First, Ukrainian survivors recount deadly bus attack. Then, Montana’s fight to block public land sales. And, a look at the rooms left behind after school shootings.
Tag: school shooting
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Parents share emotional look inside empty bedrooms of children killed in school shootings
Jada Scruggs sometimes wonders what she and her husband Chad will do with the empty room left behind by her daughter, 9-year-old Hallie, who was killed in a 2023 Nashville school shooting.
Hallie’s room remains as she left it that Monday morning. For her parents, Hallie’s bedroom is a devastating reminder of what was taken from them, and of who their daughter was. There are Legos, Tennessee football memorabilia, and the books Hallie read together with her mom at night.
“All these physical things are tangible ways of reminding me, like, she was real. She was here. She lived with us,” Scruggs said. “In some ways, this room kinda holds the space for her.”
Hallie’s bedroom is one of several documented by CBS News’ correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp, who spent the last seven years asking parents whose children were killed in school shootings for permission to take pictures of all the empty rooms they’ve left behind.
“Empty Rooms”
Hallie was killed along with two classmates, Evelyn Dieckhaus and William Kinney, in a shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023. Hallie’s father, Chad Scruggs, was drawn to his daughter’s room the day she was killed.
“I went into her room to lay on her bed to smell. I knew that would go,” he said.
Jada Scruggs said she visits her daughter’s room less frequently now, but her feelings when she goes in haven’t changed. To Chag Scruggs, the room now feels like an “indication of absence.”
“It feels more like a relic now,” he said.
60 Minutes
Some 2,000 miles away, in Santa Clarita, California, Gracie Muehlberger’s bedroom serves as a reminder for her parents. The 15-year-old, killed six years ago in the Saugus High School shooting, adored her brothers and her Vans sneakers.
Parents Cindy and Bryan Muehlberger went to her room right after they got home from the hospital.
“That’s where I spent, like, the next week or two. I slept in her bed,” Cindy Muehlberger said.
Dominic Blackwell, a 14-year-old killed alongside Gracie, left behind a room filled with SpongeBob stuffed animals. A basket of his laundry still waits to be washed.
A toothpaste tube remains uncapped in the bathroom of 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, who was killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
There’s a library book, 13 years overdue, in the bedroom of Charlotte Bacon, who was killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.
Why it was important to document the rooms left behind
The rooms are among eight that were photographed as part of the project created by Hartman, who began covering these tragedies for CBS News 28 years ago. He first covered a shooting at a high school in Pearl, Mississippi, two years before the massacre at Columbine High School.
At the time, the shooting was big news, with ongoing coverage. Hartman said that’s often not the case for school shootings today.
“It still gets coverage, but it’s usually a day or two. And people forget about them, I’d say, by the end of the week, many times,” Hartman said.
That is what sparked the idea for his project.
Click here to explore the interactive feature.
So seven years ago, he began writing letters to parents asking to photograph their murdered children’s rooms.
“I don’t think there’s really a better way to get to know a kid and to remember a life than to look around that room, to stand in that space,” he said.
“I wanted to shake people out of this numbness that I was feeling whenever there was a school shooting,” Hartman said. “I was moving on quickly. I was forgetting the names of the children who were lost. And I knew the country was doing the same.”
Eight families whose children were killed in five different schools agreed to let photographer Lou Bopp into their kids’ rooms. A recent exhibit in New York displayed some of the 10,000 photos he’s taken.
“I’m trying to take a picture of a child who’s not there,” Bopp said.
The photographs serve as a reminder that while the country moves on, the families left behind never do, Hartman said.
The project is now the subject of a documentary premiering on Netflix Dec. 1. It follows Hartman and Bopp as they travel across the country, visiting rooms.
What’s next for parents and the project
The Muehlbergers were considering moving when they got Hartman’s letter in 2024 but they didn’t know if they could leave Gracie’s room behind.
“It’s, like, do you take a lotta pictures of it and then try to recreate it somewhere else? We didn’t know what to do with it. And it really wasn’t until this opportunity to work with Steve on this film that we started feeling a peace about it,” Bryan Muehlberger said.
Earlier this year, the Muehlbergers sold their house and packed up Gracie’s room. They found mementos, artwork, and cards she had made that they hadn’t seen in years. For now, they’ve placed them in a storage unit, while they build a new life in Georgia.
They’ve designated an outdoor area on the plot of land where they’re building a new home as “Gracie’s Point.”
“So peaceful, which is what we were looking for,” Cindy Muehlberger said.
60 Minutes
For Hartman, the project isn’t over.
“If parents want us to, we’ll continue to document the rooms, just so they have the pictures,” Hartman said. “I wish this project would end, but I don’t anticipate it will.”
More than 160 children have been killed in school shootings across the U.S. since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Back in Nashville, the Scruggs have no plans to change Hallie’s room but they did send some of her drawings and journals to an artist, Brenda Bogart, who created a collage portrait of her.
“Everything on this canvas is something that was made by Hallie’s hand,” Jada Scruggs said. “Brenda went through and noticed a theme of, ‘I am happy. I am happy. I am happy.’”
Chad and Jada Scruggs hope the images of Hallie’s room will help people better understand the person she was. .
“This is not a generic person, you know? It’s someone that uniquely bore God’s image in the world and [was] irreplaceable,” Chad Scruggs said. “We just want you to know her, you know? She’s worth being known.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with the loss of a child, support networks are available.
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Memorializing the bedrooms of children killed in school shootings:
Since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, 13 years ago, more than 160 children have been killed in school shootings across the U.S. They’ve left behind devastated families, and friends, and empty bedrooms they once filled with life. For many parents, these rooms have become sanctuaries: a tangible link to a child they can still feel but no longer hold. Steve Hartman, a veteran CBS News correspondent, and Lou Bopp, a photographer, have spent the last seven years asking parents whose children have been killed for permission to take pictures of the empty rooms they’ve left behind. No easy task; they are, after all, portraits of a child who is no longer there.
