On Tuesday, March 31, members of the St. Charles High JV track team attended a meet at McCluer South-Berkeley’s STEAM Academy. As the event came to a close at around 7pm, three gunshots were heard by students waiting on the bus. The shots were later reported to have been fired by a 13-year-old boy. 13 year old LaJuan Swopes, also 13 years old, was killed, and another boy was injured.
While neither of the victims nor the shooter are students at SCHS, being in such close proximity to a shooting can be distressing for anyone.
Sophomore Max Guetschow is on the track team, and attended the meet at McCluer South. At the time of the shooting, Guetschow was already on the bus when shots were fired.
“I saw cops coming down the street and got messages from people being like ‘hey, someone was shot,’” said Guetschow. “It was kind of frightening, because you know it could’ve been you.”
Sabrina Villar, a sophomore, also witnessed the aftermath.
“So I was on the bus, right, and the track meet had just ended, and then bang. I hear three gunshots and then I see someone laying on the ground. And then, I see a police car driving by and it’s like dang, I’m scared,” said Villar. ”It reminds me of the problems that we still have in like St. Louis.”
Sophomore Seth Wilson described the event in more detail, saying “We were coming out, and you know we were just leaving the track meet. And you could tell it wasn’t like great in general, a lot of people weren’t acting right… but then I hear just in the distance, I hear pop, pop, pop. And I’m like woah what’s that? I know this can’t be at a school right? And then I see everybody running in the parking lot towards all the buses and stuff and then a police car drives around and into the parking lot. And I saw someone laying on the ground deep into the parking lot. Then I see lots of sirens and hear people coming through and I’m just like crazed out ‘how could this happen at a track meet we’ve been to?’ It’s the McCluer area, it’s not too uncommon there I guess,” said Wilson. “It really can spook you, it’s kinda like ‘why is this happening?’ and that it’s happening to us is kind of unthinkable, but it’s not too unthinkable now that the US has been changing, but it’s still scary and we need to be better.”
Junior Miriam Axinte is an exchange student from Italy. She is also on the track team, and was on the bus when the shooting occurred.
“I was like on the bus… and, like, some police cars were like, coming, like, fast. Maybe ten? I dunno. Fifteen, twenty… a lot,” said Axinte. “Someone said someone got shot… In that moment I was like, just shocked… I just didn’t know what to do.”
Like her teammate Villar, Axinte saw the aftermath. “I saw like, someone on the floor, like, far away, I mean I wasn’t like, near, but I saw someone on the floor, and people around and a police car near.”
While students like Villar and Wilson may be more used to hearing about shootings like this, Axinte, being from Italy, where firearms are more strictly regulated, isn’t as accustomed to gun violence.
“I mean it’s crazy, I mean for me like, that I don’t have this in Italy,” said Axinte.
Coach Jack Moss was with the team the night of the meet, and was on the bus when the shooting occurred. Unlike most staff at SCHS, Moss has previously witnessed the impacts of gun violence on students. Prior to coming to SCHS, Moss taught at CVPA (Central Visual and Performing Arts High School) in St. Louis, starting the year after a school shooting that killed three people and injured seven more.
“In my first year of teaching I was sitting in on a lot of very tough conversations, and also the amount of training where… I kind of got to learn what happens after something horrible like this happens, and I got to see, you know, my coworkers and friends going through all of that,” said Moss. “Im kind of… sadly, familiar with what happens in situations like this, so I kind of wanted to protect… everybody that I knew in this situation.”
Fortunately, all athletes from SCHS were accounted for, either on the bus or having left with a parent or guardian, and were able to leave quickly.
“We’re very thankful that our bus driver was actually able to get us out of there, and back to the highway as fast as she could,” said Moss.
