Brave Voices Speak of Texas Mass Shooting

Kayla Ponti, Reporter

On November 5th, 26 people were killed and 20 were injured after a gunman opened fire at a local church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

After authorities came out with the list of victims of the shooting, the age range of people ranged from an 18 months to 77 years old.

The gunman who has been identified as Derek P. Kelley was a resident of a close by neighborhood and had served in the United States Air Force in 2010 through 2014. Kelley left the Air Force with a “bad conduct” discharge and was sentenced to a year in prison for assault charges against his wife and newborn daughter. Domestic issues had also been happening between Kelley and his in-laws and after investigation, one of the victims that Kelley had gun downed was his grandmother-in-law.

Derek Kelley should have never been able to purchase a gun because of his violent background, but the United States Air Force never put his name in the federal database, which resulted in Kelley having a “clean” background, allowing him to purchase the gun.

The Bishop Blanchet community has many mixed feelings and concerns about the Texas shooting and other incidents that have happened.

“It is really sad what happened in Texas” said senior Marianna Mele “and the fact that shootings happen way too often.”

About a month ago on October 1st, a gunman in Las Vegas shot at a crowd of 22,000 people at country concert killing 58 people and injuring 546 making it the biggest mass shooting in United States history.

“I think there needs to be stricter rules for the people who want to purchase a gun,” said senior Masika Ulywena, “because of how often these mass shootings keep happening.”

The recent mass shootings have caught many people’s attention and have started conversations about renewing calls for action on gun control.

Omit people are concerned in the increase in gun violence over the past years and hope that light is around the corner in decreasing the acts of violence.