Up a flight of stairs in their Nashville home, Chad and Jada Scruggs took us to see their daughter Hallie’s room. It remains as she left it one Monday morning two and a half years ago.
Chad Scruggs: I don’t think anything’s changed.
Hallie Scruggs loved Legos, Tennessee football, and hiding things in a toy safe from her three older brothers. The books she and her mom read together at night are still stacked by her bed. A school project, with important milestones in her life, a reminder Hallie was just 9 years old.
Chad Scruggs: First tooth, first soccer game, first Tennessee game.
Anderson Cooper: That was a– that was a– a milestone.
Jada and Chad Scruggs: Yeah.
Chad Scruggs: This is the first time they held her.
Jada Scruggs: I love that picture.
60 Minutes
Jada Scruggs: I do wonder, sometimes, like, what will we do with this room, eventually. All these physical things are tangible ways of reminding me, like, she was real. She was here. She lived with us. In some ways, this room kinda holds the space for her.
Chad Scruggs: Yeah.
Jada Scruggs: And so–
Anderson Cooper: And it still does.
Jada and Chad Scruggs: Yeah. Yeah.
Hallie was killed along with two classmates, Evelyn Dieckhaus and William Kinney, in a shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville in 2023.
Anderson Cooper: What has grief been like, for you?
Chad Scruggs: It felt like everything collapsed, everything, internally, pain that– I mean, gosh. It’s just hard to endure. And then, you know, you have to relearn how to do everything, like how to eat, how to sleep. And you just have a– new relationship with pain, and sadness, and anger. There’s been joy, too, but– the– the sadness– was– has been– was just, I mean, overwhelming.
Chad is a pastor at the church that’s part of The Covenant School. He was drawn to Hallie’s room the day she was killed.
Chad Scruggs: I went into her room to lay on her bed to smell. I knew that would go. And I wanted, you know–
Anderson Cooper: You knew that– you knew the smell would dissipate?
Chad Scruggs: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And her blankie was there and everything was there.
Anderson Cooper: And you could smell her, that day?
Chad Scruggs: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. That was true probably, for a week or two after. So you’re trying to get her back. And it’s not possible. But you don’t believe that. And so anything that– that draws that possibility closer, I wanted to be there for that, so– yeah. I went in, just laid on her bed, and cried by myself.
60 Minutes
Anderson Cooper: Has your relationship to the room changed over time?
Jada Scruggs: Maybe, it’s not as frequent that I go up there, but the feelings haven’t changed, when I go in the room. You know, it kind of captures all the feelings of sadness and joy, just because it’s– it’s a capsule of time.
Chad Scruggs: I think initially, that room was for me, an indication of, like, presence. And now, it feels more of an indication of absence.
Jada Scruggs: Absence, yeah.
Chad Scruggs: You know. It feels more like a relic now.
Anderson Cooper: Like a relic?
Chad Scruggs: A relic.
Anderson Cooper: Yeah.
Some 2,000 miles away, in Santa Clarita, California, another room, another child killed.
This is Gracie Muehlberger. She was 15. She adored her brothers and her Vans sneakers. She was killed six years ago in the Saugus High School shooting. Cindy and Bryan Muehlberger are her parents.
Anderson Cooper: Do you remember the first time you went into Gracie’s room after–
Cindy Muehlberger: Right when we got home from the hospital.
Anderson Cooper: You went right to her room?
Cindy Muehlberger: Right to her room. And that’s where I spent, like, the next week or two. I slept in her bed. I just–it’s the closest I could feel to her, so.
Anderson Cooper: Did that feeling though of the room providing comfort, did that last for a long time?
Cindy Muehlberger: Yes.
Bryan Muehlberger: Oh yeah–
Cindy Muehlberger: Always. Yeah.
Bryan Muehlberger: Always.
Gracie Muehlberger and Hallie Scruggs’ rooms are two of eight that were photographed as part of the project begun by Steve Hartman, who began covering these tragedies for CBS News 28 years ago. This was his first, a shooting at a high school in Pearl, Mississippi, two years before the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.
60 Minutes
Steve Hartman: It was news, at the time. A school shooting was actually big news.
Anderson Cooper: As opposed to now?
Steve Hartman: As opposed to now. It still gets coverage, but it’s usually a day or two. And people forget about them, I’d say, by the end of the week, many times.
Anderson Cooper: Initially, in your mind, what was the idea?
Steve Hartman: I wanted to shake people out of this numbness that I’ve– that I was feeling whenever there was a school shooting. Now, I was moving on quickly. I was forgetting the names of the children who were lost. And I knew the country was doing the same.
So seven years ago, he began writing letters to parents asking to photograph their murdered children’s rooms.
Steve Hartman: Because when you go into a kid’s room, you go into my kid’s room, you see their whole history. You see every dream, every desire, everything they value. It’s all there on the walls and sitting on the shelves.
Anderson Cooper: Or scattered on the floor.
Steve Hartman: Or scattered on the floor, in some cases. It’s all there. And I don’t think there’s really a better way to get to know a kid and to remember a life than to look around that room, to stand in that space.
Eight families whose children were killed in five different schools agreed to let photographer Lou Bopp into their kids’ rooms. At a recent exhibit in New York, he showed us some of the 10,000 photos he’s taken.
Lou Bopp: You know I’m trying to take a picture of a– of a– of a child who’s not there.
Dominic Blackwell’s room is still filled with Spongebob. He was killed, along with Gracie Muehlberger, at Saugus High School. Dominic was 14. A basket of his laundry still waits to be washed. A toothpaste tube remains uncapped in the bathroom of 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Charlotte Bacon loved pink. She was 6, killed at Sandy Hook. There’s a library book in her room that’s now 13 years overdue.
