On Sept. 4, 14-year-old Apalachee High School student Colt Gray brought an AR-15 rifle to school. Gray allegedly shot and killed four people: two teachers and two students. He also injured nine others: eight students and one teacher.
The victims of the shooting were 39-year-old math teacher and assistant football coach Richard Aspinwall, 53-year-old math teacher Cristina Irimie, 14-year-old Mason Scherhorn as well as 14-year-old Christian Angulo.
Nearly one year before the attack, law enforcement questioned Gray after receiving “several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time,” according to NPR. However, police found no probable cause for arrest at the time.
Despite Colin Gray, Colt’s father, not being on the scene during the shooting, he supposedly gifted his son with the gun. Police charged Colin Gray with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children in the second degree. If Colin is proven guilty on all charges, he will face up to 180 years in prison.
ULM students had various reactions to the Apalachee High School shooting. Senior pre-pharmacy major Katelyn Smith shared her concerns over school safety following the rise in school shootings.
“When I first heard about the mass shooting in Georgia, all I could think about was how prevalent these situations have become, and honestly, it scares me,” Smith said. “I believe that if schools would spread more awareness of these situations to their students and faculty, there will be more of a push for the development of safety protocols that are oriented specifically to ease panic and prevent these situations altogether.”
Other students worry about the safety precautions at ULM and the need for stricter campus regulations. Senior biology major Agnes Ugokwe suggested that ULM reexamine its status as an open campus.
“I don’t feel as safe as I would like on ULM’s campus. Sure, there is the ULM Safe app and UPD patrols pretty regularly, but it is an open campus, so anyone can just wander in and cause problems,” Ugokwe said. “I’m not saying that a fence needs to be built around the campus, but I definitely feel like more precautions can be taken.”
The Monroe Police Department (MPD) responded to student concerns by explaining the law enforcement agency’s ALICE training. ALICE stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate — active shooter responses taught to teachers and police officers.
The MPD undergoes annual training to be ready to respond to active shootings. MPD also provides training to law enforcement agencies in other areas so that they too are ready to react to active shooter threats.
“MPD has ALICE-certified offices, who visit our area schools and businesses to equip them with the training they need in the event of an active shooter,” MPD Sgt. James Schmitz said. “Of course, we hope an active shooter incident never happens, but we do our very best to prepare in the event one does occur in our community.”