Safety in Schools and on College Campuses: The 1990s and 21st Century has brought pain in rural, suburban and urban America.

The type of safety felt across this country, I believe still remains overall secure among parents sending their students to elementary, middle- and high-schools as well as public and private colleges and universities. However, this country has experienced school shootings in middle schools, high schools and on college campuses in rural, urban and suburban America. This reminds us that the invisible borders constructed, to divide communities and cities from one another and give them unique identities, do not limit violent crime.

School shootings have occurred in rural and suburban America when bullying and teasing, problems with teachers and other students in towns and suburban communities like Littleton, CO; Pearl, Mississippi; Moses Lakes, Washington; Giles County, Tennessee; West Paducah, Kentucky; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Edinboro, Pennsylvania and Springfield, Oregon. Here are some of shootings that a young lady on a blog wrote about last year, which occurred in middle schools, high schools, and colleges from the 1990s and into the 21st century:

November 1, 1991: Iowa City, Iowa, USA, After his dissertation did not win a certain academic award, Ph.D. physics student Gang Lu shot six people before committing suicide. Five were killed, including three professors. A student employee was paralyzed.

May 1, 1992: Olivehurst, California, USA, Armed with a pistol, 20-year-old Eric Houston took hostages at his former high school, killing four people and wounding 10. His motive was his inability to find a good job due to the fact that he had failed a grade at school. He was given the death penalty for the shooting. The 1994 Hostage High is directly based on the shooting.

December 14, 1992: Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA, Armed with a SKS carbine, 18-year-old Simon's Rock College of Bard student Wayne Lo killed a professor and a student and wounded several others. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

January 18, 1993: Grayson, Kentucky, USA, 17-year-old East Carter High School student Scott Pennington fatally shot his English teacher and a school janitor with a pistol.

September 21, 1995: Rochester, New York, USA, 13-year-old Stephne Givens was fatally stabbed at Jefferson Middle School by a fellow student.

November 15, 1995: Giles County, Tennessee, USA Armed with a .22 Remington Viper, 17-year-old Jamie Rouse walked into the Richland School and shot two teachers in the head, killing one. He then fired at the football coach, but hit a 14-year-old freshman in the neck, wounding her.

February 2, 1996: Moses Lake, Washington, USA Armed with a high-powered hunting rifle and two handguns, 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis killed his algebra teacher and two students before taking hostages. He also shot a girl in the arm, who he released during the hostage situation. The incident ended when a teacher burst into the room and tackled him. Loukaitis is now serving life in prison.

February 2, 1996: Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 12-year-old David Dubose killed a teacher in the hallway of his school with a pistol.

September 17, 1996: University Park, Pennsylvania, USA, In the Hetzel Union Building shooting at The Pennsylvania State University, 19 year old Jillian Robbins opened fire on students walking to classes, killing one student and wounding another.

January 27, 1997: West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, 13-year-old Tronneal Magnum shot and killed another student in front of his school.

February 19, 1997: Bethel, Alaska, USA, Armed with a pump-action 12 gauge shotgun, Evan Ramsey killed a student and the principal of Bethel High School, and wounded two others. He is now serving a 210 year sentence.

October 1, 1997: Pearl, Mississippi, USA, 16 year old Luke Woodham stabbed and beat his mother to death, then took a lever-action rifle to Pearl High School where he shot into a crowd of students, killing his ex-girlfriend Christina Menefee and her friend Lydia Kay Dew and wounded seven other students. Woodham later claimed that he did not remember killing his mother.

December 2, 1997: West Paducah, Kentucky, USA, A 14-year old high school freshman opened fire on a prayer circle at his school killing three students and injuring five.

April 24, 1998: Edinboro, Pennsylvania, USA, 14-year-old Andrew J. Wurst went to the school graduation dance where he shot and killed a popular science teacher. He subsequently opened fire on more students, wounding another teacher and two classmates before he ran out of ammunition.

May 19, 1998: Fayetteville, Tennessee, USA, Three days before graduation, 18-year-old honor student Jacob Davis fatally shot 18-year-old Nick Creson with a bolt action rifle. He then discarded the rifle and calmly watched Creson die.

May 21, 1998: Springfield, Oregon, USA, Kip Kinkel opened fire with a .22 rifle at Thurston Senior High School, killing 2 students and wounding 25 before being tackled by a wounded student. His parents were later found at home, murdered by Kinkel. He is now serving 111 years in prison without parole.