Lou Bopp: If that’s not a little girl’s room, I don’t know what is.
Lou Bopp: And even this. This to me, it’s so poignant, the way the head is tilted down.
Anderson Cooper: It’s such a reminder– that while everybody else moves on– from what is a story to them the– the families never move on.
60 Minutes
Steve Hartman: That’s part of the reason the families did agree because it’s very frustrating for them when the country moves on. And they certainly haven’t moved on and will never move on.
Anderson Cooper: I think there’s such weight in– for these parents in being the holders of the memory, that they are the only ones who remember–excuse me–
Steve Hartman: It’s okay. What are you thinking about?
Anderson Cooper: Whew. I’ve been in a lot of these rooms, as well. And there’s such sadness in being the last ones left to remember everything about this child.
Steve Hartman: And that’s why they can’t surrender the rooms, because you surrender the rooms and that’s just another piece of their kid that’s gone.
Steve Hartman’s project is now the subject of an upcoming documentary on Netflix. It follows him and Lou Bopp as they travel across the country, visiting rooms, including Dominic Blackwell’s and Gracie Muehlberger’s.
When Bryan and Cindy Muehlberger received Steve’s letter in 2024, they were considering moving — but didn’t know how they could leave their daughter’s room behind.
Anderson Cooper: How much of the discussion was about, “What do we do with the room?”
Bryan Muehlberger: I would say that was the primary driver of– of us not moving sooner. I mean, after the– the shooting we– we wanted to get outta town.
Anderson Cooper: But you didn’t want to leave that room.
Cindy Muehlberger: Right–
Bryan Muehlberger: But we didn’t want to leave that room, yeah. You know, it’s, like, do you take a lotta pictures of it and then try to recreate it somewhere else? We didn’t know what to do with it. And it really wasn’t until this opportunity to work with Steve on this film that we started feeling a peace about it.
Earlier this year, the Muehlbergers felt ready. They sold their house and packed up Gracie’s room. They found mementos, artwork, and cards she made they hadn’t seen in years.
For now, they’ve placed them in a storage unit, while they build a new home, and a new life in Georgia.
Anderson Cooper: When you found this did you– did you know how you wanted to kind of incorporate Gracie?
Bryan Muehlberger: Not initially.
In September, they showed us the plot of land where they’ll live, and an area they are going to create called “Gracie’s Point.”
60 Minutes
Anderson Cooper: So this is going to be Gracie’s Point?
Bryan Muehlberger: Yeah, this kinda area right here. Where when you’re out here you know all you’ve got is nature and the water.
Anderson Cooper: And a place for a fire pit, a place where people can come together?
Bryan Muehlberger: Yeah, come together. She loved doin’ s’mores and things like that.
Anderson Cooper: It could not be a more beautiful spot.
Cindy Muehlberger: So peaceful, which is what we were lookin’ for.
Anderson Cooper: Is this project over for you?
Steve Hartman: No. If parents want us to, we’ll continue to document the rooms, just so they have the pictures. I wish this project would end, but I don’t anticipate it will.
Back in Nashville, Chad and Jada Scruggs have no plans to change Hallie’s room but they did send some of her drawings and journals to an artist, Brenda Bogart, who created this collage portrait of her.
Jada Scruggs: Everything on this canvas is something that was made by Hallie’s hand. Brenda went through and noticed a theme of, “I am happy. I am happy. I am happy.”
Anderson Cooper: Wow.
Jada Scruggs: She pretty much ended every journal entry with, “I am happy.” She wanted to make sure that that got put on Hallie.
Anderson Cooper: When people see the photos, of Hallie’s room, what would you like them to take away?
Chad Scruggs: This is not a generic person, you know? It’s someone that uniquely bore God’s image in the world and–irreplaceable. And we just want you to know her, you know? She’s worth being known. We don’t have a lot of aspirations, beyond that. We want you to come step inside of our world for a moment, so.
Anderson Cooper: Step inside the sadness?
Chad Scruggs: Yeah.
Jada Scruggs: And feel it.
Chad Scruggs: People can talk about solutions. But until they feel the weight of the problem, I don’t know how to really talk about solutions.
If you or someone you know is struggling with the loss of a child, support networks are available.
Produced by Katie Brennan. Associate producer, Matthew Riley. Broadcast associate, Grace Conley. Edited by Matthew Lev.
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Mom of Annunciation mass shooting survivor on mission to strengthen gun laws
In the aftermath of a summer of gun violence in Minnesota, the push to put limits on semi-automatic weapons here has stalled.
One group has not given up, and those are the survivors and loved ones of those directly affected by gun violence including one of the parents of a child injured in the deadly Annunciation Catholic Church mass shooting.
In the past six months, Minnesota has been the site of horrifying gun violence. In June, there were the execution-style murders of House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hostman and her husband Mark, and the attempted assassination of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.
Then in August came a mass shooting in Minneapolis that killed one and injured six. The very next day there was, the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis left students Harper Moyski and Fletcher Merkel dead and more than 20 wounded.
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz immediately called for a special session on guns, but repeated negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders have failed to come up with a compromise all parties could support.
There has also been a call for a constitutional amendment to limit semi-automatic weapons to be put on the ballot, but that too has seemed to sputter.
In September, some Annunciation parents went before a state legislative committee in a powerful, emotional plea for change. And at least one parent, Tess Rada, has become a crusader, joining Walz at town hall meetings around the state and talking to whoever will listen.
Rada’s third-grade daughter, Lila, survived the shooting and was physically uninjured. Rada was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning.
“I don’t want any family to have to feel what I felt that day,” Rada said.
She said she will not stop pushing for change.
“It seems the best way to do that is taking assault weapons off the streets, because nobody should be able to fire 116 rounds in two minutes and cause that kind of destruction,” Rada said.
