Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - During the week funerals are being held in Buffalo following the Tops mass shooting tragedy, another unimaginable mass shooting that occurred in Texas Tuesday is shaking an already shaken community.
In Uvalde, Texas Tuesday, an 18-year-old gunman opened fire on an elementary school, killing 19 children and two adults. The gunman was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent.
This came ten days after the Jefferson Avenue shooting in Buffalo and the world has not had proper time to grieve and heal over the lives of the ten who died by the hands of another 18-year-old gunman.
Niagara Falls School District Superintendent Mark Laurrie shared his first thoughts when he heard of the news for WBEN.
"Just horror. I'm just absolutely in shock, saddened. It's just horrific news," said Laurrie in a WBEN interview Tuesday evening. "It's almost surreal. I just can not believe this. I'm just so saddened for the families, for this country, for the school kids everywhere, but especially those that we lost today. We are one big country that needs to be together and this is just probably some of the most horrific news I've heard and it's just coming too soon. After what we experienced as a community last week, just absolutely horrifying."
It is important to note, says Laurrie, that Niagara Falls Schools have safety measures in place, "We are always in lockout and in our secondary schools, we have weapons detection systems. We have more security officers and more cameras than we've ever had before in the district. We have practiced more drills than we've ever done before. We are sensitive not only to those kinds of hardening things, but to dealing with kids that may be having trauma," said the Superintendent.
Superintendent Mark Laurrie also notes that the strongest detection is to have an honest talk with your children, "We also have to talk to kids, there is no better detection system than listening to kids listening to each other, noticing signs of something that's not right and reporting those, that is the best detection that we have."
Laurrie also mentions that due to the frequent nature of these shootings, the fear will continue to escalate. "I think the frequency is just something that has really put a heightened sense of awareness on everybody. Kids hear these things, they get scared, they're traumatized. They're afraid their parents or they have every right to be."
Social media is also a concern for the Superintendent as the Buffalo gunman livestreamed the event and put his manifesto online for the world to view. Not only does this instill fear, but it could mold the impressionable and inspire copycats, he says. "We get those people who copycat and put threats out on social media and that saddens me just as much, well, not not as much as a death, of course, but just as much because it puts so much fear into people's hearts. I really just abhor those kinds of things that happen."
The Superintendent can not stress enough that parental guardians need to monitor their children's activity on social media. "Every parent, every grandparent has to know what their kids are doing. It's time to open the door and find out what their kids are doing and talk to them and see what's going on, and have a good conversation. That's everybody's responsibility. That's number one."
To listen to the full interview with the Superintendent, see the player below:
