Yesterday around 10:45AM the tragic news broke of two students dead, four injured, after they were shot in a high school cafeteria in Marysville, Washington. Marysville Pilchuck High, the location that this incident took place, was deemed a quaint suburban area for many Washingtonians. Yesterday’s events, however, have left a bitter taste among this local community due to the drastic events that transpired over the last 24 hours.
The shooter has been identified as freshman Jaylen Fryberg. The four students injured have been identified as two boys Nate Hatch and Andrew Fryberg (cousin of Jaylen) and two girls ( who’s names have not been released). The two students dead are the gunman (self-inflicted) and a girl (identified as @zoegalasso).
According to Heavy.com, the shooting was a result of Jaylen Fryberg breaking up with his longtime girlfriend. Heavy further states the Jaylen had been in a relationship with the same girl since the seventh grade. Though they were unclear at the time, his old tweets were definitely ominous of the event that occurred yesterday.
According to sources, Jaylen was very active in and outside of his school. Due to his heritage, Jaylen was a member of the Native American “Tulalip” Tribe. Within school, he was part of the football team, wrestling team, and was voted “Homecoming Prince”. Likewise, upon Jaylen Fryberg’s action to shoot his peers, many people are still in disbelief because of how popular he was at Pilchuck High School.
If one were to look at Jaylen Fryberg’s tweets, however, one may come to a different conclusion about Fryberg’s “quiet” demeanor. The problem with viewing Fryberg’s tweets, as well as others’, is that Twitter is used an outlet for many users’ emotions and problems. As a culmination of “retweets” and “millenial content”, it’s VERY easy and common for one’s tweets to look similar to Jaylen’s. Now, as for the screen-shotted tweets mentioned above, those Tweets were possibly the biggest sign of Jaylen needing intervention, but unfortunately even tweets as such are pretty ambiguous on a social media platform like Twitter.
Who’s to blame?
When viewing a variety of different blogs, I’ve noticed people wanting to blame Fryberg’s parents for his actions. From a young age it was noted that Fryberg was a frequent hunter. And though one can draw endless speculations of adolescents who learn how to hunt at a young age, drawing that type of conclusion is too subjective. Though Jaylen clearly presents a the gun in the picture below, his ability to hunt shouldn’t have anything to do with the blame of Jaylen’s parents. Moreover, the gun used in this tragic incident was a hand-gun, not a rifle.
As mentioned earlier in this article, Jaylen was popular and competent in terms of psychological evaluation. Sadly, It seems that his emotions got the best of him and in turn created a barrier that he entrapped himself within.
Was this incident preventable? Do you think metal detectors should be mandated for all public high schools in the United States? Let us know what you think below.
Product Of Society 