Breaking Down The Central Michigan University Shooting, From The Students Themselves
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Breaking Down The Central Michigan University Shooting, From The Students Themselves

March 2nd, 2018.

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Breaking Down The Central Michigan University Shooting, From The Students Themselves
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On March 2, 2018, there was an active shooter on the campus of Central Michigan University.

As many of you may know by now, the shooter was a student and unfortunately, the victims were his parents.

At the time of the accident, it was also the beginning of many college’s spring breaks.

I, myself, attend Delta College which is about forty-five minutes away from Central’s campus. It was the first day of my spring break and I was at the airport about to board my plane to fly down to Florida.

My mom called me, almost in tears, telling me the news about the active shooter on campus and told me that she had already called my best friend who attends CMU and told me that she was safe.

A pit formed in my stomach. I wanted to cry.

At the time of the shooting, many students were still on campus for their exams and classes on that Friday before spring break.
At the time of the shooting, no one knew what was happening. No one knew who was injured, how many, or who the shooter was.

I spoke to multiple students that attend Central Michigan University. I asked them to just shed a little light on their reactions. I asked them to help me give them a voice, and let others know that yes it was a domestic shooting that sadly happened on a college campus, these students didn’t know that at the time.

Tweets from a female student, age 20 -

“Reports of shots fired in a dorm on my campus.”
“Whether this is true or not, the fear I felt when the sirens spend past my apartment is something no one deserves to feel. Why are my friends wondering if it’s safe for them to go to class today?”
“There are police dogs and helicopters all around my apartment. Why are my friends hiding in the library at 10 a.m.? Why is this allowed to happen?”
“We are hiding out watching armed officers search the area. I cannot believe this is happening right now. #CMU"

Female student, age 20 -

“I remember that I was in the car on my way to the beach when I got the phone call. My biggest fear was coming true at a place that I have been so many times. I, of course, texted all my sisters to see who was still on campus and to make sure that they didn’t go anywhere. I remember crying because a shooting happened at the place that has made me who I am and at the place where all my sisters and friends were. I didn’t really know how to react…I am still so confused as to what was so bad that he had to cold-blooded kill his parents.”

Female student, age 19 -

“My initial reaction was that this was surreal. That the ‘are you OK/safe?’ texts didn’t happen. That my school did not just become another statistic. I won’t lie, I cried, I was terrified. I kept replaying the voicemail on my phone, it didn’t sound real. The voice. What is was saying. I couldn’t comprehend. Now, I just keep up with it to see if he will be put in jail or mental hospital. I don’t want to go back to campus. I don’t feel safe, I am scared. It’ll have an eery feeling and all the students will talk.”
“My parents never went through a school shooting, and I can say I have and that is something I wish upon no one. Yes, it is different, it was domestic, no students died. But nobody knows what was going through his head.”

Female student, age 20 -

“OK, so I live off campus but in town near the train tracks where they thought he was hiding most of the day. It didn’t feel like it was really happening most of the day, but when you get asked from family friends thinking that you were the one hurt or killed, it makes it a lot more terrifying. Also seeing about thirty swat members outside your house holding automatic rifles also makes it feel pretty real and scary. Schools shouldn’t feel like this anytime anywhere and how often that it does happen, shows that there is a problem and we need to figure out what it is and change it because these are kids we are talking about. Families ruined, mothers and fathers losing their children. Even though no students or staff at CMU got hurt, it doesn’t change the fact that people died on our campus. We shouldn’t make this incident less valuable because it wasn’t a mass shooting.”

Female student, age 18 -

“I left campus Thursday night for spring break. I was driving home from my boyfriend’s house when I received the call and text from the central alert system saying there were shots fired in the same building as my dorm. I put my phone down, as I was driving, immediately began to overthink beyond belief. I started wondering if anyone I knew was hurt or dead. It was definitely a chilling feeling to know that the community you are apart of is in so much danger. I’m handling this the way I always do when something in the world/my community goes wrong – I’m using my voice. I’ve been using my twitter as a way to not only express my opinions on this event but also to inform people on how they can make a difference. I’ll be attending the March For Our Lives just off of Central’s campus at Island Park on March 24th at 1 p.m. so I can use my passion for gun reform for good and try to promote peace in order to prevent things like this from happening again.”

I have many other statements from students, but these five sum a lot of that terrible Friday up. Some students were on campus, others were already home or getting ready for spring break.

One last thing I want to include is this tweet from the first student –

“Today we had to wonder if our friends/roommates/brothers/sisters/children on a college campus are alive. I had to call my mom & start by saying, ‘Don’t worry, I’m OK,’ but she was already crying. That is a feeling we will never forget. #CMU”

This is for all those Central students who were scared for their lives and now must face the media as they degrade this shooting. It greatly impacted these students because a shooting happened on their campus, in one of their buildings. It has had an effect on their life. Domestic or not. Mass shooting or not.

This is the real side of things. These are real statements, from scared students that must go back onto that campus.

While they must go back to campus where this tragic event happened, students are trying to stay positive, a tweet from a female student, age 20, replying to an anonymous tweet;

"Who else is dreading going back already, we all know campus is gonna be different."

Female student, age 20, reply -

"I hate that people are thinking like this. Let this be an opportunity to grow and come together as a campus, taking care of EVERY STUDENT. Mt. P is our home, let's make it warm, bright, and welcoming like we all deserve, instead of propelling this negativity. #CMUSTRONG #CMU"
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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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