‘Nothing makes sense’: Gunfire reports at Highline College unfounded, but fear was real

Police are unsure what prompted reports of gunfire Friday at Highline College in Des Moines, but nervous students immediately thought of Wednesday’s deadly rampage in Parkland, Florida.Just days ago, following the deadly shooting at a Florida high school, Busiso Chamululu visualized what he would do if someone came to Highline College with a gun and started firing.

“My friends were talking about it two days ago, imagining what the experience would be like,” he said.

Just after 9 a.m. Friday, Chamululu found himself sitting on the floor of his chemistry classroom, away from windows and doors with a handful of classmates, living the distinctly American experience of hiding in a school from someone with a gun.

Some of his classmates, Chamululu said, were panicking, breathing hard, their faces red with stress.
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“It was kind of scary,” he said. “I feel sorry for those people in Florida.”

Reports of gunfire sent police from numerous departments rushing to the Des Moines college, which went into immediate lockdown. After a building-to-building search, police cloaked in body armor and carrying long rifles found no evidence of the reported gunfire that had sent students scurrying for safety.

Relief, no doubt, for a campus on edge after 17 people were fatally shotat Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Wednesday — and for a country where the threat of gun violence at schools stretches from the blustery Northwest to the tropical southeastern tip of Florida, some 2,700 miles away.

Source :- seattletimes