Possible Tragedy Averted at Eckstein

Today at Eckstein (from a reader):

Principal messsage:

"At approximately 9:30, Eckstein went into Shelter-in-Place. All students and staff were safe. Police reported that there was an Eckstein student in the neighborhood who might be armed. Police apprehended the student at approximately 9:50 and we returned to business as usual. The student is in custody at this time. I would like to thank your student, the staff and SPD for their quick response in ensuring student safety.

Your student's safety is our top priority. If your student texts you that we are in an emergency situation, please do not call the school as we need our communication lines open. I promise you that I will communicate the situation as promptly as possible. Thank you for all you do to support Eckstein staff and students."

Have since heard grandmother called 911 this morning that her gun was stolen and police found a gun in the bushes near the student when he was apprehended, just a few blocks from the school.

Wow. Amazing how everyone - the grandmother, the police, the Eckstein staff - all did exactly the right thing to prevent what might have been a tragedy.



Comments

Anonymous said…
Might be an opportune moment to repost this from an earlier thread……

An estimated 200,000 victims of bullying bring weapons, including guns, to school over the course of a month, according to the authors' analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control's 2011 Youth Risk Surveillance System Survey. That's a substantial portion of the estimated 750,000 high school students who bring weapons to school every month.
http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/bullying-victims-carry-weapons-guns

Department of Health and Human Services's Stopbullying.gov website reports that the perpetrators of 12 of 15 school shootings in the 1990s had a history of being bullied.

At the CDC website the data for Seattle shows that in 2011, 11.1% of male high school students had taken a weapon to school in the preceding 30 days (sample size of 951).

We need to address bullying AND the widespread availability of firearms in our communities…

Food for thought
Anonymous said…
Wow -- thse numbers seemed almost unbelievable. I'm shocked that 5% of the kids are reporting that hey carried a gun to school in the last thirty dates. In SPS that would mean a thousand guns in the school, assuming about 20000 students.

I would not have said the grandmother did everything she should, since she did no keep her gun safely away from a child.

zb
Anonymous said…
Just to clarify - the numbers in the report are for 'weapons' which include guns as well as other forms of weapons. Not sure if there is data on weapon type.

Here is the link for the CDC report (select "carried a weapon on school property at least 1 day) http://nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/QuestionsOrLocations.aspx?CategoryId=1

Food for thought
Anonymous said…
One of the columns said carried a gun, but, I guess, that is not necessarily at school.

http://www.abstracts2view.com/pas/view.php?nu=PAS14L1_2725.3&terms=

(Also, I guess we can Imagine that the rate might be lower in Seattle)
Anonymous said…
Oops, me, zb
Eckstein mom said…
This incident had nothing to do with bullying. Why do we even go there as if this justifies what happened. This is entirely about gun control. What was a gun doing in the hands of a 12 year old in the first place? Why do we immediately assume the 12 year old was being bullied?
seattle citizen said…
Yes, Grandmother "did the right thing" by reporting her handgun stolen, but she did the WRONG thing by allowing the gun to be stolen in the first place. Why wasn't it in a gun safe? (Why did she have it at all, but that's a bigger discussion for anothr time...) Way, way too many guns are easily picked up by children in the homes of the gun owners. My aunt was shot as a child by a little friend who found his father's pistol.
Anonymous said…
I was conflating this particular incident with bullying -I do not know the background at all. However it seemed timely, in view of the Eckstein incident, to repost the link to this report (which did discuss bullying in association with taking weapons to school, although the stats show the majority of the weapon-takers were not victims of bullying). Clearly kids are taking weapons to school for whatever reason and there are weekly reports of violent incidents at schools across the nation. hoped to raise peoples awareness about this, particularly in relation to our ridiculous gun culture/lax gun laws. A kid with a gun can do a lot more damage than a kid with a knife for instance.

FFT
Christina said…
This is what I have read from the news, not necessarily what I know:

The grandmother's house is on the 6800 block of 27th Ave NE (source: Seattle Police Department). There are enough grandmother-aged female homeowners and perhaps tenants on that block that it's difficult to identify anyone.

