In the early morning of Friday, October 9th, Northern Arizona University students began to receive notice that there was a shooting on campus. I woke up to a phone call from my mother, the message received from my mom was similar to what I am sure all NAU students experienced. Tons of texts and calls from family were received as they were hearing on the news that a shooting had occurred at my school. I immediately informed my mother I was safe, and unaware of what had happened. I checked my texts and had received an NAUAlert, which is a safety system the school has in place to notify those enrolled, of any pertinent information about safety issue or other news on campus. The message, which was received at 2:52 a.m. read: “Reported shooting at Mountain View Hall at NAU Flagstaff campus. Situation stabilized and shooter in custody. Details to follow.” Reading this notification moments after waking up was sickening. My immediate thoughts were assuming that there had been an active shooter inside the dorm, which houses our campuses fraternities and sororities; a dorm that I once lived in, and one that several of my friends currently live in. I couldn’t believe what was happening, the details were still so unclear.
As the morning progressed the details continued to unravel. My mountain town university, which not many know of, was gaining national media attention over a tragedy. Headlines reading “Northern Arizona University shooting leaves 1 dead and 3 injured”, have been scattered across our country. These 'Breaking News' updates informed our country, and world that there has yet again been another shooting on a college campus.
The following details were found on almost any news outlets website from Flagstaff to D.C., and the news updates came pouring in all day long. “A confrontation between students in a parking lot at Northern Arizona University turned deadly early Friday when, police say, a freshman pulled a gun and shot four male students, killing one.”
The suspect was identified, “Steven Jones, 18, to open fire around 1:20 a.m. Friday” And the names of the victims followed soon after. “The slain student has been identified as Colin Brough. The three others are Nicholas Prato, Kyle Zientek and Nicholas Piring, the school said.” Additional details were released, but not enough to explain why this happened.
You never expect something like this to happen so close to home. Being a student on the campus I started to hear several stories about what happened, from people who were inside or close by while the events unraveled. What the news is saying and what the students are reporting to each other are conveying separate messages. It is hard to believe what you hear, because until the investigation is complete and a trial occurs, it seems unfair to point fingers and assume causation about what happened. Although the prosecutor has stated that this was not a case of self defense. It is also disgusting seeing comments and postings from people online that have no connections to the students involved, or the school community.
This series of unfortunate events helped me realize that news and rumors travel fast. Before all students and families even knew the story, the country was being notified that there was a school shooting. I want to change the language here to emphasize that there was a shooting on a university campus. In my opinion, a school shooting, is correlated to something pre-meditated, and with no direct victims in mind. This was not the case at NAU. A confrontation between several students got out of hand and escalated, which resulted in the shooting of four students. The way you word an incident like that truly changes the context to which people will interpret information. What to call what happened that Friday is arbitrary when focusing on finding justice, but it is important to consider all aspects of gun violence. Either way this does not change that fact that a human being lost their life, or that others were gunned down, and I am not attempting to lesson those horrible truths.
I am attempting to illuminate the fact that the language used by the media is intended to cause terror among our nation. Other forms of death involving college students occur regularly, but not resulting from guns. This story as well as all others our nation knows about get so much attention because they involve guns, and the media loves controversy.
Students received texts and calls all day on wondering if they were okay. Because even though details were out, parents were still worried that their child could have been shot. This was because of the words being broadcast across the country, eliciting fear throughout my campus and for parents everywhere.
It disappoints me though, that if the same incident occurred off campus, it would not have received media attention on such a widespread scale. Yes the school, local and state governments would have been covering this matter, but the world would not be, at least not so quickly. Gun violence, and shootings involving college campuses are no longer becoming a problem they ARE a problem.A recent article I read also brought up the fact that shootings like this among young men happen more than the news shares, but because it is usually between men of color, and not college students, the country does not use it as a talking point. I’m frustrated when I say that too many before me have already implored our nation's leaders to make the changes necessary for this violence to stop. Yet still we see no changes, just more shootings, more criminals, and more people whose lives are being taken from them.
The details of the incidents at Northern Arizona University, Texas Southern University, and Umpqua Community College, are continuing to unfold. While this is happening though, will we see anything change, or will we be waiting on our phones, computers, and televisions for the next reported shooting to occur?
#NAUstrong began trending on Twitter, and a school that was happily under the radar now has the spotlight on them. This is the 47th school shooting this year according to Every Town For Gun Safety. So America, has making these events national news, trending topics on Twitter, or top hits on the Internet changed anything? My answer would be no. Our country is still being plagued by gun violence. Students, the future of our world, are being murdered. But all our politicians are doing is sending their “thoughts and prayers”.
Our politicians will continue on with their lives, and the news companies will continue searching for people to interview or minute details, in order to milk the tragedies facing these communities and cause speculation to keep these issues getting them ratings.
We must become active in stopping these events from happening. As college students we have the power to make changes. Allow the families and friends of those affected to grieve in peace, and stop interviewing individuals who are distantly related to the problem. Stop using social media in times like this to search for attention, or pointing blame at others, and start using the power we have to make changes. Arguing on a chain of Facebook comments, or anonymously posting on Yik Yak won’t stop people from turning to violence to solve their emotion, psychological, or physical problems.
How many lives need to end before our country can stand together, and put an end to this violence. It is much easier to create policy changes than it is to change people. You’d think it would be obvious right now that the current regulations in our country do not stop these crimes from occurring, yet still no changes are being made, and “school shooting” is becoming a weekly headline. It is illegal to openly posses a weapon on campus, but an apparent problem with the campus policy is that it is not illegal if, “The person is transporting or storing a lawfully possessed firearm within a motor vehicle. If the vehicle is unattended, the firearm must be either within a locked compartment or within a locked vehicle. The firearm must also be stored out of plain sight. The university may require those choosing to store firearms within their vehicles to park in designated areas.”
Myself and other students do not agree with this policy. By allowing students to have a firearm in their possession, even in their car locked up, leads to incidents like what happened October 9th, and opens up the gate for other crimes to occur. This is not necessarily the universities fault, but also is a result of Arizona state laws.
While the lawmakers of our country continue arguing, communities must stand together and work to prevent these events from occurring elsewhere in our nation. Change has to start somewhere, so perhaps it will start with increased education on gun safety, conflict resolution, or mental health. I’m not sure what the answer to these problems are, but we have to start somewhere in our search for SOLUTIONS, because there is not just one. Hold forums on your campus or in your community and work to find solutions at a local level, because we can no longer wait around for our state or even federal government to make the changes for us.
The thoughts and prayers of the NAU community and myself go out to the victims and any others affected by this. We must be #NAUstrong in order to make changes occur in our own community. Our greek community, school community, and Flagstaff community has come together and is being supportive of each other in this troubling time. We will always be #NAUStrong
For more details on this tragic story, Google NAU and unfortunately you’ll find plenty of news coverage.