With the Legislature evenly divided, it’s unlikely further gun control laws will pass in the 2026 legislative session. Many Republicans and some Democrats think the Legislature went too far in 2023 when it passed a red flag law and tighter background checks.
Like many conservative Republicans, state Rep. Kristin Robbins, a candidate for governor, has opposed a constitutional amendment and any restrictions proposed by the legislature. She believes an assault weapons ban won’t work.
“The money would go like text book aides, so it can go to a school whether the child’s in public school, private school or charter school,” Robbins said.
While surveys show a constitutional amendment to ban assault weapons could have enough support to be approved by voters, the hurdle is getting it approved by the Minnesota Legislature to get on the ballot. With the divide in the Legislature, it seems unlikely.
Watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
Esme Murphy
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Virginia teacher shot by first grader wins civil trial against school administrator, awarded $10 million
A first grade Virginia teacher who was shot and seriously wounded by a 6-year-old student in 2023 has won a civil lawsuit that accused the school’s former assistant principal of ignoring multiple warnings the day of the shooting.
Abby Zwerner, 25, was shot in the hand and chest by a single bullet while at a reading table in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia in January 2023. Zwerner spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and underwent six surgeries. The bullet to her chest narrowly missed her heart and remains lodged there. She no longer has full use of her left hand and has left teaching.
Zwerner’s lawsuit sought $40 million in compensatory damages. She was awarded $10 million.
Zwerner’s lawsuit accused former assistant principal Ebony Parker of gross negligence. In the lawsuit, Zwerner said she went to Parker’s office the morning of the shooting and said the boy “was in a violent mood” and had threatened to beat up another student. The lawsuit said Parker “had no response” to Zwerner’s concerns.
Zwerner family
Shortly after, two students told a reading specialist that the boy had a gun in his backpack, according to the lawsuit. Zwerner told the specialist she had seen the boy take something out of his bag and put it in his sweatshirt. The specialist then searched the boy’s backpack and did not find a weapon. The reading specialist told Parker about the incident, according to the lawsuit, and Parker responded that his “pockets were too small to hold a handgun” and “did nothing.”
Another student then told a teacher the boy had shown him a gun in his pocket during recess. When the incident was conveyed to Parker, she said the backpack had already been searched and “took no further action,” according to the lawsuit. When a guidance counselor asked Parker for permission to search the boy again, she allegedly forbade him from doing so, according to the lawsuit. Parker told the counselor the boy’s mother would pick him up shortly, the lawsuit claimed.
The shooting, which police described as “intentional,” occurred about an hour later. Zwerner was the only person injured, and managed to evacuate her classroom after she was shot. A school employee restrained the boy, who said he had “shot that b*** dead,” according to unsealed records. While testifying in court last week, Zwerner said she believed she “had died” after being struck by the bullet.
Zwerner’s lawsuit also alleged that Parker knew the boy “had a history of random violence” at home and school, citing an incident the year before where he “strangled and choked” his kindergarten teacher. Concerns about his behavior were “always dismissed,” the lawsuit claimed, and the boy’s parents did not agree to put him in special education classes with other students with behavioral issues.
Billy Schuerman / AP
A judge previously dismissed the district’s former superintendent and the school principal as defendants in the lawsuit. The superintendent was fired by the school board after the shooting, while Parker resigned.
The boy was not criminally charged in the shooting. Newport News prosecutor Howard Gwynn said in March 2023 that the boy was too young to understand the legal system.
The boy’s mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for felony child neglect and federal weapons charges. An attorney for the family previously said the firearm used in the shooting was locked away on a high closet shelf, but the boy said he took it from his mother’s purse on her dresser. Taylor said the weapon had been secured with a trigger lock, but officials said they never found one.
Parker faces a separate criminal trial in December on eight counts of felony child neglect after a special grand jury found that she showed a “reckless disregard for the human life” of other students in the school. Each count is punishable by up to five years in prison.
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Teacher who was shot by 6-year-old student at school testifies she thought she had died – WTOP News
A former Virginia teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student in her classroom in 2023 testified Thursday that she thought she had died that day.
FILE – Abby Zwerner, a teacher who was shot at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., by her 6-year-old student last year, talks to reporter Peter Dujardin, Jan. 3, 2024, in Virginia Beach, Va. (Stephen M. Katz /The Virginian-Pilot via AP)(AP/Stephen M. Katz) A former Virginia teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student in her classroom in 2023 testified Thursday that she thought she had died that day.
Abby Zwerner testified in her $40 million lawsuit filed against a former assistant principal who is accused of ignoring multiple warnings that the student had a gun.
Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest in January 2023 as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News. Zwerner spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, required six surgeries and does not have the full use of her left hand. A bullet narrowly missed her heart and remains in her chest.
“I thought I had died. I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven,” Zwerner testified. “But then it all got black. And so, I then thought I wasn’t going there. And then my next memory is I see two co-workers around me and I process that I’m hurt and they’re putting pressure on where I’m hurt.”
The shooting sent shock waves through the military shipbuilding community and the country, with many wondering how a child so young could access a gun and shoot his teacher.
Zwerner no longer works for the school district and has said she has no plans to teach again. It was revealed in court Wednesday that she has become a licensed cosmetologist.
Zwerner answered questions on the stand for more than an hour.
A physician testified Wednesday that Zwerner can’t make a tight fist with her left hand, which has less than half its normal grip strength.
Former assistant principal Ebony Parker is accused of failing to act after several people voiced concerns to her in the hours before the shooting that the student had a gun in his backpack.
Zwerner testified she first heard about the gun prior to class recess from a reading specialist. The shooting happened a few hours later.
Despite her injuries, Zwerner was able to hustle her students out of the classroom. She eventually passed out in the school office.
