Editorial September 23, 1996 Issue

School shootings—and individual prayer

Mary Metzner Trammell

It was two minutes before the end of lunch, on a Friday. Students shuffled out of the cafeteria and ambled toward their fifth-period classes.

Suddenly, shots exploded outside. Then, gunfire ripped through the first-floor hallway. Everyone started running. The PA system blared out orders. Teachers herded students into classrooms and bolted the doors.

No one knew the specifics, but everyone knew what had happened. It was another shooting. Probably gang-related. And once again, the quietude of this neighborhood high school—one of the "safest" schools in Miami—had been blasted wide-open.

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