A school's worst fears realized

By KENT FISCHER

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 20, 2000

NEW PORT RICHEY -- Wednesday's fatal shooting of a Ridgewood High student is precisely the type of gun-related incident Pasco school officials worried about the most: an accidental shooting after a kid brings a gun to school.

Since a string of premeditated school shootings shocked the nation last year, Pasco school officials have been urging parents to lock up their guns. Their advocacy grew not so much from a fear of an imminent school shooting rampage, but out of the knowledge that, in a flash, accidents can happen.

"This is the kind of thing that just worries me to death," Superintendent John Long said from his car phone as he raced to Ridgewood after learning of the shooting.

Over the past year, Pasco school officials have brought in violence experts from around the country, developed crisis plans and held informational nights for parents on school violence. Threaded throughout their efforts has been the message that the best prevention is parents who are vigilant about keeping tabs on their kids and keeping guns out of their kids' hands.

"I don't know how we can emphasize it any more than we already have: Parents, your kids should not have access to weapons," said Al Bashaw, the district's director of student services. "We say it over and over again, yet they continue to turn up on campus."

Wednesday's shooting was the third incident this school year involving guns and bullets in Pasco schools. A Hudson High student faces a felony weapons charge after he pulled a gun on a student in that school's parking lot in October. Onlookers jumped on the student, knocking the gun from his hand. No one was injured.

Later that month, a Wesley Chapel High student was arrested after he threw a .22-caliber bullet to the ground and it went off. Again, no one was injured. "This is the sort of thing that parents have to start taking responsibility for," said Ray Gadd, who helps lead the district's anti-violence programs. "This is getting out of control. This is a real, distressing community problem."

Crisis teams will be on campus today, and school officials will answer parents' questions about the shooting at a meeting at 7 p.m. today at the school.

Just hours before a boy was fatally shot in a high school parking lot, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office announced its participation in a statewide violence prevention hot line. The school safety hot line, (877) 7BE-BRAVE, was developed by the Florida Sheriff's Task Force to encourage students to report planned or suspected acts of violence before they occur.

Several shootings marred school year

The fatal shooting at Ridgewood High School on Wednesday was the third time this school year that guns and bullets have have been discharged at Pasco County schools. The other incidents were:

SEPT. 2, 1999: A Hudson High student pulled a gun on a group of students in the parking lot. Onlookers pounced on the student, and nobody was injured. Two students face weapons charges.

SEPT. 21, 1999: A .22-caliber bullet discharged at Wesley Chapel High after a student threw it to the ground. Nobody was injured. Two students are charged.

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