“The moment went by very fast,” she said.
Parker is the only defendant in the lawsuit. A judge previously dismissed the district’s superintendent and the school principal as defendants.
Parker faces a separate criminal trial next month on eight counts of felony child neglect. Each of the counts is punishable by up to five years in prison upon a conviction.
The student’s mother was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for felony child neglect and federal weapons charges. Her son told authorities he got his mother’s handgun by climbing onto a drawer to reach the top of a dresser, where the firearm was in his mom’s purse.
Copyright
© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.WTOP Staff
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Teen bumps into 16-year-old at high school, then shoots him dead, Florida cops say
A teen has been arrested after being accused of shooting a 16-year-old dead at a park, Florida officials said.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
A 16-year-old was left dead after asking another teen to apologize for bumping into him, Florida officials said.
On Oct. 9, a 15-year-old student at Oak Ridge High School bumped into Pinien Dalmacy, according to a Facebook post by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
When the teen was asked by Dalmacy to apologize, he refused, so the two decided to fight after school at the Vogt-Meloon Park, deputies said.
An investigation revealed the younger teen had brought a gun and when officers arrived at the scene they found Dalmacy with two gunshot wounds, deputies said.
“My heart goes out to Pinien’s family, who is grieving the unimaginable loss of their 16-year-old,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said in the news conference. “And I’m really angry that something as small as bumping into someone in the halls of a high school … has now turned into a deadly shooting of a 16-year-old.”
After the school’s resource officer, Nelson Rodriguez, learned of the shooting, school officials were notified and the school was put on lockdown, deputies said.
McClatchy News reached out to the school district on Oct. 13 for a statement and was awaiting a response. WESH 2 was told “Oak Ridge High School is currently on a lockdown due to a police investigation in the area of the campus. This occurred after dismissal; students and staff that remain on campus are safe. Any additional questions should be directed to law enforcement,” the outlet reported.
The lockdown has since been lifted, the school district told the outlet.
The 15-year-old was found in the school cafeteria with the gun in his backpack, deputies said.
Officers don’t know where the teen got the gun, deputies said.
He was arrested on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, and possession of a firearm on school property, officials said.
Investigators believe there were more witnesses to the shooting and potentially video that would be helpful to the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact ocsoinfo@ocsofl.com.
Orange County includes Orlando.
Paloma Chavez
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Teen bumps into 16-year-old at high school, then shoots him dead, Florida cops say
A teen has been arrested after being accused of shooting a 16-year-old dead at a park, Florida officials said.
Getty Images/iStockphoto
A 16-year-old was left dead after asking another teen to apologize for bumping into him, Florida officials said.
On Oct. 9, a 15-year-old student at Oak Ridge High School bumped into Pinien Dalmacy, according to a Facebook post by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
When the teen was asked by Dalmacy to apologize, he refused, so the two decided to fight after school at the Vogt-Meloon Park, deputies said.
An investigation revealed the younger teen had brought a gun and when officers arrived at the scene they found Dalmacy with two gunshot wounds, deputies said.
“My heart goes out to Pinien’s family, who is grieving the unimaginable loss of their 16-year-old,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said in the news conference. “And I’m really angry that something as small as bumping into someone in the halls of a high school … has now turned into a deadly shooting of a 16-year-old.”
After the school’s resource officer, Nelson Rodriguez, learned of the shooting, school officials were notified and the school was put on lockdown, deputies said.
McClatchy News reached out to the school district on Oct. 13 for a statement and was awaiting a response. WESH 2 was told “Oak Ridge High School is currently on a lockdown due to a police investigation in the area of the campus. This occurred after dismissal; students and staff that remain on campus are safe. Any additional questions should be directed to law enforcement,” the outlet reported.
The lockdown has since been lifted, the school district told the outlet.
The 15-year-old was found in the school cafeteria with the gun in his backpack, deputies said.
Officers don’t know where the teen got the gun, deputies said.
He was arrested on charges of manslaughter with a firearm, and possession of a firearm on school property, officials said.
Investigators believe there were more witnesses to the shooting and potentially video that would be helpful to the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact ocsoinfo@ocsofl.com.
Orange County includes Orlando.
Paloma Chavez
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Mississippi school homecoming celebrations turn deadly as 6 people are killed in separate shootings
LELAND, Miss. — High school homecoming celebrations in Mississippi ended in gunfire, with two separate shootings on opposite sides of the state Friday night that left at least six people dead and many more injured, authorities said.
Four of the dead were killed in downtown Leland, after a high school football homecoming game in the Mississippi Delta region on the state’s western edge, a state senator said Saturday.
About 20 people were injured in the gunfire after people gathered in downtown Leland following the game, state Sen. Derrick Simmons said. Of the 20 wounded, four were in critical condition and flown from a hospital in nearby Greenville to a larger medical center in the state capital city of Jackson, Simmons told The Associated Press.
Simmons said he was being updated on developments by the Washington County Sheriff’s Office as well as from other law enforcement authorities in the Delta.
“People were just congregating and having a good time in the downtown of Leland,” Simmons said of the town with a population of fewer than 4,000 people.
He was told that after the gunfire, the scene was “very chaotic,” as police, sheriff’s deputies and ambulances “responded from all over.”
“It’s just senseless gun violence,” he said. “What we are experiencing now is just a proliferation of guns just being in circulation.”
No arrests have been announced, and Simmons said late Saturday morning that he had not heard any information about possible suspects.
“They are on the ground working and I have all the faith in the world that they will get to the bottom of this,” he said.
“As the state senator for the area, we are asking any and all individuals who might have any information regarding the horrific shooting last night to come forward and provide whatever information they have,” he added.
Meanwhile, police in the small Mississippi town of Heidelberg in the eastern part of the state are investigating a shooting during that community’s homecoming weekend that left two people dead.
