Shooting at Taft Union High School Rattles a Nation Still Reeling from Newtown
The shooter allegedly used a shotgun in the Bakersfield, Calif, incident today
On the same day that Vice President Joe Biden was scheduled to meet with members of the National Rifle Association in Washington for a conversation about gun control, which comes less than four weeks after 20 students and six teachers and administrators were murdered at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., there has been another school shooting.
According to ABC News, a suspect is in custody in Kern County, Calif., after shooting a student at Taft Union High School with a shotgun. The alleged shooter is also believed to be a student.
The shooting occurred at 9 a.m. on Thursday. Students were evacuated to a football field until 10:30 a.m. while authorities searched the school
The wounded students is being treated at a hospital in Bakersfield, which is about 120 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Another student is being treated, too, although it’s unclear if the second student was shot or suffering from severe stress following the incident.
Photo credit: iStockphoto
More from Meredith on Babble’s Mom blog:
- Creepy Alert! These 25 ‘Twisted Bean Stalk Nursery’ Dolls Will Haunt Your Dreams
- Happy Weird Year! 15 Hilarious Bizarre Beauty Products to Try in 2013
- These 17 Motivational Posters from the 1920s Might Just Help You Stay on Track in 2013
- ‘Calling All Chubbies’: Vintage Lane Bryant Ads Take a Whack a Wooing Women with Unwise Words
Read (even) more from Meredith at Babble’s Toddler blog, follow her on Twitter, and check out her weekly column on the Op-Ed page of The Denver Post at MeredithCarroll.com
I am from Bakersfield CA. I was home with 2 of my 3 children yesterday when I heard the news. I immediately wanted to pick up my kindergartner but they were on lockdown. Only 1 student was shot. There were a couple of others treated at the scene and taken in by ambulance for other injuries. One had a bullet buzz by their head and was having hearing issues, another fell over a desk and injured their knee while escaping. The teacher was grazed in the arm and refused medical attention but was later taken in due to anxiety. The teacher saved the other children by engaging the shooter in conversation. As he and the campus supervisor talked to the shooter the others were able to flee. They ended up talking the shooter into putting down his weapon and police arrested him. I’m still in shock that this happened so close to home. There are no words to express how scary this is. Some speculate the kid had been in trouble for having a “hit list” the year before but no one can confirm that. He is also saying he was bullied and sick if it and when he went to bed the night before he had decided enough was enough. The boy in the hospital, shot is stable but critical. An athlete kids at the school say he was nice and not a bully. We may never know the truth.