WBIR reports that a 16 year-old male was shoot in the cafeteria just after 8:00. His condition is unknown.

A suspect is in custody.

This is getting way to close to home.
The Brady Center seems to be one of the best organized on the issue.
I'm joining.
(link...)

Think this is an isolated case?
(link...)

We (at least most of us) are living through an epidemic of gun violence.

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher)

"X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

Our best wishes are for the students and staff at the school as well as all family and friends. I wish we could keep our community safe.

The two inner city high schools Fulton and Austin-East hit the no child left behind hit list this year and Central was next on the list, although, parents had been called to a meeting at Central to discuss their transfer options under NCLB only to find out the school was not a NCLB target. Steps have been implemented to rebuild Fulton and Austin-East with talented people who love to teach and can take on a challenge of a difficult environment.

Perhaps Dr. McIntyre can develop a community culture that our schools are important and that if kids and their families are not interested in getting an education, they need to get out of the Knox County Public School System. The Knox County Public School System is not a day care center for wayward kids and it's not a baby sitting service while parents are at work.

Hopefully, Dr. McIntyre will see that the bar is set high at every school and the hooligans and roustabouts and their complacent or careless parents who completely disrupt the education environment in Knox County will be shown the door or some alternative vocational education opportunity. How much more violence will it take to get the schools and our incompetent school board to completely review what the roles of our schools are in our community? The first step is getting the school board and the teacher's union to realize the school system belongs to the families who send their kids to school to work on their education and quit pandering to the bottom feeders who are there because they don't have anything else to do and dumming down our high school curriculums such that the exit exams are a joke and the gateway exams in high school could be passed by a middle school student from Maryville or Oak Ridge.

Let us make a pact right this minute to prevent this conversation from devolving into a laundry list of school system condemnations and to instead put our heads together to suggest how we can prevent this sort of tragedy in the future. Personally, my heart is breaking.

WBIR has a live stream.

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Schools reflect our community's values. We may talk about "loving thy neighbor" but reality shows we prefer, even venerate, violent actions for solving problems. Our lives are permeated with tough guys who save themselves or their loved ones by forcefully obliterating their opponents. Shock and awe, bring 'em on, is exemplary of the language we use when we decide to deal with problems large and small.

Why would anyone expect our children to learn any other lesson? We have taught them well. Might makes right.

Until we can have a civil discussion about our violent culture and face the fact that we support public schools with lip service alone, we will continue to have school violence. Children learn from adults whether we want them to or not.

Just saw this and via RSS that the student has died. That news may be what is swamping the KNS server(?).

EDIT: I see now where you reported that, Tamara. Anyway, I can't believe this. Society is in crisis and in denial at once. What will it take to return civility?

In the comments section for the KNS coverage of the shooting, people are claiming the shooter was an illegal immigrant.

Based on an unnamed but "reliable" source, of course.

Earlier this morning, I heard a TV reporter ask police authorities if the perp was Latino. The officer said only that the suspect was still being interrogated.

It's sounding like this rumour has begun to circulate.

A school shooting in our community is bad enough. Let us hope we don't find that racial tensions were a factor, as well...

According to WBIR the public defender is saying that the perp is "an existing client of ours."

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But hey, football season will start in a few weeks . .

Cumberland County couldn't find the money to begin their school year but they managed to scrape together enough to begin the football season.

Is it remotely possible that we too have our priorities slightly out of kilter?

Should we redirect some of those funds into something as innovative as anger management classes or enhanced school security?

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This really is tragic--I know many people were going to meetings and working so hard to strengthen Central. What a blow, but what they are doing is so important. I just want to ask: Can we make more counselors available at Central and all high schools...and provide training for all middle and high students? A study of school shootings by the US govt says shooters almost always gave a sign, to friends or often to at least one adult and sometimes up to three.

KCS could partner with mental health agencies like other districts do. We're talking Full Service Schools here. To pay, schools in many places collect insurance or bill Medicaid. Nat Inst of Mental Health has grants. Counseling rooms can be set up in portables (Clayton donated?), or at school if space is available. What teacher wouldn't want this support? But can KCS/KCSB put student needs and lives ahead of liability fears? They need to.

I will repeat my call for some public meetings, sponsored by the city/county where we talk about the root causes of the recent shootings in our community.

For the TVUUC shooting I would say:
Community mental health needs going unmet
Hate media-TV, radio, internet
Joblessness/inadequate re-training opportunities
*Absence of sensible gun laws

For the Central Highschool shooting I'll add more when we have more information but for now:
Foster care problems
school bullying
*absence of sensible gun laws

*= When I posted this on the KNS website, I anticipated a flood of hateful knee-jerk reactions to the suggestion that we have a gun problem. Got a few so far, but the day is young! Some actually agree that we need some sensible gun laws!