The student had stolen a loaded antique German Luger from his grandmother's house. (source: Eckstein Principal Kokx)

The student was, it has been alleged, suspended (KOMO news reporter on Twitter; unsure if suspension happened before or after gun event).
Anonymous said…
What i find interesting is this. This post about a local middle schooler attempting to take a loaded gun into school illustrates perfectly the ease with which these sort of incidents can and do happen in the US, and how they can happen in ANY school - even a so-called 'good' one like Eckstein. The background of almost weekly reports of school violence (mostly shootings, some stabbings), and the alarming statistics regarding youth carrying weapons to school should make it clear to us that something needs to be done to address why kids take weapons to school, how they get access to them, and how to stop this disturbing trend and keep our students safe.
Yet this topic garners little attention, whereas a post mentioning APP for instance, generates hundreds of comments.
I think it is sad indictment that folks are more interested in quibbling about APP than discussing or debating what is going on with US society that leads to so much potential for, or actual, violence at school, and doing something to address this.
Look at what happens after every school shooting - after the handwringing and memorials does anything ever change? - NO. Meanwhile the cult of the gun grows ever more powerful, guns laws are loosened, 'smart gun' technology is blocked, public hearth research into gun-related death/injury is quashed. No wonder our kids are growing up thinking a loaded weapon is the answer to any issue they have at school - this is modeled for them on a daily basis here, and they are only all too easy to get hold of.

Just say no to guns
Anonymous said…
Yes this student was suspended. It was his third suspension for bringing illegal substances to school. The last time, knowing his bag would be checked, he brought a big bottle of alcohol, so my guess is he wanted to be suspended.

He was not a bullied student. He was very popular and well liked. Just a troubled kid who was ramping up his behavior in order to get help, or get put away, or whatever he was needing badly enough to self-destruct. I'm glad he did not get a chance to destroy anyone else, and given his age I'm trying not to be too concerned that he will probably be in school with my child for the next four years.

I know he had issues with a student at Nathan Hale, and it is possible he was not on his way to Eckstein. It is still scary and sad. The more the media plays up kids with guns at school, the more these kids think that looks like a pretty powerful option.

Eckstein Mom
Anonymous said…
Just say no to guns:

I am writing to counter your point on people who write in on APP versus people who wrote on this thread. The difference, I think, is that lots of parents (APP, Spectrum, Gen Ed) have opinions on APP and gifted/gen ed tracking generally, based on their personal experiences with it (either as parents or kids). I don't think that means people are less concerned about guns in school, gun availability, etc. -- I just think most (including me) have far less experience, and thus feel that whatever we say wouldn't have as much merit. I assume that my feelings (that kids shouldn't take guns to school) are shared by all. But I don't personally know how to move this policy forward (background checks?, video game issues?, mental health professionals in schools or otherwise available to kids?, media glorification and/or overreporting?

Just because people don't comment doesn't mean they are not concerned. Particularly as many of us don't know anything about the child involved. In some cases (my case, at least) it may just mean they don't feel that they have anything particularly constructive to add to the discussion -- that would move it forward (as opposed to just being an "I concur" comment).

Jan
dw said…
Thank you Jan, for that response. It's exactly what I would have written had I felt motivated enough to respond.

So my "I concur" is with your comment.
Anonymous said…
I understand what the 2 previous posters are saying but my point is we all have to speak up.
We have to start discussing and agitating, and making our point of view about kids and guns and gun violence heard. We don't have to have all the answers but we need to start asking the questions and demanding some answers, some action - otherwise the only voices that are heard are those of the NRA/gun lobby/gun-fetishists who think that we need more guns everywhere (and are busy enacting laws to ensure this while the sensible, moderate majority stay silent). We have to stop being quietly concerned and start being demonstrably outraged about the status quo.


FFT
There are laws for prohibiting youth, criminals and those adjudicated mentally unfit from having guns, and anything more becomes infringement. There should proper system that only right person should buy a gun and should know about the gun safety rules.
Adam Smith said…
There are so many students who are worried about writing their papers and look for someone to get help as well as put all the writing work on their shoulders. But in this all, they want to keep private that they get help from someone. If you are in such trouble and worried about writing papers then its time to get help for essay writing by professional writers who not only charge nominal price but also deliver the quality :)

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