Michiana community reacts to MSU mass shooting
SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- In the wake of another mass shooting in America, college students and young adults are continuing the call for action; some even reliving old trauma of past similar threats.
Monday night, three were killed and five were critically injured in East Lansing on Michigan State University's campus after a gunman opened fire in multiple locations.
"MSU is really close to here, and it's scary that this keeps happening and it seems like it's always going to happen," said St. Mary's College Junior Ashley Brewster, "because we're not being listened to as a generation about these tragedies, and no one's really doing anything about it right now."
College students said there is a universal fear over the possibility of being in the wrong place at the wrong time when one of these horrific events takes place.
"Growing up in the American school system, that's sort of been engrained in our minds since columbine," said St. Mary's College Senior Kathleen Connick.
For Connick, seeing the horror brought back memories of her own.
"I was actually in an active shooter incident at my high school," she said, "and I just remember being so absolutely terrified and not knowing if my friends were getting hurt."
The repeated trauma reignited the call for action.
"It's really frustrating because your heart is just crushed every time you hear this, but it feels like every single week we're getting a new story about this because the legislation in this country is just refusing to do anything about it," Connick said.
Joey Andrews, Michigan State Representative for the 38th District, agreed with the sentiment that more could be done.
"In the years since Columbine, we basically have done nothing," he said. "We haven't really attempted to address this issue in the last 30 years."
Andrews said there is no silver bullet, but steps can be taken in the right direction.
"Stronger enforcement of background checks, red flag laws," he said. "It looks like the shooter in this case had a criminal history with firearms and so if we would have these stronger background checks and red flag laws, it's not a guarantee, but there's a chance that maybe this could have been prevented."
But until these shootings can be prevented, communities continue to fight to stop the violence.
"We need to keep speaking out about it," Brewster said, "and we need to keep supporting the families of the victims but also putting pressure on communities everywhere to listen to us and want to protect their kids."