On October 21,2013 shots rang in the hallways of Sparks Middle School in Reno, Nevada.  A lone 12 year old student shooter  took a concealed weapon to school. This resulted in the death of 2 people and critical wounding of 2 fellow students. Questions seemed to fly around with bullets, why did this seemingly normal boy do this? What were the signs? Was there anyway we could have stopped this?  This ended with a suicide and a murder of a beloved teacher who saved the lives of many children whom he had never met .

The shooter was identified but his identity was not given to media outlets, due to him being a minor. There were many calls for help dispatched by students and teachers at the site of the crime. The teacher that was killed was Michael Landsberry who was part of the Nevada National Guard and served 2 tours in Afganistan as a marine. In the Reno school district there are 38 officially employed school police armed with real weapons to stop any potential school shooters. On the day of the shooting though none of the officers were not on duty.

Mr. Landsberry was beloved by teachers and students alike, one of the rules among the whole student body was to never annoy Mr. Landsberry. His family is in grief due to his loss but his widow stated, rather than have another Sandy Hook incident he helped prevent something of that magnitude. His family also stated that they wouldn’t have been surprised if he did this because he was a veteran and family man who has 2 step-daughters; they  would hope that if god forbid at their daughters school they would hope someone would try to save not only their children but all the others in danger.

Students who witnessed the murder and suicide noted that Landsberry tried to talk the shooter out of harming himself and other students. One of the students said that Mr. Landsberry’s final act was heroic and saved many other people. A lot of the parents called Landsberry a guardian angel and a hero because he saved the lives of students he knew and others of  which he had never met. A lot of the students also claim that the shooter wasn’t being bullied and don’t know how he could of done something of this magnitude. The most prominent question on  people’s minds is how did the child get a gun.