aika wrote:

He then took his own life.

Only good part about this story is that at least there's one less psychopath in the world. Too bad it cost the life of the assistant prinicipal though but I hope she's in a better place.

aika wrote:

Personally, I think this is the wrong way to look at the situation. He had problems and he clearly needed help dealing with issues, and he didn't get that help. The tragedy here is as much society's fault as it is his.

It's not society's job to look after every single person though. If a child is having issues, it's up to the parents to help him deal with them. If the parents fail, what's society supposed to do about it? I say hold the parents accountable (if your kid shoots up a school then kills himself, you go to prison for being a shitty parent) but that's just me.

Also, the teacher:student ratio in most schools is far too low for teachers to be expected to go out of their way to help troubled kids. When there's literally hundreds of kids for each school official, it's unrealistic to expect them to have the time or energy to keep tabs on every single child's emotional wellbeing. It's just easier to beef up security.

The only way I can really look at it is to be glad that someone who thought it was a good idea to shoot a few innocent people is no longer a part of this world and I can hope his parents will be held accountable. We can also hope other parents will take notice and intervene with their troubled children before it becomes too late for them.

I'm seriously not trying to be a dick, but one has to be realistic about these kinds of situations. It's nice to have a bleeding heart and feel badly that he was just a screwed up kid who didn't get the help he needed from society but sadly, the world isn't that simple. Instead of blaming the teachers and counselors or society for failing him, blame his parents who created him and his problems in the first place. Why are they innocent and allowed to go on with their lives when they indirectly killed someone else?

No, I'm not that guy. I just think the people who created and raised a murderer should have some culpability in that. He is their offspring that they molded for 17 years. Loved children from happy homes with great parents don't shoot up schools. Shitty parents should be punished, that's all.

The US is a fucking mess because there are too many unqualified and terrible people having too many kids. They grow up damaged and at best have intimacy issues or drug problems and at worst, shoot up schools or become serial killers.

And yeah, I get what you're saying GP, and it definitely would be nice if every school in the country employed a few social workers to defuse these kinds of powder kegs. Let's hope incidents like this one will affect some change in that regard.