The Ingraham School Shooting

On a sunny Tuesday, November 8, 2022 a gunshot rang out in Ingraham High School, three minutes driving time from Lakeside Middle School. Here, an hour-long lockdown was immediately issued at roughly ten in the morning. Classes halted and students gathered in the far corners of their classrooms, confused about what had happened. After rumors spread and the lockdown ended, students flooded the Evans Theater for an announcement from school leaders.

To get a general sense of the community response after the incident, I interviewed several of my peers and a teacher. First up, Mahima K., a fifth-grader who experienced her first brush with death. It was a scary experience for her. She experienced an “internal breakdown” when she heard the news. “Even though [the shooting] didn’t happen at Lakeside, it was the most scared I had been in my life,” says Mahima.

An eighth-grader mentioned that they were in shock when the lockdown was issued. They were relatively unworried before hearing the news of a shooting. After fully processing the situation, they were scared, but not too scared because nothing had happened yet, reasoning that it wasn’t a threat at school. In the end, though, they agreed that “Lakeside handled the situation pretty well.”

Ms. Callender, an eighth-grade English teacher, recalled that like many others, there was lots of uncertainty at the beginning. “I didn’t know if there was a situation on campus or off campus,” she said. After she found out, she was relieved but also worried for her students who had relatives at Ingraham. “I had a student whose dad worked [at Ingraham],” Ms. Callender recalled. “I was worried for them.”

“Once I knew it was an active shooter I was very scared,” eighth grader Cristian S. said. He was in the gym when the lockdown started. “Immediately I thought it was another fire drill,” he reasoned. “[A] girl informed us that [the shooter] was at Ingraham … [it] relieved me a little bit knowing I wasn’t immediately in danger but I was still terrified because it’s so close to home.”

Here is a recounting of what happened at Ingraham, gathered from news accounts and police investigations. Earlier on November 8, at roughly quarter to ten, the 14-year-old alleged shooter was involved in a quarrel with the 17-year-old victim in the restroom where the victim tried to take a gun from the shooter. The suspect lost their phone in the physical fight and returned to class. During the following passing period, witnesses report that the alleged shooter was in an argument where the victim said, “you’re not gonna bust it” (meaning, “you’re not going to shoot”). Reports say that the suspect walked past the victim but suddenly turned around, firing four shots into the victim’s back. Later that day, the victim passed away from their injuries. The alleged shooter fled with a companion and hid in a nearby woman’s home. After staying for half an hour, they left for Aurora Avenue, where they were later arrested while trying to board a bus. The alleged shooter was later charged with premeditated first-degree murder and first-degree assault.

The events on that fateful day have hit the Lakeside community close to home. Quite literally, the event occurred half a mile from our campus. Previously, we’d see news about shootings but we never expect to experience one close to where we live. Though the entire community is grateful this incident didn’t occur on Lakeside’s campus, it has still shaken many of us to know that something so disastrous could happen so close.