Tragedy struck Newtown, Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday December 14th when 20-year old Adam Lanza charged into the school and opened fire on 26 victims.
Early that morning, Lanza shot and killed his own mother, Nancy Lanza, and loaded his vehicle as if he was going off to war. Lanza stole four of his mother’s guns, two pistols and two rifles.
Around 9 a.m., Lanza, dressed in black and a military vest, headed over to the elementary school he once attended. He abandoned his mother’s car in the school’s fire lane and charged through the front doors. The school was monitored by a closed-circuit camera, but Lanza, holding three weapons, forced his way in.
The kindergarten through fourth grade students were busy making music or watching a Christmas themed film when Lanza open fired in an administrative office. While Lanza was taking out his first victims, one of the school’s secretaries turned on the intercom so the shooting could be heard across the school. This gave other teachers time to lock up their doors and huddle their students in a closet or a corner.
It was 9:38 when the shooting finally ceased. Six adults and 20 children fell to Lanza’s firing. Police found Lanza lying in a classroom, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot.
Lanza took 26 victims that fateful December morning. Survivors continue to mourn all those who were murdered. The Sandy Hook Massacre has the world stirred.
Not even a week later, rumors and threats were spread around numerous schools, including Southern Lehigh. At SLHS, the rumor was even named “The Friday Freshmen Massacre.”
“I overheard my teacher talking about a group of freshmen bringing guns into school, so naturally I passed the word on to my friends,” junior Alex Knapp said.
Allegedly, freshmen students were rumored to be bringing guns into school on Friday, December 21st. Many students believe that the rumor started with the Sandy Hook happening, while others blamed the impending “Mayan Apocalypse.”
Upon hearing such rumors, Southern Lehigh’s administration began to lock down their security systems.
“We are currently in process of reviewing all of our procedures. We have staff monitoring each entryway as a start,” assistant principal Mr. Mark Covelle said prior to December 21st.
Nearly every administrator and teacher was questioned about the rumor and asked to interview students who heard or had information.
“We wouldn’t have had school if we weren’t one hundred percent sure that our students would be safe,” teacher Mr. Matt Greenwald said.
“Administration did not treat this as a rumor until our investigations proved it false,” Covelle said. “We searched down to the roots of this rumor and found there was no validity to it at all.”
“Fear,” Officer Brian McLaughlin said, “is a powerful motivator.”
