A message from a boy to his mother while being stuck during a shooting incident in his high school in the United States has gone viral on social media and reignited a debate about gun laws in the country.
The text messages between the mother and son were shared by CBS reporter Jason Allen on his Twitter account. The shooting incident referred to in the messages happened in the Mansfield ISD’s Timberview High School in Arlington, Texas on 6 October.
Allen said that the messages were shared with him by the mother, Stella Oigo. The messages show Oigo’s son Tergio telling his mother that a shooting was happening in his school. “Mom, there is a shooting. Mom. Help,” the texts said. Oigo said that she was calling the police and asked her son if he was safe. The son replied that he didn’t know.
Allen added that the family had already lost one member to gun violence years ago, and this incident added to the urgency of the situation they faced.
The post has gone viral on social media, with many saying that it highlights the terrifying situation faced by children due to the lack of stringent laws on gun possession in the United States.
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a grassroots movement that demands action against gun violence, said that this was a message no parent should ever get. It added that any child should never “feel the terror of an active shooter in their school”.
Many people said that such incidents will keep taking place until stricter gun laws are enforced.
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According to CBS , many parents had received similar messages from their children.
The shooting at Texas left four people injured, leaving one of the victims, a 15-year-old boy, in a critical condition. The police have taken 18-year-old Timothy George Simpkins into custody. Simpkins is suspected of pulling out a gun and start shooting it after a fight broke out between two students.
There have been 22 school shootings resulting in injuries or deaths since the start of this year in the United States. The shootings have led to the deaths of six people, including four students.