Both of them were killed on the school campus Friday night, Heidelberg Police Chief Cornell White said. He declined to say whether the victims were students or provide other information about the crimes.
“Right now we’ve still got a subject at large, but I can’t give specifics,” White said Saturday morning.
An 18-year-old man was being sought for questioning in the Heidelberg shooting, the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. The sheriff asked that anyone with information contact the police chief or sheriff’s office.
The shooting in Heidelberg happened on the school campus where the Heidelberg Oilers were playing their homecoming football game Friday night. The town of about 640 residents is about 85 miles (137 kilometers) southeast of the state capital of Jackson.
It wasn’t clear exactly when the gunfire occurred or how close it was to the stadium. White said he was at the scene Saturday investigating, and that more information might be released in coming days.
Copyright © 2025 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
AP
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Three Annunciation Catholic School moms demand action during town hall
Three women stood together on stage at a town hall in Plymouth, Minnesota on Sunday, bound together by the tragedy their children experienced inside Annunciation Catholic School on August 27.
“I don’t want any other parent or family to feel this misery,” said Malia Kimbrell.
Kimbrell’s 9-year-old daughter Vivian was rushed to the hospital after over 100 bullets shattered the windows of Annunciation Catholic School. Vivian was shot multiple times. Now, Vivian is recovering at home and Kimbrell is advocating for a ban on assault weapons.
“It’s more mental health resources and safer gun storage and better background checks and detecting potential threats online and improved security measures and banning assault weapons,” Kimbrell said Sunday. “If the next mass shooting happens at your child’s school, what type of weapon are you comfortable with the shooter being armed with?”
The group was brought together by Democratic Rep. Kelly Morrison as a town hall focused on gun violence prevention, for members of Minnesota’s third district.
“By taking action, that’s how we honor Harper, Fletcher and all the lives taken by gun violence,” said Carla Maldonado.
Maldonado has two children at Annunciation and described the panic she felt after she and her husband heard the gunshots that morning from their home nearby.
“We cannot accept a world where civilians have access to weapons designed for battlefields,” Maldonado said.
Stephanie Moscetti, a mother of two, also shared her fear that day. Saying her children are changed, espeically her son who was friends with Fletcher Merkel, an 8-year-old boy who was killed in the attack.
“My son was an honorary pallbearer at his friends funeral, how is this our reality?” Moscetti questioned. “Our kids deserve safe schools, they deserve safe childhoods where they can play and learn.”
About a week ago, a Minnesota Senate work group focused on addressing gun violence met for the first time, listening to pleas from some of these same parents.
Gov. Tim Walz has vowed to call a special session to address the issue, though a date has not been set.
If a bill is presented, the legislation would need the support of both democrats and republicans.
House Republicans previously released their list of policies to consider in a special session, which included school security grants, more funding for mental health beds and mandatory minimum prison sentences for repeat gun offenders.
Ashley Grams
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Annunciation Church festival goes on, less than a month after tragic shooting
A more than 40-year tradition continued Sunday at Annunciation Church, less than a month since the tragic shooting that claimed the lives of 10-year-old Harper Moyski and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel.
For decades, Annunciation has hosted SeptemberFest: a weekend of fun, games, food and music, which serves as the church and school’s annual fundraiser.
This year, the event continued on with renewed meaning.
According to organizers, it was the community that called for SeptemberFest to continue. While some of the programs have been shortened, and Friday and Saturday were limited to the parish and the school community, on Sunday everyone was welcome to stop by.
“I was very supportive of us doing it,” said parishioner Mike Roaldi.
Roaldi’s three kids all attend school at Annunciation.
“We all felt that it was an opportunity for the kids to come together and have fun and show how we’re healing, show how we heal together,” said Roaldi.
The festival means valuable time for kids, and community, to be together, he said.
“To be able to do this now after everything that’s happened, I think is incredibly special, because it says that who we are before and who we are now is a community that’s special, that comes together, that looks out for each other,” said Roaldi. “We have each other, we look out for each other and we always will.”
Jason Rantala
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More Minnesota schools embracing
It’s a topic that’s top of mind for many parents and teachers right now: How can we ensure our children are safe at school?
For some Minnesota school districts, one answer comes from a nonprofit started after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Reminders are posted in the halls of St. Francis Middle School: “Say Something.”
“There’s signs all over the school about it that have the phone number and like there’s a QR code,” said student Beverly Shepherd Flores.
The idea behind the anonymous reporting system: see it, report it.
“If students are having, you know, some problems with their mental health and you feel that a student is unsafe, then you can use the app to, you know, get help from a trusted adult, or you know, really any issues that could cause the student mental or physical harm,” said student Addison Cain.
These eighth graders say classmates value the anonymity.
“That was like I think a big thing for some students because they don’t want to like start anything with anyone,” said student Adriana Osei. “And you just like say what’s happening, the student, everything and the somebody handles it.”
School leaders implemented the program three years ago. It’s offered by Sandy Hook Promise at no cost to districts.
“With a free tip line that we can use it to prevent any kind of school violence, whether that’s self-harm or bullying or fighting or, you know, something more tragic,” said Chris Lindquist, St. Francis Area Schools’ director of community education. “At least we have an opportunity to have kids take a real investment in their own safety and their own security and the culture of our buildings, and to look out for one another.”
Eight districts representing 100 schools in Minnesota use the Say Something program. Across the country, that number climbs.
“More than 8 million youth and adults have been trained in the system, and so they know how to identify warning signs and report them,” said Crystal Garrant, Sandy Hook Promise’s chief program officer. “And since inception, more than 320,000 tips have been reported anonymously through our anonymous reporting system.”
And Garrant says they’re seeing results.
“We’ve averted at least 18 school shootings,” Garrant said. “These have been tips, we were the first to be notified of the information. There was a detailed plan of attack, and weapons were before recovered. Credible shootings prevented through our efforts.”
