'Defeating the Devil'
Over the past few days, my thoughts have been consumed by the double-murder suicide at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge.
Sadly, it wasn't the initial reports of the school shooting that caught my attention during the mid-morning hours of Feb. 8. The murder of innocent youth is always tragic, but unfortunately, such disasters are not as rare as they should be. Instead, it was the news that a female shooter was involved. Of all the recent school tragedies, this one seemed very different.
When I learned the assailant shot two females at a technical school before turning the gun on herself, I sensed practical nursing students could be involved. My suspicions were confirmed later in the afternoon when it was reported that one of the victims, Taneshia Butler, 26, was in the PN program.
In fact, all involved in this tragedy - victims Butler and Karsheika Graves and their killer, Latina Williams - were PN students. The incident happened in a classroom of 20 PN students. All women were in their 20s, and Butler and Graves were mothers who were trying to improving their job prospects by earning their LPN.
Police reports Feb. 11 indicated Williams had psychological issues. It seems that Butler and Graves were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yet, the deaths of these two individuals caused so much hardship for so many. How could anyway forgive Williams or feel compassion for her family?
But that's just what the victims' families did.
Soon after she learned of her daughter's death, Bobbie Landry, Butler's mother, told a TV reporter that her family felt sympathy toward Williams' mother, Jennie.
"[Children are] out of your hands once they grow up," Landry said. "I pray for you. I'm sorry for your loss."
Over that weekend, Jennie Williams issued a statement regarding the tragedy. She apologized for her daughter's actions and said she would be "haunted to the end of my days by what my child has done."
Those words stuck with Graves' aunt, Karlyn LeBlanc, who asked to arrange a meeting with Williams and the Graves family Feb. 10.
"I didn't want her to think I was angry with her, or that we have a grudge," LeBlanc told KSLA-TV in Baton Rouge.
LeBlanc said they had a conversation the family will never forget. "She started crying and said she was so sorry for what her daughter did to my niece. We got in one circle and prayed. This is one occasion where the devil will be defeated."
LeBlanc told reporters she wants all those who were in that second floor classroom, who lived it, to remember that.
It's a lesson we should all heed as well.
A memorial fund has been established in the memory of Taneshia Butler and Karsheika Graves. For more information on "The LTC, Baton Rouge Campus Student Memorial Fund," visit www.lctcs.edu/ltcRemembers/default.asp#fund