Continuous wrote

Eli wrote The only situation I can think of is that she brought the gun in to show it off or maybe threaten someone, the gun accidentally went off either once and hit two people or twice and hit two people and then whatever the bullets hit caused shrapnel injuries to the other three people.

This is all assuming that the kid has no idea how to use a gun, doesn't know how the safety works and somehow managed to accidentally pull the trigger twice.

And one of the first things that I learned about guns is to not put my finger on the trigger unless I intend to shoot. The kid must have known what they were doing and is just trying to cover up what they did.

I'm not so sure about that.

We don't know if this kid has ever learnt anything about guns other than that they shoot things when you pull the trigger.
Perhaps her parents never explained to her how the gun works, the basic safety rules and school rules don't mean much to 12 year old's.
Especially a 12 year old who was probably thinking in terms of social status and impressing friends as opposed to safety.

12 years old is still young enough to make dumb mistakes, even if she did know not to put her finger on the trigger.

I'm sure you've seen the video of the police trainer in a school giving a lesson on firearm safety where he shoots himself in the leg by accident.
If trained professionals can make mistakes like that then I don't know why a 12 year old couldn't.

I'm not saying the girl is innocent of any malicious intent, and you could be correct that she did fire the gun on purpose, meant to injure people and is lying to cover her own back, but I think there are other options here that shouldn't be thrown out just yet.

I'm sure that if she did shoot people on purpose that will come out from eye witness accounts and statements from the people who were actually shot.

A student who was in the class when shots rang out said he thought the gunfire was an accident, CNN affiliate KABC reported. The girl holding the firearm "didn't mean to" shoot the 15-year-old girl, he said, according to the station.

"They thought it was a toy gun, but then it shot," KABC reported, quoting Benjamin Urbina.

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Eli wrote We don't know if this kid has ever learnt anything about guns other than that they shoot things when you pull the trigger.

Even if that is all she knew, then why would she pull the trigger? If she knew that the gun would shoot when she pulled the trigger, then she should not have pulled the trigger. That would mean that she intended to shoot something.

Perhaps her parents never explained to her how the gun works, the basic safety rules and school rules don't mean much to 12 year old's.
Especially a 12 year old who was probably thinking in terms of social status and impressing friends as opposed to safety.

I just turned 18 last December. When I was 12, I thought sports were cool, not guns. Had someone shown me a gun, I would have tried my hardest to distance my self from them and probably told the staff. And considering that she did not know how a gun works, I would have slapped the s*** out of her for endangering my life and the people around me, then went and told the principal. There are many things that I am okay with, but people who do not know the simplest things about guns such as do not put your finger on the trigger, let alone pull the trigger, unless you intend to shoot, is one thing that instantly makes me angry.

I'm sure you've seen the video of the police trainer in a school giving a lesson on firearm safety where he shoots himself in the leg by accident.
If trained professionals can make mistakes like that then I don't know why a 12 year old couldn't.

This guy should not have brought a functioning gun to a school and should not have been handling the gun like that. That make dummy training guns. If he really wanted to show a real gun, he should have made the gun non functioning by taking out the firing pin.

I understand that accidents happen, maybe they just did not see the bullet. But that is besides the point. That was completely avoidable.

Did you read my earlier comment? There is no way that what this girl did was an accident.

How the hell is this shooting unintentional. If one or two people were the only people injured then maybe, but at least 5 people were injured.

A student who was in the class when shots rang out said he thought the gunfire was an accident, CNN affiliate KABC reported. The girl holding the firearm "didn't mean to" shoot the 15-year-old girl, he said, according to the station.

"They thought it was a toy gun, but then it shot," KABC reported, quoting Benjamin Urbina.

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"Shots" That is with a "s". That means that she had shot the gun once, and then shot more.

I will give her the beneifit of the doubt and say that she might not have known the difference between a real and fake gun. But the second that the first bullet is discharged, she would have known that the gun was real. Why would she continue to shoot the gun if she knew it was real?

Continuous wrote But the second that the first bullet is discharged, she would have known that the gun was real. Why would she continue to shoot the gun if she knew it was real?

We don't know the pull weight of the trigger.

Perhaps she was shocked by the loud bang of the first shot and the fact that the gun actually fired, tensed up and then pulled the trigger again by accident.
Maybe she fired the gun again while it was in the middle of the recoil from the first shot which is why she shot upwards at the head of the 15 year old boy who got shot in the temple.

That could also explain why the witness only reported hearing one shot, because they happened in such quick succession.

My point is simply that we don't know what happened and I think you might be jumping to a conclusion here because the girl was stupid and mishandling a firearm.
I don't think any of the information we have received so far goes anywhere close to proving that she did this on purpose.

But anyway, I understand why you think it likely wasn't an accident and I'll just wait for the follow-up articles to maybe prove me wrong.

Dbz wrote Who wakes up and wants to kill kids

Psychos, people need help man.

This is awful and I wish the best to those families affected.

Rip American Schools.

Zoari wrote Rip American Schools.

Yes, because blaming the American school system as a whole instead of blaming the actual missing component (paying more attention to the mental stability of the students and making sure students feel good at school) is the way to go.

Allnutt wrote I'm not 100% clued up on what the US government do to prevent school shootings other than having a school police guard (Crazy right?) but why not literally make searching every kid mandatory before entering schools, make it just as hard as getting into an airport.

Because it is SCHOOL. It isn't an airport, it isn't a prison. It's a center for education. Security measures at a school shouldn't be necessary if each school would be paying more attention to the damn mental health of their students.

Bullying, neglect, abuse at home could all be significant factors as to why kids or teens would take a gun to school and harm their fellow students. They could do it to find the attention they want or are needing. A well-educated and stable child doesn't look at a gun and says, "I wanna shoot other students, I hate them so **** much."

Ancestor wrote

Allnutt wrote I'm not 100% clued up on what the US government do to prevent school shootings other than having a school police guard (Crazy right?) but why not literally make searching every kid mandatory before entering schools, make it just as hard as getting into an airport.

Because it is SCHOOL. It isn't an airport, it isn't a prison. It's a center for education. Security measures at a school shouldn't be necessary if each school would be paying more attention to the damn mental health of their students.

Bullying, neglect, abuse at home could all be significant factors as to why kids or teens would take a gun to school and harm their fellow students. They could do it to find the attention they want or are needing. A well-educated and stable child doesn't look at a gun and says, "I wanna shoot other students, I hate them so **** much."

Yes, it isn't a prison or an airport, it's a school. Which makes it all the more worse.

I guess my suggestion wasn't thought through well enough and obviously isn't ideal at all. I personally wouldn't have wanted to be searched every time that's for sure. But it doesn't change the fact that clearly something else needs to be done and the system in place isn't working.

Note to self - stay out of Americas problems

I'm not pointing the finger on USA in general but it happens all around the world. It's sad that this has to happen. Where's the parenting in this? #PoorParenting A younger girl doing a school shooting.