School Shootings
I was an undergrad at the University of Minnesota in 2005 when a high school student in Red Lake, Minnesota, killed several people in his high school, including himself.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,151085,00.html
The news coverage was continuous. No one knew why this student was prompted to do such a thing or why his behavior was overlooked by teachers. The school was on a Native American Reservation and the shooting shocked all of the residents on the reservation along with the residents of the state of Minnesota. Everyone thought that Minnesota was a place where school shootings did not occur. Colorado was where students shot other students and that is hundreds of miles away from Minnesota.
The authorities were not very well prepared for the crisis. Because no one imagined that school shootings would happen in Minnesota, let alone in Red Lake, they did not have a crisis plan. Information was scarce at the beginning. In fact, news stations and journalists were not allowed on the reservation, so the early coverage of the shooting on television showed the fences around the school and the reservation.
The initial idea was to let the authorities on the reservation handle the shooting. They did not want to involve people from the outside, like the police, but they eventually decided to in order to complete a full investigation. I think the fact that everyone in Minnesota wanted answers was the reason the reservation authorities allowed the police to get involved.
After the first few days of the shooting, the crisis was handled very well. The authorities knew how to handle the crisis well by “managing uncertainty,” “responding to the crisis,” “resolving the crisis” and “learning from the crisis (Ulmer, Sellnow and Seeger, p. 13).”
The consistent voice was provided by one spokesperson who kept the media updated on what was happening with the investigation. Over time, more and more was discovered about the motive of the crime and how the authorities were preparing to respond to a similar crisis in the future.
All in all, I would say the Red Lake shooting is a good example of how to handle crisis, such as school shootings. The odds of another shooting happening in Red Lake is slim, but school shootings may occur in other cities in Minnesota. Authorities in those areas can learn from the Red Lake shooting so they can update their crisis manuals. School shootings do not happen very often, but it is good for schools to be prepared for them. They need to know who they will contact and when and they also need to know what they will do with the students. By following addressing all of the crisis communication demands and by learning from similar crises, authorities can be prepared for many crises.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,151085,00.html
The news coverage was continuous. No one knew why this student was prompted to do such a thing or why his behavior was overlooked by teachers. The school was on a Native American Reservation and the shooting shocked all of the residents on the reservation along with the residents of the state of Minnesota. Everyone thought that Minnesota was a place where school shootings did not occur. Colorado was where students shot other students and that is hundreds of miles away from Minnesota.
The authorities were not very well prepared for the crisis. Because no one imagined that school shootings would happen in Minnesota, let alone in Red Lake, they did not have a crisis plan. Information was scarce at the beginning. In fact, news stations and journalists were not allowed on the reservation, so the early coverage of the shooting on television showed the fences around the school and the reservation.
The initial idea was to let the authorities on the reservation handle the shooting. They did not want to involve people from the outside, like the police, but they eventually decided to in order to complete a full investigation. I think the fact that everyone in Minnesota wanted answers was the reason the reservation authorities allowed the police to get involved.
After the first few days of the shooting, the crisis was handled very well. The authorities knew how to handle the crisis well by “managing uncertainty,” “responding to the crisis,” “resolving the crisis” and “learning from the crisis (Ulmer, Sellnow and Seeger, p. 13).”
The consistent voice was provided by one spokesperson who kept the media updated on what was happening with the investigation. Over time, more and more was discovered about the motive of the crime and how the authorities were preparing to respond to a similar crisis in the future.
All in all, I would say the Red Lake shooting is a good example of how to handle crisis, such as school shootings. The odds of another shooting happening in Red Lake is slim, but school shootings may occur in other cities in Minnesota. Authorities in those areas can learn from the Red Lake shooting so they can update their crisis manuals. School shootings do not happen very often, but it is good for schools to be prepared for them. They need to know who they will contact and when and they also need to know what they will do with the students. By following addressing all of the crisis communication demands and by learning from similar crises, authorities can be prepared for many crises.
posted by Jennifer at
1/15/2007 04:37:00 PM
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