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The student news site of Atlantic High School

AHSneedle

The student news site of Atlantic High School

AHSneedle

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Purdue Shooting

Purdue+Shooting

By Taylor Berns

The day was Tuesday, Jan. 21. I was standing the lunch line when I got the text: “There was a shooting at Purdue. Marissa is fine.” Marissa, my older sister, is a second-year engineering student at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. I was in disbelief and shock.

Although I knew she was unharmed, my first reaction was to call Marissa. There was no answer the first time but within a few minutes she had called back. When she answered the phone she was explaining to me that the phone lines were down, that is why she hadn’t answered before. I had a million questions running through my mind about why it happened and who was hurt. Was her roommate okay? Was she in the building?

I could hear the panic in her voice as she spoke. She told me she hadn’t heard from any of her friends but thought they were okay. She was on her way to Spanish class and couldn’t  talk at the moment but would call me that night.

Over the next few hours I watched as the story unfolded.

21-year-old Andrew Boldt was working as a teacher’s assistant when 23-year-old Cody Cousins  fatally shot and stabbed Boldt. Boldt was in the basement building of the Electrical Engineering Building on the Lafayette campus. Cousins was an engineering student at the school.

A campus-wide text message was sent to students informing them to get to shelter and the tornado sirens blared. After Cousins was arrested, students were then told that there was no ongoing threat and that classes would be cancelled through Wednesday.

Cousins was found by the Tippecanoe County police outside of the engineering building with blood on his hands and clothes.

Although a college campus shooting may be slightly different than a high school shooting, many students at AHS, including myself, may not know what it is like to have an intruder.

AHS Principal Heather McKay said her first reaction to an intruder would be “get students safe in any manner, whether that be getting them out of the building or hiding them”. To help prevent an intruder, AHS has installed security cameras, an entrance buzzer, and on occasion a law enforcement officer will walk the halls. According to McKay, AHS teachers and staff have had about four and half hours of training including a spring session. McKay also said she is working with law enforcement to find a way to involve students in a training session.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/college-campus-shootings_n_2492195.html

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/23/victim-in-purdue-shooting-suffered-gunshot-stab-wounds-court-documents-say/

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