April 20, 1999: Littleton, Colorado, USA, Columbine High School Massacre. Two teenage students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, carried out a shooting rampage, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 24 others, before committing suicide.

October 20, 1999: Houston, Texas, USA, During a fight between 14-year-old Estanislao Balderas and 13-year-old Samuel Avila at Deady Middle School, Baldera produced a screwdriver and fatally stabbed Avila with it.

November 20, 1999: Deming, New Mexico, USA, A boy shot 13-year-old Aralecy Tena in the back of the head with a handgun at Deming Middle School. Tena died after being taken off of life support.

May 26, 2000: Lake Worth, Florida, USA, 13-year-old Nathaniel Brazill shot his English teacher, 35-year-old Barry Grunow at Lake Worth Middle School, in the face on the last day of school.

March 5, 2001: Santee, California, USA, Armed with .22 revolver, 15-year-old Charles Andrew Williams opened fire in a boy's bathroom at Santana High School, killing two students. He then exited the bathroom and shot at nearby students, wounding 13. Shortly afterwards he retreated back into the toilets where he surrendered to police.

January 16, 2002: Grundy, Virginia, USA, Appalachian School of Law shooting. 43-year-old Appalachian School of Law student Peter Odighizuwa shot and killed the Dean and another student. He was sentenced to multiple life terms in prison.

April 14, 2003: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, At 10:30 AM, several men armed with an AK-47 entered the school gymnasium of John McDonogh High School and executed Jonathan "Caveman" Williams, a football player. The killers fired at least 18 times, shattering Williams' face and injuring three neighboring girls. A stampede of students trampled a pregannt girl.

April 24, 2003: Red Lion, Pennsylvania, USA, Red Lion Area Junior High School Murder/Suicide. 14-year-old James Sheets fatally shot his school principal in the cafeteria of his middle school before committing suicide.

May 9, 2003: Cleveland, Ohio, USA, Biswanath Halder, a 62-year-old man, opened fire with an automatic weapon on his former school, Case Western Reserve University. He killed one student, seriously wounded two others, and kept over 90 people hiding for their lives for seven hours. After vigorous and bullet-ridden gun battles with school police and SWAT officers, Halder surrendered and was sentenced to life in prison.

September 24, 2003: Cold Spring, Minnesota, USA, Rocori High School shooting. 15-year-old Jason McLaughlin shot Aaron Rollins and Seth Bartell at Rocori High School with a .22 pistol. Rollins died the same day; Bartell died October 10 of injuries sustained in the attack.

February 2, 2004: Washington, D.C., USA, 19 year old Thomas J. Boykin fatally shot 17 year old James Richardson at Ballou Senior High School. Boykin was later acquitted on the charge of murder.

February 3, 2004: Palmetto Bay, Florida, USA, 14-year old Michael Hernandez stabbed and slit the throat of 14-year-old classmate, Jaime Rodrigo Gough, while in a restroom at Southwood Middle School. Hernandez was tried as an adult, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. A search of his home revealed he had concocted plans to murder several classmates and even his older sister. His journal revealed he was obsessed with perfection, and admired Hitler and the Nazis.

March 30, 2004: Gary, Indiana, USA, Neal Boyd IV was fatally shot in the parking lot of Wallace High School by a fellow student.

January 4, 2005: Denver, Colorado, USA, A 17-year old student, Contrell Townsend, was stabbed to death by his classmate after engaging in a heated argument with him.

November 8, 2005: Jacksboro, Tennessee, USA, After reports that a freshman had a handgun, the principal and two assistant principals confronted student Kenneth Bartley Jr., who opened fire on them, killing one of the assistant principals and wounding the two others.

June 25, 2006: Los Angeles, California, USA, Augustine Contreras, an 11th grader at Venice High School, died outside of the school. Contreras intervened in a fight between his brother, Alejo Contreras, and some unidentified men when he fatally took a bullet. The victim lived in Culver City.

September 29, 2006: Cazenovia, Wisconsin, USA, Weston High School shooting. 15-year-old Eric Hainstock shoots his high school principal, who then managed to wrestle Hainstock to the ground. The principal died later in hospital from multiple gunshot wounds.

