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Last month, a student was wounded in a drive-by shooting at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. According to a report on Yahoo news, two men were believed to have been involved in the shooting were seen driving away after the crime took place. These two suspects were later arrested. The day after the shooting, I sat down and phoned a friend who attends that University, and got her take on what happened. I think that her views on the recent rash of school shootings might be beneficial to those who are worried about the state of the world today, and I thought I'd share them with you.

While I do not attend the University of Arkansas, a friend of mine does. She granted an interview with me, but wished to be known only by her first name. Leigh is a military spouse, living with her Air Force husband at Little Rock Air Force Base, just about 20 minutes from the University campus. At the time of the shooting, Leigh was in the library on campus, doing research for a class. When the incident first happened, my friend said that university officials weren't very vocal about what was going on.

Leigh said that she was informed by email that the campus was on lockdown. Since she was sitting at a computer terminal in the library, she was able to find out quickly about what was going on. She immediately called her husband to inform him of what was happening. She stayed in the library with several other students, praying for the best.

With all of the recent news reports of school shootings, Leigh said, "I was scared that the events at the University of Arkansas were as bad or worse than other recent events."
Leigh also worried that her two school-age children would hear of the news coming out of the university, and they would be worried about her. Thankfully, today's events were over before her children found out.

Leigh said that about forty-five minutes after she was first made aware that the campus was on lockdown, she was informed that things were back to normal, and she was free to move about as needed.

Leigh told me that she decided to skip her afternoon class and go home, and spend some extra time with her family. I asked Leigh if she had plans to stay home from other classes this week, as a precaution, in case a repeat of today's events were to play out.

While Leigh is a bit apprehensive, she said, "If I stay home from class, that hurts me more than anyone else. You can't live your life in fear. If it's my time to go home to be with the Lord, then it's my time to go, and there's nothing I can do about it. Staying home won't solve anything."

Leigh also told me that while she hasn't hidden the news about the university shooting from her children, she hasn't made a big deal of it, either. She merely told her children that there was some trouble at school today, but not to worry, because she wasn't involved in it. Since her children are still fairly young, she believes that simple explanations are best. Leigh's husband fully supports her decision to return to classes as scheduled.

Learn more about this author, Maggie O'Leary.
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