Two Shootings Tell The Real Story

We all know about the mass school shootings in the US ....

Gunmen Stalking US Schools ....

.... and while they are shocking, we kind of assume that these school shooting events are kind of bi-annual.

However what many of us this side of the Atlantic don't realise is that these events (but without the mass element), are actually far more common than is comfortable.In fact at the time of writing there had been 38 school gun incidents in the USA in 2019.

Two Schools With The Same Issues

For instance, in the latest two shootings in December, two different high schools in the state of Wisconsin in just two days (the 2nd and 4th).... not the mass shootings that make news around the world. No, these are the almost weekly gun incidents that doesn't make the international and barely even the national US news .... in fact often just a little splash in even the local state news. In the UK this would be big news and also a cause of great concern. However, what it does tell you is just how common the threat of school shootings are in the USA.

A school officer and a student were injured at Wisconsin's Oshkosh West High School Tuesday morning, when the student was shot after stabbing the officer with a sharp object. The 16-year-old student stabbed the officer with an "edged weapon" before being shot by the officer with a 9 mm pistol, both will survive. The school was put on lock-down and parents instructed to reunite with their children at Perry Tipler Middle School.

Meanwhile, just one day earlier a school resource officer at Wisconsin's Waukesha South High School shot a 17-year-old armed student who refused to drop his weapon. police said the suspect pointed a handgun at officers, after earlier pointing one of the weapons at another students head. When he refused to drop the weapon, he was shot ... he was in a stable condition in the intensive care unit of a local hospital.

Pellet Gun Used

Police later learned the suspect was armed with two realistic-looking pellet guns. A later search of the suspect's home revealed another pellet gun and narcotics in his bedroom.

In a separate, unrelated incident Police were called to Waukesha North High School around after reports of a student with a gun. After the school was placed on lock-down, an investigation found the student was no longer on school property. Later a 15-year-old boy taken into custody after police found him with a replica firearm at his home

These incidents were also accompanied by a number of threats posted to social media:

• Shortly after the shooting at Oshkosh West High School, someone made a social media post "implying a possible threat towards Oshkosh North High School and the officer involved."
• The Germantown School District learned of a "potential gun threat to Germantown High School", followed by "a similarly reported threat" to Kennedy Middle School" in Germantown.
• On November 26, Greenfield public schools were closed due to "irresponsible comments about a potential school shooting at Greenfield High School," The Greenfield Police Department investigated the threat and found it was not credible, and the student later admitted to making false statements.

Its actually all quite eye opening, because its still something that we don't see in our schools.

However maybe the escalating use of knives, especially amongst black teens in London, where it appears that the '#blacklivesmatter' is only applied to the non black population, is a sign that school killings may rise in the UK as well.