Community near Ingraham High hoping to move forward from tragic school shooting

It’s been almost a week since a 17-year-old student was shot and killed inside Seattle’s Ingraham High School by another student.

In response to this, students at the high school and other schools in the district plan to walk out of class on Monday, gather at City Hall and demand city leaders take action to help keep schools safer.

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“We need Ingraham to change what they’re doing. Obviously, they’re doing things wrong considering how this happened and the aftermath of it as well,” a Seattle Public Schools student said.

Students are also asking for increased training for security at SPS on de-escalation and anti-racism, as well as updated safe storage laws. The student union has also posted specifics on how they want these demands achieved.

SPS Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones says he plans to form a community action team to help determine what can be immediately done to improve the safety of Seattle’s schools.

“As we mourn this loss, we also have an opportunity to grow in a way that can prevent this type of tragedy from happening again,” Jones said.

Outside of the school’s entrance, sits a small memorial of flowers and candles. Robert Gardner lives nearby the school and says things have felt different in the community since.

“It’s sad. There’s a tempo in the air. You can feel it,” Gardner said.

He says each night that he walks by, he makes sure the candle there stays lit. It’s a small gesture he hopes can help the healing process.

“We wanted to come up here to make sure that light is lit tonight because it’s pure. It’s real,” Gardner said.

He hopes that as students voice their concerns about safety, schools will listen to them.

“I think that it’s really important that we hear the youth,” Gardner said.

Gardner believes coming together is the best way to move forward.

“We just all got to stick together and support each other and don’t leave anybody behind, ya know,” Gardner said.

Students plan to walk out around at 9:30 a.m. and gather outside Seattle City Hall around 11:30 a.m.

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