Three Students Dead in Ohio School Shooting

A teenager opened fire on students in the cafeteria of an Ohio high school yesterday. The shooter wounded five students before he was chased from the building by a teacher and arrested a short distance away. Two of his victims have died. [Update: The AP reported late Tuesday morning that a third victim of the shooting died.]

A student who witnessed the event said, “I heard three shots and then I ducked down underneath the table, and then he did two more and walked out, and I saw him walking out of the cafeteria into the hallway.”

One of the wounded is listed in critical condition, and another is in serious condition. Law enforcement has not commented on a motive and has not released the killer’s name because he is a juvenile.

Members of the Chardon community, where the school is located, have expressed disbelief over the tragedy. One local said the school’s suburban location made the violence difficult to understand. The community is “still somewhat in shock, you know, over this whole ordeal, because this is a small, semi-rural community, and it’s like middle America, this isn’t suppose to happen here,” the local man said.

School officials were also at a loss in trying to understand the tragedy. Joe Bergant, superintendent of Chardon School, said, “Heartfelt sympathy goes out to the five victims in the case. There is really not a lot you can say ….”

Gut-wrenching tragedies like these leave the world at a loss. But there is an explanation for such appalling violence. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry addressed this heartbreaking issue in 2001 after a spate of school shootings, writing that “The answer to the school violence problem is clearly revealed in God’s instruction book for mankind: the Holy Bible.” Mr. Flurry said that the reason such bloody, senseless crimes occur is because God’s laws are being ignored and rejected.

Mr. Flurry said that wrong influences can take hold of our children when parents and especially fathers fail to uphold God’s laws and exercise loving family government. He summed up the core of the solution, saying that “curbing school violence must start in the home.”

As Mr. Flurry said, once families begin obeying God’s law and keeping His government, the peace in the home will spread to schools and workplaces, to nations, and eventually around the world. Although more school shootings and senseless tragedies will occur, take hope. Know that Jesus Christ will soon return and put an end to this violence—by fixing our families.