Brittany Walker
3/29/09
9:12 p.m.
A 17-year-old gunman opened fire at his former high school in southwestern Germany on Wednesday, killing at least 15 people before police shot him to death. Nine students and three teachers were among the dead. It was Germany's worst shooting since another teenage gunman killed 16 people and himself in another high school in 2002. Police said the former student at the school in Winnenden, about 12 miles northeast of Stuttgart, entered it at 9:30 a.m. and opened fire, shooting at random. Witnesses said students jumped from the windows of the building to safety after the gunman opened fire. About 1,000 children attend the school. After the attack, the suspect fled the Albertville high school toward the center of the town of 28,000, police said.
Whenever I hear about an act of violence such as this one involving a school, I am deeply saddened. Several questions come to mind, why wasn’t there more security involved on school grounds? What steps could the school have taken to prevent such acts, and were there any warning signs that should have been noticed before the incident occurred? I definitely think that schools not just in Germany but all over the world should boost the security on school grounds. Parents should send there children to school to receive a good education and should not have to worry about the safety of their children.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/03/11/252370eugermanyschoolttack_ap.html
2 comments:
When I read about this shooting I was really shocked, as the scene where it took place is near my home city.
The question that arises here is, what can lead to such a horrible action? A lot of people say it is beacuse of the violence shown on TV, and the brutal video an computer games. Children cannot distunguish anymore between reality and fiction.
It's incredibly disheartening to see an increasing trend in events such as this. I feel like we can basically expect something like this to happen at least once every month in today's world. It certainly brings forth several important questions relating to society as a whole and how a person can be pushed to commit such a heinous and seemingly arbitrary act. Is the person to blame, or should we ultimately examine societal influence and how it shaped his actions?
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