Two Teens Are Shot at D.C. High School

[rodbarnett]

February 2, 2004, 11:59 AM EST


WASHINGTON -- Two teenagers were shot Monday at a high school in the nation's capital, fire and rescue officials said.

A 16-year-old boy was shot in the chest and arm inside Ballou High School, District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services spokesman Alan Etter said. He was flown to a trauma center in critical condition. An 18-year-old suffered a graze wound to one leg, and his injury was not considered serious, Etter said.

It was unclear whether the two were students at the school.

D.C. police were on the scene but were not immediately releasing any information.

The shootings occurred at about 10:30 a.m. EST near the cafeteria, Etter said. The building was locked down and students were kept inside. A large crowd of relatives and friends gathered outside the crime scene tape in front of the building, demanding to see students. Some school security officers were talking to them, but many complained that they were getting no information from school officials.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-capital-school-shooting,0,1647025.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[Ediacara]

1. Any word on the shooter? the more seriously injured student?

I skimmed the article and find no mention of their conditions, does anyone have access to TV reports on this?

[no one in particular]

2. I'm hearing one dead.

One dead, 16 years old.

[arwalden]

4. Yep... Local NBC4 Confirms That He Died

http://www.nbc4.com/news/2811015/detail.html

[Rainbowreflect]

8. This is so sad.

Way too young.

[qanda]

29. So sad!

I saw an interview with his father and he was so devastated, I was hoping that the boy would pull through. But when I saw them working on him and his arm just hanging over the side of the stretcher, I pretty much knew he was gone.

[htuttle]

3. Do people realize we had a couple of shootings here in Madison recently?

A bunch of car accidents, too!

Anyone think they are related?

:eyes:

(constantly stumped as to why certain stories 'go national', while others don't...)

[northzax]

42. DC has been plagued by school shootings

in the recent past. Ballou has had several gang related incidents of violence in the past couple of months. Frankly, it's about time that school shootings in urban areas get some attention, usually we only seem to pay atttention when middle class white kids get killed.

[Laughing Mirror]

5. Did they find out if they were students?

And how they got guns in?

[saigon68]

6. More Gun Control Needed

Stricter penalties too.

[TexasMexican]

10. really...

they should make shooting someone a crime.

[Muddleoftheroad]

11. Even better, make handguns in D.C. illegal

[CO Liberal]

13. We Need to Find Out How The Gun Was Acquired

Before we jump to conclusions.

Basically, was it a black market purchase, stolen from someone, "borrowed" from a family member, or brought in from another state?

[slackmaster]

21. It had to have been a black market purchase

It sounds like the perp was too young to have legally bought a handgun anywhere, much less have it in DC.

[CO Liberal]

30. But It Could Have Been Stolen or "Borrowed"

This story will bear watching.

[TexasMexican]

32. Does that really matter?

Its obvious a crime was committed if it was stolen what does that matter he is already a criminal.

[CO Liberal]

33. We Need to Know How The Gun Was Acquired

So steps can be taken to prevent tragedies like this in the future.

[TexasMexican]

35. What kind of steps?

like making it illegal to steal or borrow a gun for use in a crime?

[slackmaster]

39. Yes, we need to bring everyone involved in the incident to justice

Surely multiple laws were broken.

[slackmaster]

38. That's still the black market

Any unregistered handgun possessed by anyone in the District of Columbia cannot be legal.

[ixion]

24. then only politicians will have guns

and we don't want that.

[demsrule4life]

19. Handguns are banned in DC

Handguns are banned in schools, yes more gun control would of stopped this.

[slackmaster]

22. Maybe we should quadruple the sentences for gun crimes

It sure worked when the federal government did the same thing to stop marijuana use back in 1951.

http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm

On edit:

(sarcasm off) just to make my position clear.

[TexasMexican]

7. Unpossible

guns are banned in DC.

[DrWeird]

9. Was it an upper middle class predominately white school?

If not then don't expect to hear much about it.

[Laughing Mirror]

17. It's all black, in the poorest part of Southeast DC

It is probably the worst performing school in the city. It always has been. When I showed test scores of Ballou to a friend of mine, he called it "the worst high school in America. A school out of hell."

Looks like a prison too:

[DrWeird]

27. Then this is probably the last we'll hear about it.

There was a shooting at a low income predominately black school a week or two after the Columbine shootings. Nobody noticed.

[Robb]

43. This is just what I was thinking, too.

Black kids have been shooting one another in and around schools for decades, and no one has cared. :(

[diamond14]

12. DC Public School problems could all be solved quickly if taxpayers

forced ALL the politicians to send their children to PUBLIC schools...and ALL means the pResident & his cabinet, and all political appointees, and the entire House and Senate...if all their children were in DC public schools, you'd see REAL change REAL fast...

as it is now, the children of the politicians ALL attend private schools here in DC...and the PUBLIC schools have always been left to languish...especially now, since the shrub and his minions have pushed through VOUCHERS....

since these politicians FUND and REGULATE the Public Schools of America...it's only just that the politicians OWN children should attend Public Schools...



WE THE PEOPLE should demand these politicians answer TWO questions...

1. How many of YOUR children are serving in Iraq?
2. How many of YOUR children are enrolled in PUBLIC schools?

with those two answers, we can assess these politicians chances for re-election...and BOOT them out....

[CO Liberal]

15. Not all The Pols Live in DC Proper

Many of them live in Virginia and Maryland.

