Many people believe that school shootings are an unfortunate and desperate act of modern students who are bullied or otherwise victimized. These shooters are alternatively vilified and used as examples of a society gone wrong. What some people fail to consider, or realize, is that school shootings are not new.
Do we hear more about school shootings today than at any other time in history? Of course. But we live in a society where news is instant and always at the touch of a fingertip. When you stop to think about the fact that news traveled much slower in days gone by, it makes sense that mass shootings and other atrocities did not circulate through the media like they do today.
Take, for example, the Bath Bombing. It was, and still remains, the deadliest school murder spree in our history. The bombing eclipses the mass shootings at Sandy Hook, Columbine and Virginia Tech. There were 45 people killed in the bombing, including 38 children.
On May 18, 1927, Andrew Kehoe, carefully executed the bombing he had planned out. A clock triggered the dynamite that Kehoe had placed at Bath Consolidated School. Kehoe soon found out that only half of the dynamite he planted had been ignited. After killing his wife and the horses in his barn, Kehoe drove his truck to the school and detonated it, causing a second explosion.
While 45 people died that day, Kehoe’s ultimate plan did not come to fruition. The death of every young, innocent life in the school on that day in May. Kehoe failed in that regard. More than 100 people were able to walk away from both explosions.
Few people are still alive to remember the explosion, and that could be yet one more reason why today’s mass shootings seem like a phenomenon. The sad truth is that mass killings are nothing new. School shootings are nothing new. We are only more easily able to hear about their occurrence.
If a loved one has experienced wrongful death in Charleston, we are here to help you. Call our office today or browse our website for more information. Your first consultation is free, and we will advise you of your next possible steps. Call now and begin putting the pieces of your life back together.