APRIL 12, 1994, 8:25 AM, Margaret Leary Elementary School, Butte, Montana: "I've got 911 on the phone! Get a nurse! Get the kids away! Get the kids away! We've got the whole school out there! This is horrible! Honey, what did you do? Where is the gun honey? Where is the gun? Did you bring the gun to school? Where did you find the gun, sweetheart? Did you use the gun? Did you hit the boy with the gun?"

Crying erupts in the background. " I've got an ambulance on the way," says the 911 dispatcher. "Calm down, Okay?"

This is really, REALLY a serious situation...

That frantic 911 conversation went on to establish that a fourth-grader had just shot a fifth-grader in the back of the head with a .22-caliber pistol. "Who has the gun now?" asked the dispatcher. A teacher, thankfully. "Where is the boy who brought the gun to school?" Right here in my office, fortunately. "Is the victim breathing?" I DIDN'T KNOW! Who was out there with him?

"Is someone out there with him?" I asked, talking as much to myself as to the operator, as the awful realization of what had just happened began to sink in...

THUS began a day - and a year - I will never forget. The victim, a remarkable 11-year-old boy named Jeremy Bullock, died the following day. As it turned out, he wasn't even the intended target of the shooting. He was just standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. His identical twin brother, Joshua now goes to school alone.

The 10-year-old-boy who committed the crime, earned the dubious distinction of being the youngest child in the United States to commit a homicide on school property. (That is until the shooting in Michigan in 2000.) He is a victim as well - a victim of today's society.

As he sat in my office following the shooting, he appeared calm and cool. In contrast, another student was frantically telling me that HE was the intended victim, because of a fight on the playground the day before over a kickball. "Why?" I asked.

"Nobody loves me anyway so it really doesn't matter." was the shooter's reply.

We will never know exactly what caused a 10-year-old-boy to believe the best way to solve an argument was by bringing a gun to school. Nor can we bring Jeremy back, or erase the memories of the innocent children who may never feel quite as safe again in a schoolyard - or anywhere, for that matter. What we can do, and what I've been driven to do ever since this happened, is work to ensure that our schools are safe places.

We must teach children that violence is not a solution and equip them with the skills to peacefully and constructively resolve conflicts. School staff alone can't accomplish this important task. It is one requiring the WHOLE community - parents, law enforcement, social workers, mental health professionals, school board members, and most importantly, the students themselves.

God willing, I won't have to live through this situation again, but if I do, I'll at least be prepared. School communities must develop healthy relationships, allow secondary victims opportunities to heal, and promote mentorships to make schools safe havens. All this because of a 10-year-old-boy and a gun...