[diamond14]

25. and the primary reason is so their children can avoid DC schools

they work in DC....and then leave, using their paychecks to fund their private gated white communities, and sending their children to PRIVATE schools in Virginia and Maryland....and there ALWAYS has been a TWO-school system in Virginia....a Public school system and a PRIVATE school system....

the consequences of allow that system to flourish is seen in the DC School dire circumstances...

since WE THE PEOPLE pay for all these government officials....and the entire U.S. Department of Education is in DC....maybe we should make these people send THEIR OWN CHILDREN to the schools that they fund, regulate, and govern.....I believe that would result in IMMEDIATE improvement in OUR Public Schools...and if these people don't want to do that...then they must be removed from their jobs, and let those, who DO want to send their children to PUBLIC Schools, take their places....

[Muddleoftheroad]

44. Not true

There are tons of reasons not to live in D.C. -- crowding, parking, not enough land, high prices of homes and, the biggest, the D.C. government.

[mbperrin]

16. Amen, amen1234!

Nuff said!

[slackmaster]

23. Right on

Well said.

[proud2BlibKansan]

53. Great post!

I couldn't agree more. We also need to force our elected representatives to drop the free health insurance they get and join the crazy system we regular folks are stuck with.

[twilight]

14. thats right, keeping giving out those guns to everyone

<EOM> :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr:

:dem: :kick:

[TexasMexican]

20. Free guns?

where can I get some?

[slackmaster]

18. Interesting quote from the School Board President

She said the school system needs more help from police to control violence.

I thought police generally got involved in criminal matters only after the fact. Since when are police supposed to serve as a positive force in young peoples' lives? I don't mean to discount the idea out of hand, but it seems novel to me.

[Laughing Mirror]

26. I saw that too

But then she's a Cafritz, I assume one of the wealthy prominent Washington Cafritzes. I don't suppose it would have occurred to her that maybe a little investment in that long-beleaguered, benighted part of Southeast DC would be beneficial to the quality of life to the poor people who have to live there. There is not even a grocery store in that part of town, Ward 8, and about 60,000 people still live there. Used to be much more crowded. But became so awful, everybody who could escaped. I know, I'm from there.

[slackmaster]

28. Thanks for the insights, and glad you got out of there

It's really a shame we have such class disparity in this country. We have enough resources that the wealthy can stay that way and still elevate the lowest to a decent standard of living.

[Laughing Mirror]

34. Actually, I loved it there, and one day hope to return.

One last thing. There was never any tax base there. Most of the land is owned by the federal government, and he government pays no taxes for a large part of that whole area, and that includes Bolling Air Force Base, Camp Simms, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a sewage treatment plant for the whole region, and many other non-taxable facilities. Urban renewal projects in other parts of the city dumped tens of thousands of poor people in cinderblock projects that were thrown up overnight in large parts of the area. I could go on and on and on. It is an absolute shame and crime what decades decades of neglect and indifference to people have done to Southeast. It had no political clout to speak of, was the last part of town to get a Metro stop, by the way, more than 20 years after the first Metro opened at stops including Arlington Cemetery, for the tourists of course, since nobody lives there.

[proud2BlibKansan]

54. In my school district

police are assigned to our high schools and regularly patrol the halls. They don't do this in DC?

[TexasMexican]

31. Maybe people shouldnt live in DC.

Yeah this is probably a stupid idea, but wasnt DC originally supposed to be a city for Government only.

I suppose back in the day it wasnt really feasible to commute everyone in and then leave when they are done working.

But how about now at days? Maybe the government should buy some of these people out and then they can afford to move somewhere a bit better.

Althought I'm pretty ignorant about how many people actually live in DC and how much anything like that would cost.

[Laughing Mirror]

36. It's now about 600,000 I think

The population keeps decreasing. When I was a kid, it was a booming post-war city of about 800,000 and was the 7th largest city in America and more populous than many states at that time.

There were about 170,000 public school students, many in overcrowed schools. There are many many fewer today.

[Laughing Mirror]

37. "How can you get an education when stuff like this

happens all the time."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5463-2004Feb2.html

[lebkuchen]

40. Glad I don't live in a gun culture

the closest I get to guns is finding buckshot in the pheasant I eat at the local "wilde essen" restaurant.

[Superfly]

41. You shoot pheasants with buckshot?

How much of the bird is left after that?

[slackmaster]

52. Must be very large pheasants

[Muddleoftheroad]

45. The D.C. schools

For those legions here who seek to criticize my positions on vouchers, this is a big reason why I support them.

The D.C. schools (along with other urban school districts) have failed. They don't provide safety or education.

This is a prime example of the kind of schools poor children -- mostly African-American kids -- are forced to attend.

Vouchers might not rescue all of them, but I'm for saving as many as possible.

[Laughing Mirror]

46. The number one problem is poverty

When you can find a way for vouchers to address that problem, I'll be for them.

But you won't, so I'm not.

[Muddleoftheroad]

49. Do we have to solve poverty before we are allowed decent schools?

If so, then we might as well give up on ALL generations of African-American youth.

Me, I am not giving up.

[Laughing Mirror]

50. Better neighborhoods have better schools.

As we have seen. Better schools for all the kids. Vouchers are for just a few of the kids but vouchers forget about all the rest, all the non-remarkable kids, like me, and maybe, like you.


I'm glad you're not giving up. Me neither brother.

[Muddleoftheroad]

51. Vouchers take no time

We could have a voucher program tomorrow or even today. Fixing the schools and the infinite urban problems could take decades or forever. Again, the ship is sinking. We need to save as many as we can.

[On the Road]

47. I Guess According to Bush...

the school is failing its students. So it should be shut down, right?

[CO Liberal]

48. Edjumacation Never Did HIM Any Good

:-)

[proud2BlibKansan]

55. That's because

he drank and partied his way through Yale.