I have a friend who lives in Murrysville. I am waiting a little bit before I text her to make sure her grandkids are safe. I don't want to do it too early, in case they are involved, but I am very anxious. They are all in my prayers.

Tami

Thank goodness he didn't have a gun. There would have been a dozen fatalities.

I'm sorry to hear about this.

There's never been an age of innocence. There were lynchings that don't happen any more. Stabbings and shooting incidents happened too. Even in the 1950s. There has always been violence and neither this generation nor the one before is less innocent than previous generations.

____________________
ONLY secondary education attacks (not post secondary or elementary, or just in the general public--Meaning--there's more!)
September 3, 1952
Lawrenceville, Illinois, United States
Charles Petrach, 25
1 dead
After 25-year-old Georgine Lyon ended her engagement with Charles Petrach, Petrach shot and killed Lyon in a classroom at Lawrenceville High School where she worked as a librarian.

October 2, 1953
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Bernice Turner, 14
1 dead
14-year-old Patrick Colletta is shot to death by 14-year-old Bernice Turner in a classroom of Kelly High School in Chicago. It was reported that after Turner refused to date Colletta he handed her the gun and dared her to pull the trigger, telling her that the gun was “only a toy.” A coroner’s jury later ruled that the shooting was an accident.

December 8, 1953
Aledo, Illinois, United States
James Gipson, 17
1 dead
26-year-old track coach George Marich was stabbed to death by 17-year-old student James Gipson in a hallway of Aledo High School. The stabbing occurred after Marich had removed Gipson and two other seniors from a study hall for creating a disturbance.

March 31, 1954
Newton, Massachusetts, United States
1 dead
John Frankenberger, 14, was accidentally shot to death in a classroom at Day Junior High School when a pistol being held by a classmate discharged.

April 17, 1956
New York City, New York, United States
Randolph Lawrence, 16
1 dead
18-year-old Henry Smith, a student at a Bronx vocational high school, is stabbed to death by 16-year-old Randolph Lawrence, a fellow student. The stabbing was reportedly sparked over a dispute about a basketball game.

May 4, 1956
Prince George's County, Maryland, United States
Billy Ray Prevatte, 15
1 dead
2 injured
15-year-old student Billy Prevatte fatally shot one teacher and injured two others at Maryland Park Junior High School in Prince George's County after he had been reprimanded from the school.

October 20, 1956
New York City, New York, United States
1 injured
A Booker T. Washington Junior High School student was wounded in the forearm by another student armed with a home-made weapon.

October 2, 1957
New York City, New York, United States
..., 15
1 injured
A 16-year-old student was shot in the leg by a 15-year-old classmate at a city high school.
May 1, 1958
Massapequa, New York, United States
Bruce Zator, 15
1 dead
15-year-old freshman Timothy Wall is shot to death by fellow classmate Bruce Zator in a washroom of Massapequa High School.

March 16, 1959
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Stan Williamson, 19
1 dead
5 injured
19-year-old Stan Williamson opened fire with a .22 calibre rifle inside a crowded corridor of Ross Sheppard High School, killing 16-year-old Howard Gates and wounding five teenage girls. The shooting ended when three 18-year-old students held the gunman down until he could be arrested by police.

A knife is bad enough. I guess the innocence days are over for students of all ages. No wonder there is so much home schooling. I would think about doing that if I had young children. My grandchildren are mostly grown or in a private school. This just breaks my heart for the children and their parents and school personnel.
Mary

Also a stabbing with scissors in Toronto Canada not in a school, shopping center I think. Yes it is sad these take place where ever in the world. And it is also sad that the media seems to make them feel like heroes.

Rob, yes, I know, there never was an age of innocence and bad things have always happened but you will just have to believe me when I tell you that there was a certain innocence when we moved to Murrysville. I remember bringing my kids to school to register them. The school was just a six classroom building. One for each grade. I brought the kids in the office with me which seemed to be a natural thing to do. The office smelled like shoe polish and there was a dilapidated sofa with some adults sitting on it across from the desk. I was asked to have the kids, a first grader, third grader and fifth grader, wait out side. When I returned to the office, the secretary explained to me that it was also the teacher's lounge and they didn't want the children to see the teachers smoking. LOL We had just moved from New York which was a lot more Metropolitan so I found this amusing. A few months later I was invited to a card party and fashion show which was held in the school gymnasium. As it turned out, the fashion show was all fashions that moms had sewn themselves including an entire bridal party. Going through my head at the time was the song If They Could See Me Now those old friends of mine! I loved every minute of it. My son was talking this morning how there was not even any bullying back then. At least not bullying like we know it today. He has, over the years talked about his experience with friends who went to high school at the same time he did and their experience was totally different. There truly was a different atmosphere in Murrysville at the time. I always thought what a great place to raise a family.

Bad things happen to good people. It doesn't mean that it was innocent or isn't any longer. It's just different. There is an electri excitement in schools these days. I love to see the kids interacting with each other, and are so much more informed than when I was a kid. They have the information we so wanted everyone to have. They are empowered with the things to help them succeed where we've failed.

I was watching a Shoah foundation video the other day and it really struck me that the lady kept saying, I don't remember what it was like when the war broke out. We just didn't know about that. Was it better that way? Maybe. But kids today are so plugged in, tuned in, and turned on like we wished to be. They have so many tools and use them to their advantage. It can be a good thing.

I'm not as young as you might think. I don't remember it being anything other than turbulent. I lived in California, so, as progressive as the US gets. It was crazy there too. Sure we played outside until the sun went down. But should we have? Probably not. Different. It really bothers me to hear how the difference is somehow bad. We didn't have it so awfully great. Being the wrong gender, race, sexual preference was even (much, much!) harder then.

Different.

This is very sad day for our area....This is the type of thing you see on the news in distant cities/schools, not in our schools but today it happened....
Please keep these young people, including the student with the knife, in your prayers as well as their families......

People no longer *know* one another. As stifling as a small town may have seemed, it was a *community*. (Not all roses and plenty of thorns, but they were 'our' roses and thorns.)

I grew up in a real neighborhood, not just a few blocks called Something Village. We had neighbors we cared about, and who cared about us. "I'll tell your MOTHER," meant something!

I see people walking around completely absorbed in the gadgets in their hands, failing to see -- much less exhibit empathy -- for the real, live individuals around them. We've discussed a lesser feeling of neighborliness here before. When individuals no longer feel part of a society, there is a lack of accountability as well as fear and anger.

My young assistant softball coach told me last night she did her student teaching there just 2 short years ago.
Once names are released (maybe), she will probably recognize some of the people involved....