The students behind the March for Our Lives movement, which started after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida, sent a note of support, saying, “This is the most fatal shooting since the one at our school and tragedies like this will continue to happen unless action is taken.”
One of the leaders of the group, Emma Gonzalez, added via Twitter, “Santa Fe High, you didn’t deserve this.”
Just 93 days ago, 17 were killed in the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida. In the 13 weeks since, there have been 71 mass shootings in the US, killing 70, including the 10 who were murdered today in Santa Fe Texas. Another 280 suffered gunshot wounds in those 71 mass shootings. #NEVERAGAIN
69 dead in 71 mass shootings in 93 days – all incidents where 4 or more are shot or killed. #ENOUGH
These shocking statistics are kept by the Gun Violence Archive. (More about the Gun Violence Archive below.)
[Editor: The following table was taken from the Gun Violence Archive early on 5/18, with only preliminary count on the victims in Santa Fe Texas. LATER: updated the Santa Fe numbers. – RS]
Gun Violence Archive (GVA) is a not for profit corporation formed in 2013 to provide free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States. GVA will collect and check for accuracy, comprehensive information about gun-related violence in the U.S. and then post and disseminate it online.
What GVA considers Gun Violence…and why
Our definition of gun violence is intended to be fully inclusionary of disparate elements of gun related incidents…in that, all types of shootings are included, whether officer involved shooting (OIS), accidental, children shooting themselves, murders, armed robberies, familicide, mass shootings, defensive gun use (DGU), Home Invasions, drivebys and everything else. We derive our definitions from CDC, FBI, NIH, and other organizations who have established standards.
Only by being totally inclusionary in our definitions is our data accurate, allowing the researcher to decide which parts of the complete dataset they need for their work. Our goal is to provide a complete picture of impact. Users then glean what they need from the whole. We intentionally have no GVA POV on the subject… but put in more real terms, GVA is against gun violence, not guns or gun owners and in that we strive to provide an unbiased, complete view of the subject.
Why are GVA Mass Shooting numbers higher than some other sources?
GVA uses a purely statistical threshold to define mass shooting based ONLY on the numeric value of 4 or more shot or killed, not including the shooter. GVA does not parse the definition to remove any subcategory of shooting. To that end we don’t exclude, set apart, caveat, or differentiate victims based upon the circumstances in which they were shot.
GVA believes that equal importance is given to the counting of those injured as well as killed in a mass shooting incident.
In that, the criteria are simple…if four or more people are shot or killed in a single incident, not involving the shooter, that incident is categorized as a mass shooting based purely on that numerical threshold.
How does GVA define School Shootings?
Gun Violence Archive defines a school shooting as an incident that occurs on property of the elementary, secondary or college campus where there is a death or injury from gunfire. That includes school proper, playgrounds, “skirt” of the facility which includes sidewalks, stadiums, parking lots. The defining characteristic is time…Incidents occur when students, staff, faculty are present at the facility for school or extracurricular activities. NOT INCLUDED are incidents at businesses across the street, meetings at parking lots at off hours.
In those incidents where someone is injured/killed we include any gunfire, whether intended to shoot/kill students or not. Those can be sorted by extra characteristics such as suicide or accidental.
Suicides
Because of the way Law Enforcement and Coroners report suicides, they cannot be collected in near real time so they DO NOT appear on our Daily Summary Ledger. They ARE added to our End of Year totals in AGGREGATE when they become available.
At least 8 killed in Santa Fe, Texas High School shooting
SANTA FE, Texas (KTRK) — Law enforcement sources confirm to ABC13 at least 8 people are dead following a shooting inside Santa Fe High School.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office says one suspect is in custody and a second one is detained. According to law enforcement agencies, it appears the shooter is a student.
The school district just issued the following statement: “This morning an incident occurred at the high school involving an active shooter. The situation is active, but has been contained. There have been confirmed injuries. Details will be released as we receive updated information. Law enforcement will continue to secure the building and initiate all emergency management protocols to release and move students to another location. All other campuses are operating under their regular schedules.
At this time, students from the high school are being transported by SFISD transportation to the Alamo Gym located at 13306 Highway 6. Parents may reunite with their students at this location.
The district will continue to keep you updated as information is available. Safety and communication are our top priorities.”
Witnesses say the shooting took place in an art class on campus between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m.
Santa Fe Police, Galveston County Sheriff’s Office, ATF and FBI agents have all responded to the school at 16000 Highway 6.
Students were earlier lined up outside the school, and their backpacks were taken up by law enforcement.
Life Flight was also called to the scene.
