This morning on the way to his bus stop on Oakdale Avenue in Uplands Park, an FHC student was shot. The student was taken to the hospital and has since been released. Principal Sonny Arnel shared what the school currently knows and the student’s condition.

“We were informed, probably about six o’clock or a little after that, that one of our students had been on his way to his bus stop and he was approached by some gentlemen and I’m not quite sure what took place during that issue, but one of our students was shot at or possibly shot,” Dr. Arnel said. “So that, of course, is very concerning for us, about the students on the bus and the individual student that was involved in that situation.”

All of the details are still being researched, but as of now this is what Dr. Arnel has to update the community for what happened this morning. The school showed concern and looked into the situation and met with the school resource officer as soon as word of the incident reached school.

“We began to work through the process of trying to determine what happened and meeting with Officer [Troy] Inserra to see what he could find out for us … We did find the student, we wanted to make sure we talked to his teachers and make sure we work through and identify the kids on the bus and try to talk to all of them,” Dr. Arnel said.

Not only was the safety of the student at risk, but also all the other students riding the bus to school this morning could have been in possible danger so the school attempted to meet with them as well. The student injured was taken to the hospital, but he is now in better conditions and his mind is already off the situation it seems.

“Now we have come to find out that the young man has been treated at the hospital and has been released and he is on his way home. I know his mother shared with us that he was asking about math homework and stuff like that, so his mind is on us, he wants to be here,” Dr. Arnel said.

Many of the exact details and what happened this morning remain unknown for now, but Dr. Arnel remains concerned about the safety of the student and hopes that he continues to recover. When asked about changing anything in the future due to the incident, Dr. Arnell said he could not offer a comment on it for the time being. Instead, Dr. Arnel wanted to remind the importance of taking care of the school as a safe place in times of crises.

“Tragedies and crises like this occur and you never know how people are going to respond. To some people it is no big deal, other kids will laugh about things, and other kids will cry and get emotional,” Dr. Arnel said. “Everybody responds to crises differently and we just gotta make sure in times like this we really count on taking care of each other and making sure we have a safe environment emotionally and physically.”