April 26, 2019

It was the 20th year anniversary of a deadly school shooting and there was a special TV program broadcasted for the event. It showed a very detailed account of what happened that day, fully reenacted - up until the point of capturing the gunman in an alleyway.

My family was at a discussion table with other families. After a few parents had recalled how they had lost their children that day and the grief they had suffered, the parents of the shooter spoke.

The parents were very sympathetically defending their child - along with the usual claim that they never saw it coming either. They asked us to acknowledge the killer’s troubles and that, he too, was a victim. They asked us to “know Rost” (the shooter’s name).

My dad stood up - and said that their message was highly inappropriate and unfit for this particular forum.