October 19, 2006: Orlando, Florida USA, 17-year-old Kelvin De La Cruz stabs 15-year-old Michael Nieves in the chest with a pocket knife at a school bus stop of the Main Campus at University High School. After he stabbed him, Cruz hid under the bus and attempted to change his clothes, but was apprehended and charged with first-degree murder. Nieves died two hours later after being stabbed.

December 12, 2006: Springfield, Pennsylvania USA, Early Tuesday morning at Springfield High School, 16-year-old Shane Halligan fatally shoots self with a rifle in a school hallway. No one else was hurt.

January 3, 2007: Tacoma, Washington USA, A student identified as Douglas Chanthabouly, 18, shot 17-year-old Samnang Kok just before classes began at Henry Foss High School. Kok died at a local hospital. Chanthabouly fled the scene and was apprehended in a nearby neighborhood two hours later.

January 26, 2007: Uninc. Los Angeles County, California USA, Gang members entered Drew Middle School and opened fire. A 23-year old visitor named Demetrius Perry died.

March 7, 2007: Outside Dow High School in Midland, Michigan USA, 17-year old David Turner shot 17-year old Jessica Forsyth four times before killing himself in the parking lot.

March 7, 2007: Greenville, Texas USA, A 16-year-old student fatally shot himself inside the band hall at Greenville High School.

http://ascrivenerslament.blogspot.com/2007/04/history-of-violence.html

It was a surprise to some of these communities where some people feel safe enough to leave their doors unlocked at night, where everyone knows everyone else on a first name basis, places where violent crimes in schools had never happened before, and places where parents read about it in newspapers, and seen it on national news networks for big cities and urban neighborhoods that violence happened so close to home. However, they never could have imagined it in their local schools; they never could have imagined it to be their child shooting, injuring or killing a student or teacher. They never could have imagined it to be their child as a victim of such a horrible crime; they never could have imagined that a crime of this magnitude happened in places other than populated areas, big cities and urban communities. None of us can imagine that we will be personally touched by the crimes of others, but it happens to the best of us, and we go forward, hoping to ensure we work towards decreasing or eliminating these types of crimes.

Highly populated communities labeled as urban, more diverse and housed in big cities or communities outside of major cities are the ones that have traditionally received massive coverage of the shootings that occurred of teenagers innocently being murdered or being the target of murders, because of petty crimes, unknown reasons, gang violence, teasing, or bullying. Major cities like Los Angeles, CA; Brooklyn, Queens, Harlem and New York City, New York; Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; Baltimore, MD; New Orleans, LA; Milwaukee, WI; Houston and Dallas, TX; Memphis, TN and Newark, New Jersey. The national media readily discusses and talks about the crimes in these major cities and the surrounding communities.

One vicious crime that sticks out in my mind would be the senseless attempted murder on August 4, 2007, of 19-year-old Natasha Aeriel, who provided information from her hospital bed after being shot in the head. Natasha was with her brother, Terrance Aeriel, 18; Dashon Harvey, 20; and Iofemi Hightower, 20, who were forced to kneel against a wall and were shot execution-style outside a Newark school, with robbery being the motive. These three young men died instantly and lost their lives. All of these young people had been preparing to attend or return to Delaware State University with no criminal backgrounds. They had been sitting in a public parking listening to music and waiting for courses to begin.

Jose Carranza, a 28-year-old Peru immigrant that for some reason was out on bail after raping a 5-year old girl and threatening her family is the main suspect in this case. In all, there are three teenagers and three adults charged in this case, but among all of the other senseless murders, this one stays with me like the senseless murders of two teenagers from my own hometown, that were murdered for no apparent reason. None of these people belonged to gangs, associated with gangs or had a criminal record or history of committing any crime. Yet, the first question asked always goes back to gang associate because of the locations of the crime. I will not overlook this bias, but I will hope that people will be more to first take a look at all of the circumstances of the crime before making a judgment because in those murders in Littleton, CO; Pearl, Mississippi; Moses Lakes, Washington; Giles County, Tennessee; West Paducah, Kentucky; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Edinboro, Pennsylvania and Springfield, Oregon people did judge first and ask questions later. The media and the people of the communities asked questions and judged later.

