The United States endured another mass shooting on Tuesday. Two gunmen walked into the STEM School in Highlands Ranch, an area south of Denver proper, in Colorado and opened fire. One person was killed, eight were injured, and both suspects are in custody.
Before his opening press conference on Tuesday night, Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone addressed the situation. Malone has been with the team since 2015 and is part of the community. Even further, the Nuggets coach says he lives “two minutes” from the school and thus, it hit him even harder.
Via Mile High Sports:“I think we are all aware of what happened down in Highlands Ranch today at the STEM School. That is a community that I live in. I know that thoughts and prayers are never enough, but one student was killed, (seven) were injured today. From myself, our team, our organization, our thoughts and prayers are with all of those families, those students, school administrators, everybody that was there today. It is a tragedy.”
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“The second thing that I would like to say is a thank you to the Douglas County Sheriffs Department that was there and on top of it in a matter of minutes and all of the first responders that were there and did not allow that to become worse than it was, but it is a shame,” Malone stated as the emotion of the moment was clearly becoming hard for him to manage. “My girls have been in lockout twice in the past month. I am not a politician and I do not have the answers, but something must change. I just wanted to make sure I acknowledged what happened today, in my backyard, and that all of those families are on my mind.”
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“I am texting my daughter telling her she is going to be ok, but I do not even know if she will be ok. This is every parents worst nightmare.
It seems like it’s said every time this happens, but it’s unfortunate that the conversation about gun control in the United States doesn’t seem to be advance even after people like Malone speak up about it.
To that effect, Malone said that he felt as though the problem wasn’t just with Colorado and that he thought it needed to be addressed.
“This is an epidemic and it continues to happen,” said Malone. “That is the frustrating thing. How do you stop it? Gun control, laws, whatever it might be.”