Cupertino shooting alerts SHS to be prepared

On Oct. 5, a 45-year-old cement plant worker Shareef Allman killed three and wounded six people in Cupertino. Allman was killed a day later, after police officers opened fire on him.

“I stayed at home that day because everyone was worried about the shooter, but I still felt pretty safe,” Monta Vista sophomore Michael Xie said.

Like Cupertino, Saratoga has always seemed to be in a little bubble, protected from many dangers of the world. However, this recent event has reminded students that life isn’t as safe as they may assume.

The proximity of the shooting to Saratoga alarmed students more than it would have if it had occurred in San Francisco or San Jose.

“I was a little scared by it because it wasn’t too far away from Saratoga High,” sophomore Margaret Maccoun said. “ The thought that the shooter could go to our high school was a little intimidating.”

The Fremont Union High School District sent out a warning email to members of all the schools in the district on the morning of the shooting, instructing parents to keep their children at home for their own safety. However, some students did not receive the message in time and were kept in school upon their arrival.

By 10:30 a.m. all the schools in the Fremont Union High School District were either in “Red” or “Blue” lockdown or and students could only go home after being picked up by parents.

Aside from schools in the Cupertino area, Laurelwood Elementary School in Santa Clara was closed, along with Peterson Middle School in Sunnyvale and three Mountain View high schools.

De Anza College, however, was not closed down, despite being in close proximity to the Lehigh cement plant.

SHS did not go into lockdown or Code Blue, as school administrators did not believe that the school was in any immediate danger from Allman.

“In my mind, this guy wasn’t a random person shooting up the neighborhood,” principal Jeff Anderson said. “He went to that job site because he was angry about being disciplined for bad performance. He had an issue with his job, not with Saratoga High. The chances of him coming down Saratoga-Sunnyvale road and deciding to hide in SHS were pretty remote.”

Anderson also contacted the Santa Clara County Sheriff Deparment department, which said that the school had nothing to worry about and they would keep the school administrators aware of any new information.

“We didn’t want to disturb the learning environment needlessly,” Anderson said.

Therefore, students went on with their day as usual. Some Saratoga parents chose to keep their children at home, which is allowed in such a situation.

The shooting has served to make students value living in Saratoga along with all the security and safety that comes with it.

“I truly appreciate the environment we live in. There isn’t much crime here compared to other cities, so I can focus on what I should focus on rather than wondering if I will be alive the next day,” Maccoun said.