Sadly, School Related Shootings Are Nothing New But Occuring More Frequently

As we try to come to grips with perhaps the most insidious school related shooting of all time, a check of history shows there have been a number of them.

While all of the shootings are senseless, tragic, and horrible, we say the Sandy Hook debacle is perhaps the most shocking because it involved the deliberate murder of innocent kindergarten students.

A look back reveals there have been all too many of these events, some perhaps that have been forgotten. The include (besides Columbine and Virginia Tech):

• February 14th 2008-A deranged man fired into a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, killing 5 and wounding 18 students, before fatally shooting himself.
• October 2nd 2006-A man who was not Amish, tied up 10 schoolgirls in Lancaster County, shooting and killing five of them before killing himself.
• March 21st. 2005-Red Lake High School in northern Minnesota saw five students, a teacher, and a security guard killed by a 16 year old high school student.  He shot himself, authorities later discovered he had also killed his grandfather and his companion on the Chippewa Indian Reservation.
• August 1st 1966-A University of Texas student became a sniper, and killed 16 other undergrads, gunning them down from the University clock tower on the Austin campus.  He was finally shot and killed by two police officers who were able to climb the tower stairs unnoticed by the gunman.

The one pattern that jumps out at you from these events is that they seem to be happening with greater frequency over the years.  This perhaps suggests that these events are more a reflection of a change in human decency, behavior and societal changes than about anything else.   We can only hope and pray for everyone involved in the Sandy Hook tragedy, for strength and guidance to persevere.