In St. Francis, they’re seeing results, too — building upon relationships educators have with students and offering another option to say something.
“If we get a tip that maybe we wouldn’t have because of the culture that we’re creating here, which is, say something, reach out, ask for help,” said principal Heidi Critchley. “The more we can do that, the more we can help people receive the assistance that they need, the more that we’re going to intervene for and maybe stop something major from happening.”
“A lot of the tips we get that are life safety don’t come during the day. They come at night. They come in the evenings, they come at 2 in the morning,” Lindquist said. “They come when kids are really in crisis and when they don’t have an adult that they can lean on to support them.”
They say having the information, big or small, allows them to act.
“We’re checking in with the families, checking in with the students when all of these come in to make sure that they’re OK, or what do they need, what do their families need,” said school counselor Lindsay Pakola.
And allows the school to better support students.
“Most of the time there’s a plan, and most of the time when we have a school shooting or a major violent, critical incident, most of the time somebody else knows something,” Lindquist said. “And so you know, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Shepherd Flores, Cain and Osei are also part of a club called WEB, short for “Where Everybody Belongs.” It pairs eighth graders with incoming sixth graders to welcome them and build trust throughout the school year.
Folded into WEB are initiatives behind SAVE Promise Clubs or Students Against Violence Everywhere.
SandyHookPromise.org has all the information you need to know about setting up a club or utilizing the Say Something program. It all comes at no cost to the school district.
Jennifer Mayerle
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Colorado school teen shooter had an account on
A teen who opened fire in a Colorado high school this week was active on a so-called “violent gore” site months before the attack, the Anti-Defamation League said in a report released Friday.
Colorado officials said Desmond Holly, 16, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot after injuring two students at Evergreen High School, had been “radicalized by an extremist network,” but did not provide further details.
According to the ADL report, several school shooters in the past year, including Holly, had been active on the same website, which the organization says is known for hosting content backing white supremacist ideas as well as material portraying graphic violence against both people and animals. People can navigate to the website, WatchPeopleDie, and access a forum where they can watch real images of beheadings, shootings and other violence. The site started on Reddit before being banned in March 2019.
“We’re talking about thousands of people who are on these spaces,” ADL Senior Vice President of Counter-Extremism and Intelligence, Oren Segal, told CBS News. “There’s no friction to access — anybody can do it.”
Beverly Kingston, the director of Colorado University’s Center For The Study and Prevention of Violence, told CBS Colorado that school shooters often exhibit similarities in their behavior and have been known to pay tribute to other mass shooters.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a situation that hasn’t had warning signs,” said Kingston.
The website Holly used was also frequented, the ADL says, by other individuals who have carried out school shootings. They include 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who shot and killed a student and a teacher at Abundant Life Christian school in Wisconsin last year, and Solomon Henderson, a 17-year-old who committed a shooting that killed one and wounded another at Antioch High School in Nashville in January.
Holly, who posted a photo of Rupnow on TikTok, appeared to have joined the site in December 2024, in the month between the Madison and Nashville shootings, according to the ADL.
“Many of these online spaces are glorifying these young, violent shooter types, where they’re even referencing one another,” Segal said.
Kingston said, “When people are radicalized to violence, it’s much harder to intervene at those stages than it is at the earlier stages.
“The best thing we could be doing is preventing someone from even having an interest in going into any of those sites in the first place,” Kingston told CBS Colorado. “We want to find a way for them to feel connected, to belong, to be on the pro-social side.”
Holly’s most recent profile photo on TikTok was of Elliot Rodger, who killed six people in California in 2014 and had a history of engaging in and spewing misogynistic content online, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The 16-year-old posted a photo of himself holding a gun next to a box of ammunition on his X account two hours before the shooting. On social media, Holly showcased his collection of tactical gear, which featured extremist symbols. In a now-deleted TikTok post that contained references to a 2019 mass shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, he engaged with a comment encouraging him to “make a move,” according to ADL.
CBS News reached out to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to see whether the department’s findings were consistent with those in the ADL report. A spokesperson said they cannot comment as the investigation remains open.
The domain of Watchpeopledie is registered by proxy, according to a search of the “whois” registration database – and hides the names of the owners. Cloudflare is used as the registrar for their main domain, Segal at the ADL said, and uses Cloudflare-owned IP addresses, which means that WPD is either hosted on Cloudflare or they are using their passthrough services.
Segal said Cloudflare allows it to remain … that it’s basically a service provider not taking action and “allowing the hosting of the site.”
A spokesperson for Cloudflare told CBS News that it is not the hosting provider for the website, adding that the company “typically does not host websites and doesn’t have the capacity to remove content that is hosted by others.”
Segal said that ADL shares their findings with law enforcement agencies across the country. He did not specify an agency or the specific report. Segal said understanding incidents perpetrated by people influenced by nihilistic online spaces as a broader trend rather than one-offs could be a step toward preventing violence.
“We need to see that there’s a connection there, there’s a through line,” Segal said. “There’s a common theme and a common thread, which are these online platforms.”
Kingston says there needs to be better funding for violence prevention, including programs that teach social-emotional learning and life skills, as well as instructions on how to address concerning behaviors on social media.
“The infrastructure that we need to prevent violence has always been very weak, and it’s even weaker right now,” said Kingston. “That’s my biggest frustration, is having so many solutions that aren’t being fully implemented. It just breaks my heart.”
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Celebration of life held for Harper Moyski, young victim of Annunciation mass shooting
The mother of 10-year-old Harper Moyski, who was killed during the mass shooting late last month at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, remembered her on Sunday as a fierce, curious and funny child who “didn’t water herself down.”
Hundreds gathered at the Lake Harriet Bandshell in Minneapolis to celebrate Moyski’s life. Speakers also called for people to dedicate themselves to building a less violent American society.
