Carlos Frazier has a child at Slinger Middle School, and much like other Slinger parents, experienced a wave of panic during the active shooting false alarm Friday.
After the mass shooting at an Uvalde, Texas elementary school and the racially motivated shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, Frazier couldn’t help but think the worst. Not only was he worried about his son’s safety because of a potential active shooter, but because he is a student of color at a predominantly white school.
Frazier said “My first concern was ‘okay there aren’t that many black kids at this school – my god, my son is probably on that list.’ So, you know, that was that moment of not needing all the information but by just going in by pure adrenaline and automatic thinking the worst.”
Upon picking up his son, Frazier said his son was able to remain calm and serve as a leader to other students. Helping calm them down with some other peer leaders. The incident made him want to spend more time with his son and made him feel blessed.
Chaos ensued during the school day on Friday as student yelled “I have a gun” in a crowded hallway. After the middle school went into lockdown, as well as other schools in the district, law enforcement got the alleged student in custody and he later admitted the claims were a hoax.
Despite wanting to know all of the information, Frazier says in these situations parents need to give authorities and the school time to gather and administer the proper information. He said “Give the people in charge a chance to get out information before we jump to conclusions and think the worst.”
The alleged student was taken into custody and no gun was found.
