Another school, another shooting

For Real Bullets, Real Blanks

By Rick Horowitz

Reporters are busy people. You can't expect them to drop everything every time another kid decides to shoot up another school; they'd never get anything else done. So why not let them just fill in the blanks?

(City, state, date) -- A (number)-year-old high school student opened fire on classmates today, leaving (number) dead and another (number) wounded. The shooting was only the latest in a series of violent incidents that have plagued schools across the country in recent weeks.

According to eyewitnesses at (name of school), the student, (full name of shooter), entered the (cafeteria, auditorium, gymnasium, other) shortly before (time) this (morning, afternoon) and pulled a (handgun, shotgun, machine gun) from his (jacket pocket, pants pocket, waistband, other.) As students screamed and dove for cover, their classmate calmly squeezed off shot after shot, pausing at least (number) times to reload, witnesses recalled.

The rampage finally ended when the student was (tackled from behind, confronted by police, convinced by teachers to drop his weapon.) Ambulances then raced the wounded to area hospitals, where (number) were pronounced dead. Several of the wounded remain in critical condition, hospital authorities report, while others were treated and released.

The young man arrested for the shootings was described by classmates as ("quiet," "totally average," "a little weird," "not one of the cool kids.") Teachers had an even fuzzier impression; several who had had him in their classes were hard-pressed to recall anything particular about him. There were reports that the shooter had recently been the subject of (teasing, practical jokes, physical assaults) by several classmates, and that he had vowed revenge on his tormenters, but teachers and school authorities said they were unaware of this.

"As far as we could tell," said assistant principal (name), "he was a perfectly normal teenager, with the normal problems that teenagers have. We certainly didn't expect anything of this magnitude."

Yet several students reported hearing the shooter promise to strike back at those who had humiliated him, as well as those who had stood by and watched it happen.

"He said he was tired of it and he was going to totally blow them away," said (name), one of (shooter's name)'s closest friends. "But we thought he was just, you know, joking around."

In addition to the (handgun, shotgun, machine gun) used in the deadly spree, police found another (machine gun, shotgun, handgun) and (number) rounds of ammunition in the shooter's backpack. A police spokesman said he believed the shooter had brought the weapons and ammunition from home.

As word of the shootings spread though this (close-knit, sparsely populated, typical suburban) community, parents raced to the school to check on the well-being of their own children. Teams of grief counselors arrived shortly thereafter to meet with students and parents, while school officials announced that classes would be suspended for the next (number) days.

Killed in today's assault was (number)-year-old (name), a (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior) whose interests included (skateboarding, cheerleading, computers, other) and (camping, debating, working with disadvantaged youth.)

Also killed was (repeat above paragraph as necessary.)

Standing alongside a makeshift memorial of (photographs, balloons, mementos) and hand-lettered signs, students and their loved ones struggled to make sense of the violence that had suddenly altered their lives.

"You always hear about these kinds of things," said (parent, student) (name), "but we never figured it would happen here."

In Washington, meanwhile, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association said that this latest incident was ("regrettable," "unfortunate," "sad,") but that blaming these and other school shootings on the easy availability of guns was ("absurd," ridiculous," "irresponsible," "un-American.")

Posted 3/8/01. Rick's award-winning commentary is easily available twice every week. Come back soon!

Rick Horowitz is a syndicated columnist, TV commentator, writing coach and public speaker

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