By BILL ZAN
Staff Writer
On October 24, Jaylen Fryberg, a freshman at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, brought a gun to school and opened fire on his fellow students inside the cafeteria. He invited the victims to the lunch table via text message and then proceeded to shoot them. Fryberg killed fourteen year-old Zoe Galasso at the scene and wounded four others before taking his own life when confronted by teacher Megan Silberberger, authorities have said. Three other students, Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, Andrew Fryberg and Nate Hatch were also critically injured and hospitalized.
The shooting came as a shock to many University High School (UHS) students. Student Kevin Yu (Sr.) said, “The shooting really made me think about my life. It [made me realize it] could’ve been me that was shot.”
UHS’s lockdown drill happened soon after the Marysville shooting. Another UHS student, Emaan Hariri (Jr.) said, “The Washington School shooting left me somewhat petrified, and fearful of the new common trend of school shootings. The fact that it occurred within a few hours of our own lockdown drill left me dumbfounded.”
Fryberg was a popular student at Maryville-Pilchuck; he was recently crowned homecoming prince at his high school. Some of the Maryville-Pilchuck students said to the press that Fryberg was one of the least likely people to do such an act. However, his Twitter posts leading up to the shooting were dark and cryptic, including some such as, “It won’t last…. It’ll never last….” Students and parents continue to mourn the victims.
 Jerin Tomy (Sr.), said, “During the [lockdown] drill I said to my friend, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if there was actually a school shooter right now?’ My friend responded, ‘There was a shooting at Washington earlier today. Does that count?’ It did count. And then I appreciated the drill more for what it is.”