STEM School Shooting: What Happened and What You Can Do

What Happened

• Two students opened fire Tuesday inside STEM School, a Colorado charter school near Columbine High School, killing one classmate, Kendrick Castillo, and injuring eight others before being taken into custody, authorities said.

• The two suspects used a pair of handguns and opened fire in two classrooms, authorities said.
• The family of Brendan Bialy, a senior at the school, told NBC News that Bialy and other classmates tackled one of the two suspects during the shooting, likely saving many lives.
• According to a classmate, Castillo, 18, died while lunging at the shooter, “giving all of us enough time to get underneath our desks, to get ourselves safe, and to run across the room to escape.”
• In the years since the Columbine shooting, more than 228,000 children have been exposed to gun violence during classroom hours. Over the last 50 years, more Americans have been killed by guns (about 1.6 million through homicide or suicide) than in all United States wars combined (about 1.4 million).

On behalf of the DoSomething staff and community, our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and all those affected by gun violence. We thank the heroes who saved lives during the shooting, along with educators, first responders, medical staff, law enforcement, and all those responding to this tragedy with action and hope.

What People Are Saying

“Thank you to all who saved the lives of my classmates today, and my condolences go to all that were injured or died.” - Anton Akhmetov, a freshman at STEM School and a survivor of the shooting, in a video

“Kids like me shouldn't be scared to go to school. Whether they live in Chicago or Colorado or Miami or Detroit or anywhere,” said youth activist Naomi Wadler. “This is a national tragedy and it is shameful.”

“This is what happens when those in power don’t do their job. The value of a piece of metal should be no where near the value of a human’s life.” - Diego Garcia, gun violence student activist

“You know what would be an awesome #TeacherAppreciation gift? Passing some meaningful gun legislation so we don’t have to keep going through this. #STEMshooting” - Lisa Hendricks, volunteer for Moms Demand Action

“i’m sick and f***** tired of living my life in constant fear of being killed while trying to get an education. the fact that these school shootings are almost commonplace in our nation is baffling. SOMETHING. MUST. CHANGE. #STEMshooting” - student in Colorado

“took new zealand TEN DAYS to place stricter gun laws. WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR US.” - Lily, student

What You Can Do

When something like this happens, it’s easy to feel hopeless and to lose faith in humanity. But, in the words of Mr. Rogers:

“My mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world.”

In times of tragedy and adversity, look to the helpers -- and, if you’re able, become one yourself. Below are some ways you can respond to this tragedy with love, hope, and action.

1) Email or call your representatives.

Feeling angry? Turn that anger into action by holding our lawmakers responsible for failing to do something about this epidemic. What we need the government to do now: Research. Email or call your reps and tell them to allocate funds for research.

That might sound weird, but here’s why. Years ago the government provided funds to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to do groundbreaking research around traffic crashes and deaths. Based on their findings, we passed laws and created innovations that have saved countless lives on the road. Now we need to do the same for guns -- learn everything we can to create change that will save lives.

“Treating car injuries as a public health issue didn’t mean demanding people give up cars,” said Dr. John Cullen, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. “We need to be able to study [gun violence] to come up with ways of making gun ownership as safe as possible for people who own guns and those around them.”

2) Donate medical to medical expenses.

Encourage others to donate to this GoFundMe to help survivors of the shooting and their families.

3) Get the facts.

Stay away from misinformation by only looking at reputable sources when reading up on this tragedy. These articles from Buzzfeed News and NBC News are good sources to consider.

4) Practice self-care:

If you need to talk to someone immediately, text HELLO to 741-741 to reach the Crisis Text Line an anonymous 24/7 crisis hotline. If you’re looking to cope and help others do the same, use this resource from DoSomething.