Caitlin Casey's blog

Before classes began Wednesday a 13 year old student committed suicide in the hallway of an Oklahoma junior high school.  A gunshot was heard and students were terrified a gunman was on the loose.  The school was on lock down and eventually the students were evacuated to a safe place nearby where there parents were allowed to pick them up.

The headline I have used above was the same one that appeared on the home page of the Huffington Post website.  This headline usually implies that a student entered the school and started shooting, often resulting in injuries and possibly deaths.  So I was surprised when I clicked on the article and began to read.  The lead said “A 13-year-old student shot and killed himself in a hallway at an Oklahoma junior high school before classes began Wednesday, police said.”  In this case, what the headline stated was technically true, but I still think it was a bit misleading.  I realized the headline is suppose to be attention grabbing and make people want to keep reading but in this case I think there should have been some mention of the fact that it was a suicide.  When I hear school shooting I automatically think of a gunman shooting other people, not himself, at least not until he has shot other people first.  Even though it was a little misleading, the headline obviously did its job because I read the whole story.