A school shooting has occurred in Newport News, Virginia on Monday but residents are grateful that no one died from it.
According to CBN News, the victims were two 17-year old students of Heritage High School who suffered gunshot wounds. The 15-year-old suspect fled the area after the incident, which happened at 11:40 a.m., but was taken by a family member to Juvenile Services at 2:20 p.m. that day. He was then sent to Newport News Police Department (NNPD) for questioning.
Students were evacuated to tennis courts where parents picked them up. Two other individuals were injured during the evacuation.
Charges were already filed against the shooter, including two counts of Aggravated Malicious Wounding and Use of Firearm in the Commission of a Felony.
NNPD Chief Steve Drew expressed his gratitude to the people who assisted for the suspect's quick apprehension.
"It is by the grace of God there was no loss of life. We know this will be difficult to process for everyone involved and hope students, families, and faculty members take advantage of the resources that have been made available to help them cope with what happened yesterday at Heritage High School," he further said.
He also commended the law enforcement officers who responded to the incident.
"... You all performed amazingly yesterday. The city should be proud of the men and women in uniform. I am humbled to work with such professional people. People who care, people who rushed into that building," Drew stated.
On Tuesday, a prayer vigil was held to pray for the community.
Coalition of Concerned Clergy president Tremayne Johnson shared that community meetings and support for children are necessary to address the issue of gun violence in the area.
"Folks thinking farther than picking up the gun. What other avenues can we come together and talk out anger? Talk out things that we may not agree with. We all have disagreements. We all come to the point where we may not agree with one another, but there is a way to handle it," he pointed out.
According to Education Week, there were already 16 incidents of school shooting since the start of the year. The shift to online learning last year has lowered the cases to just 10 from 25 in 2019 and 24 in 2018.
Statista said that this occurrence has become common in the country that measures have been put in place to prevent such, including allowing teachers to carry guns and deploying security guards and metal detectors in schools.
Some people are advocating for stricter gun control laws but others argued that it is unconstitutional. Gun ownership is said to be high in United States, wherein 18% of the population carry guns daily.
Though the number of shootings went down in schools, incidents around the country have actually increased during the pandemic. Jeff Asher, a crime analyst, revealed to the NPR that in cities that post their monthly statistics, murder has risen to 23.5 % in 2021 compared to last year.
Asher said that to reduce such occurrence, the nature of this violence and its drivers should be understood.
