Anatomy of an Active Shooter Event: Months Later

In this series entitled “Anatomy of an Active Shooter Event”, we’ll take a look at a number of factors that create the perfect storm leading to a school shooting.

• Part 1: Before an active shooter event
• Part 2: During an active shooter event
• Part3: Immediately after an active shooter event
• Part 4: Months after an active shooter event

Today, we are analyzing what happens in the aftermath an active shooter event. School shootings are a deeply shameful reflection of our society, but they must be bravely faced in order to mitigate these events in the future. Understanding how communities may be unprepared to handle the fallout from a school shooting can help your community anticipate and thwart such threats before they occur.

Memorials

Once a school shooting has occurred, the surrounding community is never the same. On anniversaries of the event, communities hold solemn memorials to remember those who had fallen victim to shooters. While the purpose of these memorials is to honor the deceased, anniversaries of such active shooter events like Sandy Hook serve as a time to meditate on why shootings occur, especially when it comes to school security and school safety. Similarly, the community may erect permanent monuments, as Newtown, CT has done, to serve as a place to grieve and a reminder of the tragedy wrought by an active shooter event.

Organizations Take Measures Against Violence

Organizations have come together with the objective of reducing school shootings—or eliminating them altogether. This includes the National Association of Students Against Violence Everywhere (known as the SAVE program), which enables students to unite against violence, provide resources to build awareness and build communication skills, and give alternatives to violence (such as creative and community-based activities). Other organizations include:

• Center for the Prevention of School Violence
• Committee for Children
• National School Safety Center
• Partnership Against Violence (PAVNET)
• Peace Education Foundation
• Teaching Anger Control Through Teamwork (ACCT)

The Rise of the Anti-Hero

Every school shooting that is successful in the eyes of disturbed individuals adds more fuel to the fire of those who feel a need to take out their inner demons on the world. With inspiration derived from previous incidents, shooters attempt to outdo one another by wreaking more and more carnage in a sick and twisted competition. Some blame the media for popularizing school shooters and broadcasting a disturbing imagery that provides fodder that sows destruction.

 

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In conclusion, no parent ever wants their children involved in an active shooter event. By paying attention before these events take place, taking the active steps in schools to offset this violence, and building a loving community that cares for those that may be liable to carry out these evil deeds, perhaps school shootings will become a thing of the past. However, as current trends suggestion, active shooter events in educational environments are ever-increasing. Therefore, parents must be vigilant and prepared.