The Columbine High School massacre is known as the deadliest high school shooting in America. The horrific shooting took place on April 20th, 1999 in Colorado. The shooters, who were seniors, were Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. Previous to the massacre, the two students were reported for threatening students and saying they wanted to kill people. These two teenagers killed 12 students and 1 staff member during the shooting and injured over 21 other students and staff members.
The shooting happened in roughly 30 minutes. The two students come into the school with duffle bags around 11:20 am. Firstly they entered the cafeteria placing bombs that were planned to go off during the busiest lunch hour. Once they placed the bombs they went back out into the parking lot and waited for the bombs to explode. Upon realizing that the bombs failed, they headed back into the school.
The beginning of the shooting was started by Klebold tossing a bomb into the parking lot. The bomb partially exploded which caused some students, who were on their lunch break, to be alarmed. The first victim of the shooting was Rachel Scott while she was eating lunch with her friend in front of the school's entrance. Next, the shooters made their way to the cafeteria, while on their way they were shooting at students in the hallways, One of the students was Lance Kirklin. Lance was shot 4 times and on the ground calling for help, Klebold walked up to him and said, “Sure man I’ll help you”, then proceeded to shoot him in the face. When the students entered the library witnesses said that they were targeting athletes and people of color. Hiding under a table were sophomores Craig Scott, Matthew Kechter, and senior Isaiah Shoels. Upon discovering Isaiah, who was a person of color, they taunted him by calling him slurs and then shot and killed him. By 11:35 am, the two students had already killed 12 students and wounded more than 10 people. According to the police, around noon, the two students turned the guns in and committed suicide shortly after.
This shooting changed how people looked at schools around America. Many schools enforced a “zero-tolerance” rule regarding disruptive behavior and threatening words or acts. Mark Manes, the man who sold the gun to Harris and 100 rounds of ammunition, was sentenced to 6 years in prison. Many people tried suing the school for injuries but the judged dissmissed the cases. The Columbine High School shooting was the deadliest high school shooting in America and still has an impact on schools today.
What would you do if you were in this situation?
Would you try to sue the school after a incident like this?
Would you ever feel safe going back to school?
https://www.history.com/topics/1990s/columbine-high-school-shootings
https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/18/us/columbine-high-school-shootings-fast-facts/index.html
https://courses.bowdoin.edu/history-2203-fall-2020-ecahill2/narrative-of-the-event/
Replies
Good topic choice and well done! Be sure to include you personal thoughts within your summary.
If i was in this situation I would try to leave school grounds if I was close to an exit or find a spot that would hide me, I wouldnt sue the school as its not there fualt and it would take time but eventually i would feel safe going back to school.
If I was put in this situation I would look for a spot away from the shooter or try to leave the school gorunds. I would not sue the school because it was not the schools fault but they could have had taken more precautions to keep the students and staff safe. I would feel safe going back after I knew that the school set up better security.
If I were in this situation I would either try to escape and get out of the school or find a really good place to hide. I would not try and sue the school because they had no idea that it was going to happen then. I would feel safe going back if we had more security for the school.
I think gun violence in school is a horrible thing to begin with and isnt brought to attention enough and should be taught. I dont think sueing a school after an incedient like that is apropreait and isnt the schools fault considering they shouldnt HAVE to have things to prevent it if it was being brought to attention.
I agree. I think that we should learn what to do in case of a shooters more thoroughly.
If I was in this situtation, depending on where I am I would try and either get to a safe spot. If their was no quick exit to leave. But I would first be thinking where I could get out first. Would I sue the school? Me personaly I would not want to sue the school because not everyone is expecting a school shooter. But I would definetly be worried to go back to school.
I agree. I don't think I would sue the school because they didn't know that this was going to happen.
If i was in a similar situation, first of all I would look for a good safe place, but at the same time a little big, because if it's possible I would like to help other people to be safe, obviously I'm not going to look for everyone in the entire school, but I would do my best. Afterwards I would take something to defend myslef if it's necessary. And the last thing I would do is call the police, although the people in the office/direction will most likely do it first, if they are not already injured.
I agree. I think that I would try to hide in a place where not many people are because the shooters were trying to mass kill.
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