Student offers firsthand account of shooting at Colorado's Arapahoe High School
Brett Stewart, a student at Colorado's Arapahoe High School, compares the chaos following last week's school shooting to the scene in "Saving Private Ryan" when Tom Hanks and others storm the beaches of Normandy.
"That’s what it felt like when we crossed the street to take refuge at a nearby church. Students screaming, crying, frantically looking for friends, calling parents and huddling together. When I walked across Dry Creek, it felt like I was walking into a war zone," Stewart writes of the experience in an essay for Strike Magazine.
Stewart, who clearly has a gift for the written word, paints the scene with stomach churning detail. He writes of being in his fifth-hour psychology class when he first heard the shots.
Via Strike Magazine:
It took my class a moment to realize that gunshots had been fired less than a hundred feet from where we were. Our teacher immediately locked the door, turned down the lights, and had everyone get on one wall. Pepper Spray in hand, she crouched at the door lying in wait for any possible threat. God bless her.
Stewart writes that he and the rest of his class were led outdoors by a SWAT team, across a street and to a nearby church.
There, Stewart writes, he had a realization.
Again, via Strike Magazine:
I found it somewhat interesting that a giant mural of Jesus was staring down at us, with an ever-so-reassuring Bible quote. I found myself frustrated at it. “Well, Jesus, where the hell are you now?” was my initial thought. But then I realized he, or whatever deity or mystical force of faith you believe in, was indeed there.
He was there in the form of our teachers. Of our students. Of the churches, businesses and parents who immediately came to our aid. I hold my teachers in higher regard than I ever have in my life, and will never forget my admiration and thankfulness for how well they handled the situation. The police arrived in a timely fashion, and despite the horrible news of the injuries, it could have been much worse. It could have been Columbine.
Aside from the gunman, who died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot, one person was seriously injured during the rampage. Seventeen-year-old Claire Davis was shot and remains in critical condition.
Follow Mike Krumboltz on Twitter at @mikekrumboltz.