The more interesting reality is the increase of violent crimes happening on college campuses. Unfortunately, I know the crimes do happen to college students outside of college campuses, but I want to more specifically focus on violent crimes such as murders that have risen on college campuses and universities as reported by the following article that I read, which documented the information as follows:

Feb. 14, 2008: A former graduate student at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb opens fire in a lecture hall, killing five students and wounding 15 others. He then commits suicide.

Feb. 8, 2008: Latina Williams, 23, opens fire during an emergency medical technology class at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge, killing Karsheika Graves and Taneshia Butler. She then kills herself.

Dec. 13, 2007: Two Ph.D. students from India are found shot to death in a home invasion at an apartment on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Oct. 1, 2007: University of Memphis football player Taylor Bradford, 21, who had been rumored to have won more than $3,000 at a casino, is fatally shot on campus in a botched robbery. Four men are later charged in the slaying, including one student.

Sept. 21, 2007: Two students are wounded at a late-night shooting at a campus-dining hall at Delaware State University in Dover. Shalita K. Middleton, 17, dies Oct. 23 from her injuries. A student is charged in the shooting.

April 16, 2007: Cho Seung-Hui, 23, fatally shoots 32 people in a dorm and a classroom at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, injures at least 25, and then kills himself in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

April 2, 2007: A 26-year-old researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle is shot to death in her office by her ex-boyfriend. Jonathan Rowan, 41, then kills himself.

Sept. 2, 2006: Douglas W. Pennington, 49, kills himself and his two sons, Logan P. Pennington, 26, and Benjamin M. Pennington, 24, during a visit to the campus of Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va.

May 9, 2003: A 62-year-old man with two handguns and bulletproof vest fires hundreds of rounds during a seven-hour shooting spree and standoff at a Case Western Reserve University building in Cleveland. One student is killed and two others are wounded. Biswanath Halder, who authorities say was upset because he believed a student hacked into his Web site, is later sentenced to life in prison.

Oct. 28, 2002: Failing student and Gulf War veteran Robert Flores, 40, walks into an instructor's office at the University of Arizona Nursing College in Tucson and fatally shoots her. A few minutes later, armed with five guns, he enters one of his nursing classrooms and kills two more of his instructors before fatally shooting himself.

Jan. 16, 2002: Graduate student Peter Odighizuwa, 42, recently dismissed from Virginia's Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, returns to campus and kills the dean, a professor and a student before being tackled by students. The attack also wounds three female students. Odighizuwa is serving six life sentences after pleading guilty.

May 17, 2001: Donald Cowan, 55, fatally shoots assistant music professor James Holloway at a dorm at Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland, Wash., and then turns the gun on himself. He leaves a 16-page suicide note expressing anger at a colleague of Holloway's whom he dated briefly as a teenager.

Aug. 28, 2000: James Easton Kelly, 36, a University of Arkansas graduate student recently dropped from a doctoral program after a decade of study and John Locke, 67, the English professor overseeing his coursework, are shot to death in an apparent murder-suicide by Kelly.

June 28, 2000: Medical resident Dr. Jian Chen kills his supervisor and then himself in his supervisor's office at the University of Washington in Seattle. Faculty say Chen, 42, was upset he would be forced to return to China because of his academic shortcomings.

http://www.policeone.com/active-shooter/articles/1661642-Campus-killings...

I am sure that there are many more cases, stories and unfortunate circumstances of school shootings not reported by newspapers, news networks or in statistical data. Nevertheless, we are hopeful that these increases in crimes will decrease in the educational institutions that educate us.

I know that local school districts have taken great strides to improve, update and expand their current safety policies, to ensure that faculty, staff, students and parents have access to these policies, feel more secured for their students, and have more access to discuss this matter with school board members, principals and teachers. In addition, I know that more technological advances have allowed for college and university students to be alerted by email, by home phone, by cell phone and by text message of existing, unexpected threats, or emergencies occurring on their college campuses. Colleges have taken the concerns of staff, faculty, parents, and students seriously and worked towards ensuring that the best measures are in place to respond to any crisis or emergency happening on campus.

We all strive for peace and safety in rural, suburban and urban America. All of us want to be safe attending local middle schools, high schools and colleges of our choice. The reality is that we never know when someone decides that he or possibly she will make a choice of someone else’s life based on their unhappiness, frustration, pain, personal feelings, or desire to do something that gets them recognized. It is a horrible reality that people kill other people and that those left behind will never be satisfied whether you know the reasons or not.