Guns in school zones:
When it happens in our backyard
April 4, 2023
In the event of a school shooter, I was told to run and hide in the corner away from any windows and lock any entrances. If I was in the restroom, I was out of luck. If I was in a hallway, I had to hope that a teacher would open the door to let me in and hide with them.
When I experienced a gun incident, all of the rules went out the window, and the fear of being shot crept inside my mind.
It was just like any other Friday in 2016. I was getting ready to attend one of the frequent dances at Greiner Middle School in Dallas. I got ready at my friend Kat’s house who lived just a couple of blocks away from the school and we walked over to the school together. The sheer proximity to the school is horrifying to think about because of what a shooter could have done with that information.
The dance was, of course, in the gymnasium, and this dance had a larger amount of people than usual. Kids flooded the court- yard and other nooks of the school. After I had enough of the masses, I went outside with some friends to the parking lot in the back of the school, waiting for the dance to finish.
Looking back, I could see kids running to- ward the parking lot. I was so confused that I just stood there and watched. I didn’t hear any gunshots or screams. A couple of minutes later, two police cars parked in the circle drive and went inside the gymnasium.
“OMG, a kid brought a gun,” my friend Kat gasped, looking at her phone. When I looked back at the flashing police lights, I saw who had done it and it was not surprising to me. Then I started toward the crowd and called my mom to come pick me up.
I saw the kid in handcuffs being put in the back of one of the squad cars. It was later revealed he didn’t hurt anyone. As soon as he pulled out the gun, the security guard de- escalated the situation. The police were called immediately by spectators.
I wasn’t surprised because the kid who brought the gun frequently threatened to take his brother’s pistol to school and shoot everyone. I am not sure why the school didn’t respond more appropriately to his behavior. It was only then that the school acted.
Many schools react the same way as in the Abigail Zwerner case in Virginia. She frequently went to administrators about her student’s behavior, and they constantly swept it under the rug. The signs were all there and it was only a matter of time before a real incident happened.
