Chardon High School was dealt a tragedy Monday when a teenager opened fire on students with a semi-automatic handgun.
Three students died and two other students were wounded.
As per usual in a situation like this, experts are speaking up to help figure out why the teenager open fired on innocent students.
It can be easy to label potential shooters as the loners, outcasts or weird ones.
But who is so much of an expert that he or she can pick out the dangerous loners from the people who just enjoy solitude?
School administrators cannot simply put a watch on students who seem strange or appear to be outcasts.
There are just too many students who don’t fit into the “it” crowd.
Labeling every introverted student is simply implausible and not a solution to the dangerous shooting trend.
T.J. Lane, the student identified as the shooter, was described as a “good kid” by the family lawyer.
“He’s been doubling up on his classes with the intent of graduating this May,” said Lane’s lawyer. “He pretty much sticks to himself but does have some friends and has never been in trouble over anything that we know about.”
Lane was not a student at Chardon High School. He was attending Lake Academy, an alternative school for at-risk youth.
He wasn’t suspected to be dangerous, yet he opened fire on a cafeteria full of high school students.
It seems nothing differentiated Lane from any of the other students at the school, yet Lane was the one who killed three (so far) and wounded two others.
Should all the at-risk kids be put under surveillance because of Lane’s actions?
It is simply impossible to pick out the traits of a killer from a crowd of kids.
Each person has something different that makes him or her tick.
Currently there is no known motive for the shooting, which proves even further that school shootings are hard to stop unless there are obvious signs of violence or cries for help.
Experts may have good ideas when it comes to looking out for the safety and prosperity of the greater population, but not every good idea is an idea that works.