapon to school that day? Did he do it for what he conceived to be protection or was he trying to get even? Why did he pull the trigger and then be intelligent enough to remain silent about his motives?
Cause? It is the person. It is the parent. It is the mental state. It is the gun. In what measures each? Although no single profile that can reliably predict who will use a gun in a violent act, gun violence is associated with a confluence of individual, family, school, peer, community, and sociocultural risk factors that interact over time during childhood and adolescence.
And, excuse the French, but in 21st century America, we are fucking up and pushing these risk factors toward triggers far, far too much.
The answers to the root questions are definitely the toughest, much less the toughest to defend against. But, are we to simply throw up our hands and give up … essentially admitting America has absolutely no answers about how to stop gun violence at school?
Let's address the issue as it must be done. Consider these findings by the American Psychological Association:
“Prevention efforts guided by research on developmental risk can reduce the likelihood that firearms will be introduced into community and family conflicts or criminal activity. Prevention efforts can also reduce the relatively rare occasions when severe mental illness contributes to homicide or the more common circumstances when depression or other mental illness contributes to suicide.
“The skills and knowledge of psychologists are needed to develop and evaluate programs and settings in schools, workplaces, prisons, neighborhoods, clinics, and other relevant contexts that aim to change gendered expectations for males that emphasize self-sufficiency, toughness, and violence, including gun violence.
“Although it is important to recognize that most people suffering from a mental illness are not dangerous, for those persons at risk for violence due to mental illness, suicidal thoughts, or feelings of desperation, mental health treatment can often prevent gun violence.
“Prevention of violence occurs along a continuum that begins in early childhood with programs to help parents raise emotionally healthy children and ends with efforts to identify and intervene with troubled individuals who are threatening violence.
“Firearm prohibitions for high-risk groups — domestic violence offenders, persons convicted of violent misdemeanor crimes, and individuals with mental illness who have been adjudicated as being a threat to themselves or to others — have been shown to reduce violence.”
(“Gun Violence: Prediction, Prevention, and Policy.” American Psychological Association. 2021.)
No comments:
Post a Comment