Shootings hit home

A three-week wave of shootings that left ten people dead and three injured frightened the Blair community and personally affected several Blair students.

Senior Jeremy Stevens was working the evening shift at the Shoppers Food Warehouse in Wheaton when James Martin, who was loading groceries into his car, became the first victim in the string of sniper attacks that began on Oct 2. "At first, there was a shot, and it sounded like a tire blew out," said Stevens. "Some people came running inside, and they looked very pale. That was very scary."

Stevens ran outside to see what had happened. "There was a lot of blood on the ground and a lot of police all around," he said. Stevens said he saw the paramedics making futile resuscitation efforts. "They were trying to give him CPR," Stevens recalled. "But it didn't look like he would make it."

Then, Stevens went back inside the store, where many of the customers had taken refuge. "Most of the customers didn't want to leave at the time. They were just asking, ‘What happened, what happened?'" he said. Stevens said that the customers sought refuge in the store until they were sure the shooter had left the area.

Stevens was astonished at the brazenness of the gunmen. "I was shocked. I was surprised that something like this would happen in broad daylight," said Stevens.

Stevens, like most area residents, said he had no idea that the shooting at Shoppers would be just the beginning of a chain of homicides. "I thought it was just one shooting and that was it," said Stevens. "I thought it was a personal matter."

The shooting spree also affected a Blair senior whose aunt was killed Oct 3 while reading a book on a bench outside the Leisure World post office in Silver Spring.

Staff have also been impacted by the recent tragedies. Principal Phillip Gainous believes that although staff had to be examples of courage for students, some were upset or scared. "The teachers have to be going on as normally as possible so that students won't panic," said Gainous. "But that doesn't mean that they aren't frightened."

Even though he doesn't like to admit it, Gainous said, the recent attacks distressed him. "I liked to believe that I was not affected, but I found myself scanning all around, putting the pumps between me and the car when pumping gas," Gainous said. "This thing has gotten to me."

Montgomery County police tried to allay such fears by positioning an unmarked police car and several marked cruisers outside Blair during the opening and closing of school. Also, a police helicopter circled the building before school during the week of Oct 7.

MCPS instituted modified Code Blue emergency procedures from Oct 3 to 11. Outside doors were locked, use of the building was restricted and students in internships were not allowed out of the building for five days.