- April 23, 2024
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A man opened fire Friday morning inside a Connecticut elementary school, killing 26 people, including 20 children and his mother, a teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The gunman killed himself inside the school after taking the lives of his victims, the Associated Press reports.
“We’ve endured too many of these tragedies in the past few years,” said President Barack Obama Friday afternoon during a nationally televised address. “Each time I learn the news, I react not as a president, but as anybody else would — as a parent. And that was true today. I know there is not a parent in America who doesn’t feel the same overwhelming grief that I do. The majority of those who died today were children. Beautiful little kids between the ages of five and 10 years old.”
The president wiped the corner of his eyes and paused. Ten second passed before he spoke again, asking the nation to lend support to the community of Newton, Ct., where the shooting happened.
For the nation, the news came three days after Tuesday’s shooting at a shopping mall near Portland, Ore.
For Flagler County, the news came two days after high schools were locked down Wednesday after William Hofer, 20, posted threats against Matanzas High School Students on his Facebook page. Hofer has since been arrested and charged with written threats to kill or do bodily harm.
The week’s incidents opened a conversation between school administrators and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office about how to keep Flagler Schools safe, said Jacob Oliva, assistant superintendent of the Flagler County School District.
“It’s tragic,” Oliva said, referring to Friday’s shooting. “It’s anybody’s worse nightmare. You can’t help but send your thoughts and prayers out to the community that’s having to deal with this. It’s almost surreal — it’s hard to wrap your mind around.”
Oliva said Wednesday’s precautionary lockdown in some Flagler schools went smoothly, but that he anticipates conversations to address how to make the district’s security procedures stronger, although no specific improvements have been identified yet.
The school district works closely with the Sheriff’s Office, and Oliva cited that as one of the key components of the safety of Flagler schools. Specifically, he said the presence of school resource officers in schools is crucial to school safety.
“The officers know our routine, they know the layout of our building and they know our teachers and students,” Oliva said. “They know our day-to-day operations. It’s an extra level of security for us.”
The relationship works not only with school administrators, but with students as well, Oliva said.
“The students are our eyes and ears on campus,” he said. “They know what’s going on, and when they see something happen that they know is not right, they feel comfortable talking to the adults in the building, including the school resource officers.”
Meanwhile, Oliva said, he and the rest of the community knows they were lucky Wednesday, and keep the victims and their families of Friday’s shooting in their thoughts — as does the rest of the country.
“These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children,” Obama said in his address. “We’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”
