Washington/Prensa Latina
Five young people were injured today during a shooting in Greenbelt, Maryland, at a school holiday, the same day that the United States also remembers the victims of the Columbine massacre, 25 years ago.
The shooting took place in the middle of the celebration of “senior absence day” for those in high school, according to police.
Three of the victims suffered less serious injuries and the other two were seriously injured, one of them in critical condition, all aged between 16 and 18 years old.
Greenbelt Mayor Emmett V. Jordan confirmed that learners had gathered at Schrom Hills Park for the massive event.
According to Greenbelt Police Chief Richard Bowers’ estimates, there were 500 to 600 students there.
Authorities believe that the person or persons who opened fire left the park in the context of the commotion.
“There are honestly not enough words to express our condolences to the people who were there, to his classmates, to the school, to our community,” Bowers said.
“This will not be something that affects only a small group of people. This affects not only the city of Greenbelt, but our entire county, our entire state,” she stressed.
“We know that the person involved is definitely on film somewhere,” Bowers warned, adding that “there were about 20 police officers. “So we have a lot of body camera footage.”
The first mass shooting at a school in the United States, which took place on April 20, 1999 at a high school in Columbine, Colorado, took the lives of 13 people: 12 students and a teacher. The two attackers committed suicide.
After that massacre, more than 400 shootings were reported in American schools and last year alone 82 were recorded, according to press counts and specialized sites.
The wounds remain open: Newtown (Connecticut), Parkland (Florida), Uvalde (Texas), Virginia Tech (Virginia) and the University of Las Vegas, in Nevada, to name just a few tragedies that followed Columbine, whose common denominator was the uncontrolled firearms.
Unfortunately, uncertainty and fear of mass shootings are part of everyday life in this country. They surprise in schools, churches, supermarkets, sporting events, funerals and parties such as the “day of absence of seniors.”
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