Fourteen year old Logan Clark drew a knife after a confrontation between students on the grounds of Hug High School in Reno, Nevada on Wednesday, December 7.
Police warned Clark to drop the weapon, but he did not comply. The officer shot Clark in the chest, and he was brought to the hospital in critical condition. The school was placed on lockdown for hours while police searched for witnesses and accounted for all students for safety reasons.
School violence similar to this incident happens all over the country. On the campus of Ohio State University, a gray Honda Civic driven by Abdul Razak Ali Artan plowed into a group of students while they were outside for a fire drill on November 28, 2016. After getting out of the car, he began to attack the crowd with a butcher knife.
On October 18 outside of June Jordan’s School of Equity and City Arts and Technology in San Francisco, California, four men stood outside the school and opened fire on the students exiting the school.
Students should be aware of the distinct qualities of a school aggressor to prevent an incident. Lack of remorse, a history of social, mental and emotional health disturbances, obsession with weapons, and high family disfunction are all of the qualities that students should learn to prevent a mass disaster in their school.
Junior Jillian Reina said, “School violence is a growing problem in this day and age in the United States of America. As time goes on, the problem at stake grows like a monster. Violence not only needs to be stopped, but cured. Kindness, care and love are all natural remedies potent enough to cure what could possibly be evil enough inside to create violence. Students need love, they need a sense of positive encouragement to decrease violent thoughts to prevent violent actions that may arise without help.”
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a 2015 nationally representative sample of youth in grades 9-12, 5.6 percent reported they did not go to school one or more days out of the 30 day period because they felt unsafe at school. Six percent have been threatened or injured by a weapon on school property, and 12.2 percent have been bullied and fear further actions by the aggressor. Four percent reported carrying a weapon on school grounds one or more days during the 30 day period.
Junior Sara Paone said “Positive influences and role models can diminish the amount of school violence. Everyone needs a safe and secure environment in school and violence should not be a topic of thought in that safe, secure place.”
Violence in schools is sparked by bullying, whether online or in person. Knowing the signs of a school aggressor and stopping bullying can save lives.
Comments