On Friday, Oct. 24, Jaylen Fryberg, a freshman at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, opened fire on three of his friends during lunch. Fryberg texted his friends, asking them to meet him in the lunchroom, where he ended up shooting them. One girl, Zoe Raine Galasso, sustained a gunshot wound to the head and died before care could reach her. Two other girls shot by Fryberg, Shaylee Chuckulnaskit and Gia Soriano, died about a week after the shooting from injuries caused by their wounds. Fryberg also wounded two of his cousins during the shooting who are expected to survive, according to a KING 5 press release. Fryberg also killing himself in the incident.
Following the shooting, Marysville-Pilchuck High School canceled all classes and events for the following week, including a major state game that the football team had been looking forward to all year. Their first game back on Oct. 31 was “emotionally charged” and “fiercely physical,” according to Gary Horcher of KIRO News. In the end, the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks beat the Meadowdale Mavericks 55-34.
On Monday, Nov. 3, Marysville-Pilchuck reopened its doors after a week of being closed. It wasn’t a typical school day, though. According to a press release from KING 5, classes didn’t even start until 10 a.m. Prior to that, students were in assemblies and “small group settings.” The school brought in 30 additional counselors for students to utilize.
“The key is for kids to know they’re both physically and emotionally safe there,” said Dr. Mary Schoenfeldt, school security consultant in an interview with KING 5.
Outside of this there have been no more updates on Marysville-Pilchuck High School.
Following the shooting at MPHS, many threats in the area followed. On Oct. 27, there was a lockdown at Green River Community College after a threat was made that there would be as shooting on campus. Also on Oct. 27, a student at the Center School in Seattle brought a Molotov cocktail on campus but was caught before he had a chance to do anything with it. On Oct. 30, Kent-Meridian High School students had the option of staying home because a threat was made involving a shooting on campus. No other major threats have been made to date.
BC has a security system place and has not had any threats made to the campus. In light of recent events though, some students realize that BC may not have the best protection set up in case of an emergency situation.
“Our system is slow to react,” Teague Crenshaw, ASG vice president of external legislative affairs, said. “Without associated students, without on-campus jobs calling 911, we will not be able to mitigate the problem if it arises.”
However, Evan Epstein, BC public relations manager, feels different about the situation.
“Should such an unfortunate incident occur here at BC,” he said, “public safety would work hand-in-hand with responding law enforcement agencies. We have plans and protocols that the college and local first responders are trained to implement in an event such as an active shooter. I feel confident that both our campus security and local law enforcement would readily rise to the occasion.”
According to Epstein, safety and security measures have been strengthened since spring quarter. Crisis boxes have been placed in various places around campus such as the Student Union, the capability to lock down has been increased, and an additional 1,000 students have signed up for BC’s alert system, RAVE.
BC Public Safety and Epstein urge all students who are regular visitors to BC to sign up for the RAVE alerts, as that is one of the key ways they communicate with BC students. Additionally, students are advised to watch the “Run/Hide/Fight” video from the Federal Burea of Investigaton’s website which can be found by searching “Run/Hide/Fight” on Google.
Epstein assured that BC leadership and security are constantly working on making the campus safer. For any students that are interested in signing up for BC’s alert system, visit the BC website and under the services tab, scroll down until the “Campus Emergency Alerts” link is found.