At Permian High School on Wednesday, a Freshman student was found with a gun in their back pack. On Thursday, when a fight broke out, someone saw or thought they saw a gun and chaos ensued. Students were running down one hall screaming "gun, gun." A fire alarm was pulled. Everyone was evacuated but they wouldn't allow students to leave in their cars.
Parker sent me three texts which I saw on my phone all at the same time:
1. me and tanner are probably going to leave
2. Nvm
3. School shooter
Ummmm, what???? I called Parker and they had the students a block over in the parking lot of Petsmart. Swatt was called. There were snipers on top of Bush's Chicken, plus police and ambulance everywhere. I said "you and Tanner come on home!" He said "Coach Wash said we had to stay." I said "Coach Mom says get out of there."
And then Brian and I received these two texts from Brinley:
1. So when are you moving away from Odessa
2. ASAP
(The power of social media. Someone posted a video on their "story." I think she probably knew before we did about the frightening events at PHS. There was one video going around with what sounded like gunshots in the background.)
I was about 20 minutes away helping a friend move. Luckily Cole's mom happened to be near the school. She loaded 15 kids in her car and they got out of there. My sweet cousin Laurel was looking out for us too. She called to say she was there and had a car full of kids. Did I want her to get the boys? I am so glad these friends were able to help.
I am not exactly sure why everyone ended up at our house. Maybe because we live closer to the school than some of these other students. I was happy to have them though. I finished helping my friend load and deliver stuff to Goodwill and then hurried home to chaperone!
This was my view as I walked in through the garage. Pretty good crowd of kids plus lots of shoes and backpacks.
Tanner and Tate were tucked away in the play room by themselves. Smart boys.
Parker had already set out snacks and lots of kids had ice cream and drinks before I arrived. Go Park...glad he thought to be hospitable in that way.
Sorry Cole. I should have given you time to swallow!
I am so glad everyone was safe. I spoke with a friend who is an officer with ECISD. I was able to hear details from the administration side of things about the events of yesterday. Also, he let me know the safety practices and procedures they already have in place and what they will be doing at Permian today to ensure everyone's safety. We talked with the boys again about safety measures with active shooters and let them know ECISD's safety plans. (It's is so sad that these conversations even need to happen.) We then just listened as they discussed their day. It sounded so scary with cops and guns and alarms and sirens and SWATT and snipers and confusion surrounding them.
Honestly, at first I didn't even realize our boys might be a little shaken up. They seemed so unfazed. When I came in on the party at our house, they were happy to be with friends and not at school. However, as the day was winding up, they brought up a few things that made me realize they may need to discuss the events of the morning more...so we did.
Tanner mentioned a few times how the person with the gun was never found and how he didn't believe the administration really never found anything. He had seen a video. He KNEW there was someone with a gun. He also casually mentioned everyone was going to be gunned down at the pep rally the next day. He also joked about me making him a shirt that said, "If you don't shoot me, I'll visit you in jail."
Parker spoke more about how it was hard to believe it was just a fight when so many law enforcement officers swarmed the scene. (Thank you law enforcement. We appreciate you.) He talked about the videos circulating where you could hear gun shots in the background. (Later he thought maybe it was a basketball bouncing or someone hitting a locker.) He listened carefully as I shared the safest place to be on campus if there is a shooter. (Locked in a room. We have locks and then some sort of safety hinge. First lock yourself in a classroom, then deny entry, then fight if necessary.)
I think we are all on edge more after the shootings six weeks ago. Thankfully everyone was safe yesterday.
(And a few more pictures from the day...)
Oh the phones.....they were all talking and visiting and making quite a bit of noise while still viewing their phones....
1 comment:
So scary and awful! I'm glad everyone was safe. I hate that our kids have to be worried about things like that! Good job having the welcoming house where everyone feels safe.
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