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Colorado students walk out as school shooting vigil turns political
ABC News JOHN VERHOVEK,ABC News 3 hours ago


Colorado students walk out as school shooting vigil turns political originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

A vigil held Wednesday evening to recognize the victims and heroes of the shooting earlier this week at a Colorado high school turned into a political protest after some students in attendance expressed frustration with the tone and focus of the speeches.

According to local news reports, a group of students walked out of the event, organized by a local chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, after hearing speeches from members of the community, including activists and elected officials like Senator Michael Bennet, a Democratic presidential candidate, and Rep. Jason Crow, who represents the district where Tuesday's shooting took place.

Both Bennet and Crow were invited by the Brady Campaign to speak at the event, which took place at a nearby high school, and also attended another vigil Wednesday night at a nearby church.

(MORE: Deadly Colorado school shooting revives memories of past tragedies)

Speakers at the event, which honored Kendrick Castillo, the 18-year-old who was killed protecting his fellow classmates at the STEM School in Highlands Ranch, also talked about the need to take action in the wake of another tragic school shooting and reform the nation's gun laws.

"I know our kids already have enough to do, they have a job to do when they come to school, you have a job to do when you come to school," Bennet, the former Superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, said before praising Castillo's bravery. "Their job is not to fix America's broken gun laws. Their job is not, as Kendrick so selflessly did yesterday, to give up their own life to save their classmates lives. Or the teachers' lives. That's not their job."
PHOTO: Sen. Michael Bennet speaks during a candlelight vigil at Highlands Ranch High School on May 8, 2019 in Highlands Ranch, Colo. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

"You sent me to Washington to speak the truth. So here it is – we are failing. We are failing when this happens over and over and over and over again and nothing happens," Crow, a gun owner and former Army Ranger elected to Congress last year, said. "You already have my thoughts and prayers, but you deserve and should demand more. Because to only send thoughts and prayers when you're a member of Congress or when you're in a position to take action and to affect change, it is empty, it is hollow, and you and your children deserve more."

On Thursday, Crow spoke with ABC News' Senior Washington Reporter Devin Dwyer about the protest, saying he supported the students' demand that they be given a chance to speak.

"It was a very emotional night, which I completely understand, these are students that had just gone through a horrific tragedy...And it became apparent halfway through the event that they weren’t being given an opportunity to speak," Crow said.

"So they stood up, as they should have, and demanded an opportunity to speak, and I supported that. I stayed late until every student was heard and had their opportunity to tell us how they felt about this issue and just express that emotion. So it was really important that we keep the focus on the students," he added.
PHOTO: Young people console each other during a community vigil to honor the victims and survivors of a fatal shooting at the STEM School Highlands Ranch, late Wednesday, May 8, 2019, in Highlands Ranch, Colo. (David Zalubowski/AP)

The tenor of the vigil seemed to shift after some in the audience began to express frustration that the event was not solely focused on remembering the heroes and victims of the shooting.

"This can be an incredibly divisible or painful or awful time, or it can be a time when we come together," another speaker at the event told the packed gymnasium.

After a number of speeches, one student in the audience shouted "Let STEM kids speak!" and video from the event from ABC News affiliate KMGH showed students chanting "Mental Health," as they left the event and gathered in the parking lot outside the gym.

Students later re-entered the event and vented their frustration at the media and politicians.

“What happened at STEM is awful, but it’s not a statistic. We can’t be used for a reason for gun control. We are people, not a statement,” one student said after the event.

The Brady Campaign issued an apology Thursday afternoon, saying that all efforts should be focused on providing support to the students, faculty, and families affected by the tragic shooting.

"We are here to lift up the voices of victims and survivors...We are deeply sorry any part of this vigil did not provide the support, caring and sense of community we sought to foster and facilitate and which we know is so crucial to communities who suffer the trauma of gun violence," the statement said.

In the days after the shooting, Castillo, who was killed three days before graduation, has been remembered for his kindness and bravery.

John Castillo, Kendrick Castillo's father, called his son's death "devastating, as you can imagine."

"When I see the people that he saved, it made me happy," John Castillo said. "I knew my son wouldn’t have it any other way. But as any parent would tell you, 'It's a heck of a trade-off.'"

ABC News' Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.


https://www.yahoo.com/gma/colorado-stude...-210900053.html

Such a victim I am. Whew, However will I manage

30 people have viewed this thread, and so far, the only person who cared it was a trans shooter was you. Maybe youre a victim of your own rhetoric.

