Surviving a Deadly School Shooting Doesn't Even Get You the Day Off in America Anymore

A student at Butler High School in Matthews, NC, died Monday morning after being shot by another student, according to the Associated Press, but don’t think that means a day off for the rest of Butler High.

Police said the shooter was a fellow student. After the wire service reported an update from the police shortly before 10 a.m. that the victim was in critical condition, they updated about an hour later to say the student had died. No further information about either the victim or the shooter has been released except that the student that died was a young male. WCNC reported that the police have the suspect in custody.

Around 9:25 a.m., after the shooting and the subsequent lockdown measures had been lifted, the social media accounts of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system announced that parents were free to come pick up their students from school with a police escort available for those leaving the building. However, at the end of the statement, CMS wrote that “classes will proceed on campus today for students remaining on campus.”

It would be dishonest to say such a thing—having to remain at the site of a mentally scarring tragedy that occurred just hours ago—only happens in America. But it’s disconcerting and enraging to know that despite, or perhaps because of, this country’s long history with gun violence in our schools, the death of a high schooler on a Monday morning is still not enough to get kids out of harm’s way, or even second period.

Thoughts and prayers incoming.

Update, 12:22 p.m. ET: In response to a request for comment by Splinter, the district said in a statement: “Our goal was to ensure that students could remain on campus and safe until such time that transportation arrangements could be made by families.”