Shooting incident reported at Santa Fe High School in Galveston County. We have @HCSOTexas units enroute to assist. Large police presence, please avoid the area. #hounews#lesm
Sophomore Leila Butler tells ABC13 that at about 7:45 a.m. fire alarms went off and students left their classrooms. She said some students heard shots before sheltering off campus.
Other nearby school districts are putting protective measures in place as well.
We’re currently in protect mode as a precaution because of reports of a shooting at Santa Fe HS. Doors are locked & personnel are stationed at outer doors to let people in and out. No students allowed outside of building. Field trips are postponed until we go off of protect mode.
Bay Area environmental and indigenous organizations join protest to call attention to Chevron’s key role in causing destruction to people and planet
MAY 17, 2018, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AMAZON WATCH
Richmond, CA – Indigenous leaders from the Ecuadorian Amazon joined Bay Area allies at Chevron’s Richmond Refinery on Thursday morning to call on California’s political leadership to phase out oil and gas production and processing in the state, including its importation of crude oil drilled in the Amazon rainforest.
For more information contact:
Moira Birss 1.510.394.2041 moira@amazonwatch.org
Zoë Cina-Sklar 1.510.671.1878 zoe@amazonwatch.org Interviews, photos, and more information available upon request
Gloria Ushigua and Manari Ushigua, leaders of the Sapara people, called attention to the impacts that the fossil fuel economy – including Chevron’s key role in causing destruction to people and planet. In addition to Chevron’s toxic legacy in Ecuador, the Sapara leaders and allies from Communities for a Better Environment, Green Action, and Bay Area indigenous-led organization Idle No More SF Bay outlined how California’s oil and gas extraction and processing is harming communities from the Ecuadorian Amazon to Richmond, California.
The Sapara Nation of the Ecuadorian Amazon is recognized by UNESCO as an “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” because their language and culture are in danger of disappearing. There are about 500 Sapara people still living in their ancestral home, a large territory that is a critical part of the Amazonian ecosystem. However, Sapara territory – and the Sapara themselves – are in serious danger from oil drilling planned for two oil blocks that overlap with approximately 500,000 acres of their ancestral territory.
Chevron refineries throughout California are the largest purchasers and processors of crude oil imported from the Amazon rainforest, as well as one of the state’s biggest overall polluters. A 2017 Amazon Watch report demonstrated that half of crude oil exports from the Western Amazon come to California, adding to the toxic impact of the California’s fossil fuel production and refining industry.
Manari Ushigua Santi, Sapara Nation, said: “The possibility of oil drilling in our territory – something the Ecuadorian government is pushing – could be the end of the Sapara people, and certainly an end to our strong connection with the forest. After all, there are few of us, and we have seen the deforestation and cultural destruction already caused by oil drilling in other parts of the Amazon. Now that we know about the link between oil from the Amazon and California refineries, we know that the state government’s continued support of the oil industry also puts us and other peoples of the Amazon in danger.
Gloria Ushigua Santi, Sapara Nation, said: “We are all fighting for our survival, to protect our little pieces of land. I have seen how destructive the fossil fuel industry is for California’s own communities. I don’t want our land to become polluted, like this land by the refinery. We call on California’s leadership to move quickly from an unsustainable reliance on a fossil fuel economy to a sustainable one based on renewable energy. Anything less puts the Sapara, the Amazon and other Amazonian indigenous peoples, California communities, and our entire global climate in danger.”
Isabella Zizi, Idle No More SF Bay, said: “It’s important to be here today because it shows that the very resistance starts in our own backyards. It makes a direct connection to what is happening down in the Ecuadorian Amazon with our indigenous brothers and sisters and our relatives down there who are facing the same destruction and harms to their own people and that we can come together and unite and make change together and stand up to Big Oil.”
Andrés Soto, Communities for a Better Environment, said: “I’m here today representing Communities for a Better Environment with our ongoing solidarity with Amazon Watch and the advocacy that connects the extractive activities in Ecuador directly to the refining activities in Richmond and the commonalities of not only health impacts but also political corruption. We need to link our resistance because we’re dealing with transnational corporations and so we also need to have a transnational resistance.”
Leila Salazar-López, Amazon Watch Executive Director, said: “Continued oil and gas extraction in California – both on land and offshore – and its imports of Amazon crude is a significant obstacle to doing what science says must be done to prevent the worst outcomes from climate change: keeping fossil fuels in the ground.”
The students behind the March for Our Lives movement, which started after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Florida, sent a note of support, saying, “This is the most fatal shooting since the one at our school and tragedies like this will continue to happen unless action is taken.”
Video of student reaction, comments: Youth Radio.
You must be logged in to post a comment.