Yenno, since you wave around the victim card.

Again, his mom complained.

[color:#

USA TODAY Trevor Hughes, John Bacon and Jorge[/color] L. Ortiz,USA TODAY


HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. – A woman claiming to be a parent of a STEM School student warned school district administrators in December about what she described as rampant bullying, drug use and her fears of a “a repeat of Columbine” at the semi-autonomous charter school.

The anonymous complaints alarmed authorities enough that they requested an investigation by police and school officials.

It’s not yet clear whether there’s any connection between the woman’s complaints and the Tuesday attack at the school that killed one student and injured eight others. Two students accused in the attack remain jailed and are expected to be formally charged Friday.

As a charter school, the STEM School is largely exempt from the rules and policies governing neighboring public schools, although it is still accountable to the district via a legal agreement.

STEM School officials in January adamantly rejected the woman’s concerns and sued her for defamation, according to court records and a letter sent by district officials to the school and obtained by USA TODAY. Because the woman’s call was made anonymously, STEM School officials asked a judge to subpoena phone records to find her.



The caller told district officials that the school’s high-pressure environment was creating a “perfect storm” because of drug use, peer pressure and an administration blind to ongoing problems, according to a summary provided by district officials.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/apos-kendrick-went-hero-apos-112540507.html

why do so many financially secure kids devise elaborate plans to kill others or take their own life?

My experience has taught me that the parents are usually the biggest problem

30 people have viewed this thread, and so far, the only person who cared it was a trans shooter was you. Maybe youre a victim of your own rhetoric.

Yenno, since you wave around the victim card.

If we're addressing the real issue, it's not about Mental Health - it really isn't. Its probably about having no safeguards in place to prevent the sale of guns to people with problems.And even then thats probably only part of it.

If this was the real issue, Mental Health problems would be exclusive to America but it's not, its Worldwide.....but school shootings seem to be almost exclusively an American event. (See also Video Games for another area of false blame).

I think the world has done much in recent years to de-stigmatise people with mental health problems which in most cases has seen people reach out to get the support and help they need. The last thing we need is to take huge backward steps.

We could also maybe not give schizophrenics, psychotics and the disturbed, assault rifles just for the trouble of ponying up some benjamins and flashing a drivers license.

ahh, the good old mental health excuse.

i wonder why people who live in the inner city get no such excuses.

Case in point right here. You're entitled to your opinion but I disgree.

This is precisely about mental illness. The longer you ignore that, the longer the issue will continue. Instead of wanting to help people that may have mental illness, you're advocating for some type of gun laws or restrictions to be applied, not addressing the real problem but merely quietly sweeping it under the rug. This is wrong. How would you define mental illness? Who is in charge of defining whether or someone is mentally ill enough to warrant not being able to have a gun in your world? If someone goes in to buy a gun, is there a field in a database that lists that someone is mentally ill? How many checkups or diagnosis in the past qualify someone as being "mentally ill?" One? Two? Additional times? Do the illness or symptoms have to last a particular period of time for someone to be declared mentally ill? Who decides all this? In addition to this, gun laws have come and went since this country was founded. Where were the school shootings in the US during the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's. Sure, there were some but not like today. Why is that? Is it mental illness? Is it because the culture itself has changed? Why?

All of that is a slippery slope and would potentially lead to more anti-gun laws trying to be passed which would harm every day Americans. It also would not prohibit criminals from getting guns because they don't care one iota about the rule of law.

That is also against the 2nd amendment of the constitution. At least in my experience this seems to be how government works. You give them an inch on something and they take a mile, always. From a cynical point of view, why wouldn't they want to? The 2nd amendment was invented so the citizens of the country would have the rights to defend themselves against their own government should it become tyrannical. The first step to government control is to take away citizens gun rights. This is usually what happens in multiple countries when a fascist or dictatorship is enacted.

Also, don't point to other countries in comparison. They are not the United States. Our government, laws, constitution, is quite unique in the grand scheme of the world. We're one of the only countries to have freedom of speech, right to bear arms, and other necessary essentials. In short, I'm glad I don't live in those other nations because they have a fraction of our rights and our less free. Let that sink in for a moment. They are less free...

I want to stop school shootings as much as the next person but I don't think creating new gun laws is the answer. The real source of the problem is mental illness and culture. Those are not the easy items to solve but the more difficult ones, and we need to take the time to figure out how to do that.

I don't feel there is really any acceptable "excuse" for school shootings and murdering people.

"My situation is worse than your situation" doesn't justify anything.