Further suggestions for the gun addicted:
a) Take a trip to Canada. See how "oppressed" and fearful and downtrodden Canadians are by their gun laws. They aren't.
b) Think about keeping your hunting rifles and loosing your hand-guns. Should the right to bear arms include bombs and dirty nukes too? No. We should set sensible limits.
c) Think beyond the notion that arming everyone would solve the problem. Would a hail of bullets in that church or school cafeteria have made the day go better? No. There would have been more needless deaths as a result, including many innocents caught in the crossfire.

Regardless of what you think the causes are we need to have a forum where people can voice their opinions and our leaders are IN THE ROOM. Mayor Haslam said he wants to do whatever it takes to make sure this doesn't happen again. A public meeting would be a good start.

-Sugarfatpie (AKA Alex Pulsipher)

"X-Rays are a hoax."-Lord Kelvin

How can we best develop a "community culture" within our school system? Some of the smaller or more isolated schools (Corryton Elementary, for example) seem to be successful at getting students, staff, parents, neighborhoods, businesses, etc to work together in support of the school. When my daughter was in school at Bluegrass years ago, Fred Nidiffer was successful at keeping parents informed and involved. Wouldn't it benefit our school system if everyone in the communities believed they had a stake in their area school? What ideas/changes could be implemented to transform our schools into true Community Schools? I wish I had the answers instead of just questions.

Hate media-TV, radio, internet

What would be an example of this, pie?

*absence of sensible gun laws

We have gun laws, pie. What sensible law is missing?

gun addicted

Who would be an example of someone you would consider to be "gun addicted," pie?

Here's an idea. How about metal detectors at the entrance of all schools and sporting events?

Hate media: Rush Limbaugh, Foxnews, WNOX,

So you're saying that Rush Limbaugh, Foxnews and WNOX are responsible for this idiot shooting the people TVUUC? You're a bigger idiot and you must be simple minded. You disagree with a person, a television network and a radio station so that makes them "hate media." BTW, how do you disagree with a television network?

sensible gun law missing: We could start with a ban on hand guns. Could follow Canada's example.

Unconstitional to ban hand guns. How does that make this sensible?

gun addicted: Quite a few friends of mine, the dude who took out AK dem chair, the Columbine kids, Charlton Heston

So you're comparing some of your friends and Charlton Heston with the Arkansas murderer and the freaks who shot up Columbine? Scary man.

I kind of understand people who want to hunt with guns, but I have way more respect for bow hunters.

Then go hunt with a bow. There are plenty of us who love the smell of gunpowder after outsmarting our prey.

I'd prefer a parliamentary democracy (where you get to have a vote of no confidence and kick the bums out right then and there) over the slow and unresponsive system enshrined by our constitution.

Bye pie.

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Otherwise he tries to change the subject

Now who's changing the subject, pie?

reactionary golfers

Yes, I'm a reactionary golfer. I am happy when I hit a good shot, I get pissed if I hit a bad shot. I once beat the shit out of a guy I caught cheating in a $10 nassau game. I run the whole gamut of emotions and reactions.

who pretend to hunt

I'm wondering how you pretend to hunt. If you pretend to be in a rock and roll band you play an air guitar. If you pretend to hunt, you can't use an air rifle 'cause there really is such a thing. I can assure you I'm not a pretend hunter, pie. I count 48 fire arms among my possessions plus two bows and a hog trap.

Finally, if you're trying to figure out how a Reagan Democrat (or any kind of Democrat thinks for that matter), go somewhere else. I'm not your guy, pie. I have grown some tasty 'maters.

I do belong to a golf club, Met. I beat the guy's ass on club property and got away with it. (It was a few years ago.) Just about everybody who heard about it was glad I did it, except the guy I smacked, of course.

I don't need more than one shotgun, one rifle and one bow. I have never tried carrying all of them at once. Lots of people own more than one car and they generally don't try to drive them at once. I have them because I want them. I collect them.

I don't own an ATV but I do own a tractor. I hunted from a tree stand once in my life (early 80's). I hated it and I've not done it since. I have never killed a deer but I am an avid hunter. I don't like to eat deer meat and I don't necessarily need a deer's head on my wall. However, if someone wants to legally kill a deer simply to put its head on their wall, I'm ok with that.

Met, I told you. I don't need them. I want them. I like cleaning them and showing off my collection. I have guns over 50 years old that look brand new.

There isn't a country club in Knoxville where gambling is not allowed....double negative....You can find a bet at any country club in Knoxville. You fight and you're kicked out of any of them. I got away with it years ago.