Law enforcement investigate the scene of a shooting at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School on October 24. 2022 in St. Louis
On October 25th, a 19-year-old gunman went to Central Visual and Performing Arts High School and killed two people, injuring many others. Authorities in St. Louis say that the suspect left a handwritten note in his car that shared with the world the reasoning for killing. He was killed in the shooting, but his message said, "I don't have any friends, I don't have any family, I've never had a girlfriend, I've never had a social life." Despite having a note from the suspect, the public has many unanswered questions. For example, authorities won't release how he entered the building or obtained a gun, but the doors were locked, and checkpoints were set up. In addition, the school had seven security guards during the shooting.
Following the shooting, St. Louis Police urge parents to look out for people who show signs of mental health issues. In addition, interim Police Chief Michael Sack said, "It's important that all of us be engaged so that we can try and intervene as early as possible in a person's life to try and prevent a tragedy from occurring." Classes were also canceled on Tuesday, and SLPS provided virtual and in-person resources to students and staff members throughout the district. Finally, Davis, the district's director of safety and security, notes that students did exactly what they were told to do and that the police department had taken an active shooter training course in the prior month.
School gunman had AR-15-style weapon, 600 rounds of ammo | AP News
St. Louis police urge vigilance around mental health following Monday's school shooting
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/us/st-louis-school-shooting
St. Louis school shooting suspect had AR-15-style rifle, 600 rounds of ammunition: Police - ABC News,
6 comments:
I think society as a whole should take mental health more seriously because different people can react to situations differently based on how they are. I don't really understand why there is a need to kill other people because of personal life problems.
I agree with what Josh brought up about mental health. In California, we are still more accepting of mental health and supporting those who struggle with it. Yet, in many other states, there is still a strong stigma around mental health, and much more people are less accepting of mental illness. As a result, resources are less widespread, and youth especially, feel more isolated. A common theme throughout school shootings in America is mental health, yet less is being done to help these individuals and prevent them from being pushed to such extreme actions.
Although he is the perpetrator and killed innocent students, he is also a victim of negligence and isolation. I agree with Arav on this. Not only do we have to impose stricter gun control laws, but we also have to work to fight against the stigma surrounding mental health issues and provide such resources to teenagers.
I agree with the comments that there should be more resources available for mental health. I do think that hypothetically if people could get help, they wouldn't feel the need to end other lives. Also hypothetically, if everyone could just be nice, everything would be perfect. However, mental health services and ending bullying can only do so much. The same goes for having security on campus, as the shooting still occurred despite the security. This is why I think that yes, of course, we should all be nicer but for right now, the thing that would really help is gun control because at the end of the day, if he didn't have a gun, those people would be alive.
Although I agree that mental health support and gun regulation laws are essential to stopping gun violence, I believe that the complexity of gun violence in our country calls for more than one solution. In order to significantly decrease school shootings in the United States, I think that gun regulation laws will need to be implemented, more resources for mental health will need to be provided, mental health has to be destigmatized, students/teachers/parents should be educated about gun violence, and campuses should have strong security. If only one of those things are implemented, I don't think school shootings will decrease enough.
Mental health, especially among youth, needs to be prioritized. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), depression and anxiety are all increasing among those aged between 3 and 17. While at Aragon we have in-school counselors to help students deal with their mental health, most schools lack this essential resource. Almost $90 million in grants have been awarded to improve the mental health of students by the HHS, although these grants alone aren't enough, and states need to take a more active role in helping to improve the mental health of students (such as by implementing some of the mental health programs here at Aragon). More tools used to help improve the mental health of students could hopefully prevent more tragedies such as this one from occurring in the future.
Source:
https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/09/01/back-to-school-hhs-announces-40-point-22-million-in-youth-mental-health-grants-awarded-in-august-plus-47-point-6-million-in-new-grant-funding.html
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