Moyski and another student at Annunciation Catholic School, 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, were killed and 21 others were injured in the Aug. 27 shooting.
Moyski’s mother, Jackie Flavin, told the mourners that their support had lifted the family when it felt as if it had been dropped at the bottom of an ocean “where it’s pitch black and the pressure is crushing.”
Jackie Flavin
She said Moyski, who loved dogs and hoped to be a veterinarian, taught them “how to be a light in the dark.”
“She had her own point of view, her own sense of style, her own way of being. She didn’t wait for permission. She didn’t water herself down,” Flavin said. “And she really taught us to show up exactly as you are.”
Flavin also called Moyski “extra in the very best way.”
“Harper didn’t do anything halfway,” she said. “Always choosing the premium versions, always going for the extra scoop.”
The memorial came only four days after the fatal shooting of conservative activist and leader Charlie Kirk as he spoke at Utah Valley University.
During the celebration of Moyski’s life, speakers expressed frustration and anger that gun violence — particularly shootings that kill schoolchildren — hasn’t stopped.
Another extended family member, Rabbi Jason Rodich, urged people to avoid the acrimony of social media and “the scorched earth of these times.”
“Turn just a little to the warm soul beside you,” he said. “Do it for Harper. Do it for you.”
This story will be updated.
NOTE: The original airdate of the video attached to this article is Sept. 12, 2025.
CBS Minnesota
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Sartell police issue warning of making false reports after investigating gun flash report
No gun was found following a report of one being flashed by a student at a high school football game on Friday night in Sartell, Minnesota. Police in the city say they’re investigating the incident.
According to Sartell police, they received “several reports” from parents whose children reported hearing a high school student had flashed a gun at others near the end of the game. Officers say no one was threatened, but they tried to find the student who allegedly flashed the gun. However, they learned the student had left the game with a parent.
Police, as well as members of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office, worked to contact the parent. Sartell officials say the parent and student were cooperative and denied possessing a gun at the game or telling anyone that he was carrying a gun while being questioned. Deputies then searched for a gun, but they didn’t find one.
Police did follow-up interviews with game attendees and said that no one saw a gun flashed. They also say no one was directly told that a gun was seen. In addition, police say all the witnesses they’ve talked to were told by other friends who heard about a student flashing a gun.
Currently, officials say there’s no evidence the student in question was armed.
While police add it’s important to speak up and report potential threats or anything suspicious, they also don’t want false reports made, as they have also seen an increase in fake claims that create large-scale “chaos and hysteria.” Police say they’ll be working to find the original source of the report and to make sure there wasn’t any intent to make a false claim.
Police noted these types of incidents can make others feel uneasy, noting the shooting more than two weeks ago at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis that left two students dead and 21 other people hurt. Since that shooting, a 72-year-old Duluth man was arrested after police say he threatened to “shoot the windows” of Laura MacArthur Elementary School in the city on Thursday. That same day, a school shooting threat was made in Nevis, Minnesota. A 14-year-old boy was arrested and brought to Northwestern Minnesota Juvenile Center in Bemidji for that incident. Then, on Friday, security was increased at Princeton Public Schools due to an unverified threat. So far, police are still investigating that incident, and no one has been arrested.
Nationwide, two students were hurt during a shooting at Evergreen High School in Colorado on Thursday. The day before, conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated after being shot during an outdoor debate at Utah Valley University. A 22-year-old is in custody for that shooting.
Last week, Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez was accused of allegedly threatening to shoot three of her colleagues with whom she’d had disagreements, according to party leaders. Ortiz-Velez, who represents central Milwaukee, denied the allegations. Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, Assistant Minority Leader Kalan Haywood, Minority Caucus Chair Lisa Subeck and other caucus officers said in their statement that they couldn’t ignore Ortiz-Velez’s comment in light of the “politically motivated” shootings that killed former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in June. That attack also injured Minnesota Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
Krystal Frasier
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UMass Boston shooting: Police confirm shots fired near residence hall
🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
A report of shots fired at the University of Massachusetts Boston on Thursday afternoon prompted a heavy police response and campus lockdown, authorities reported.
The incident was reported around 3:45 p.m. near 240 Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester, close to a residence hall in the East Building, according to WCVB in Boston.
UMass Boston issued alerts calling it a “public safety threat” and urged people to avoid the area and the Campus Center. It was not immediately clear if anyone was injured.
This is a breaking news article. Updates to follow.
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13-year-old arrested, 23 guns seized after alleged school shooting threat
Police in Washington said they seized 23 guns from the home of a 13-year-old who appeared to be fixated on school shooters. CBS News reporter Andres Gutierrez has more.
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Pierce County deputies arrest 13-year-old after threats of school shooting, weapons found
Generate Key TakeawaysThe Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said deputies arrested a 13-year-old boy early Saturday after investigators learned he had made threats of a school shooting and claimed access to firearms.
Deputies said they first received intelligence about the boy on Friday, September 5, when information surfaced that he was making threats to kill and talking about guns.
Around 1 a.m. Saturday, September 6, sheriff’s deputies and SWAT served a seizure of person warrant at a home in the 13500 block of 20th Avenue Court East.
The boy was taken into custody without incident and booked into Remann Hall.
During the search of the home, investigators reported finding a large number of firearms in both secured and unsecured locations.
Deputies also seized loaded magazines marked with “school shooter” writings, clothing, and additional writings that investigators described as supporting a typical mass shooting scenario.
The sheriff’s office said the juvenile was last enrolled in the Franklin Pierce School District in 2021 but is not currently enrolled in any school district.
Officials said the investigation is still ongoing and more details may come as evidence is processed.
In a statement, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office thanked the agencies and personnel who worked “tirelessly” in the case, saying their quick response helped prevent potential harm.
