Last Thursday, November 30, Hook students’ phones started buzzing near the end of second period.
“Who had a loaded weapon on campus today?”
“Principal sent an email. Student found with loaded weapon after being searched by SRO.”
“Just heard there was a kid on campus with a loaded weapon?”
“Hey just checking on you
I got a call saying a student was caught with a weapon
It was actually a loaded weapon”
“Was there really a live gun on campus?”
When searching a student’s backpack for a vape, school resource officers (SROs) found a loaded gun. It was immediately confiscated and Principal Gloria Woods-Weeks sent a message to parents and teachers. Teachers were informed via email that the weapon was accidentally discovered when the student was searched for a vape. Parents were notified that an SRO found a loaded weapon on a student and that all students were safe. They were not told the circumstances under which the weapon was found, but it was later included in local news coverage.
The voicemail went out hours after an early morning message warned parents of traffic delays due to police investigating a deadly shooting at the corner of Rose of Sharon and Hillandale Road and during the same week that two other guns were found at high schools in North Carolina and a Southeast Raleigh High School student was fatally stabbed.
Riverside students were not notified of the weapon found on campus. Most learned from their parents after the incident. The news traveled quickly as students told their friends what they had heard. Forced to learn about the event from peers rather than authorities, students were confused and scared.
Riverside had multiple gun threats last year that left students uneasy and scared to attend school. Now, students seem desensitized to threats of violence near them. In the wake of so many local tragedies, this event seemed almost insignificant, like something of that magnitude still couldn’t happen to us.
But this was not insignificant.
We’re grateful to be writing about danger and not tragedy. No one was hurt, officers confiscated the weapon and families were made aware. But the presence of a loaded gun on campus and lack of direct communication with students sparked a lot of emotions and uncertainty . And since no one asked us how we’re doing or answered the many questions last week made us think about, we’ll pose them here:
Why does a student feel the need to bring a weapon to school?
Why weren’t we notified?
Are there other weapons on campus on any given day?
Why are students most impacted by this issue, but the least informed?
If someone wants to cause harm at RHS, can we stop them?
