Steven Jones, a freshman at Northern Arizona University, was officially charged with second degree murder and six counts of aggravated assault after he open fired on the Flagstaff campus. The shooting occurred around 1:30 am, when the gunman opened fire inside Mountain View Hall, a heavily populated residence hall that houses many of the school’s sorority and fraternity members. The school was on lock down until the shooter was taken into custody. Jones is being held in lieu of $2 million bail.  It is not clear as to what sparked the shooting but investigators are looking further into it.

“I think it’s a horrible situation and that we should require higher protection standards for our schools,” says junior, Maddie Acampora. “It’s beyond heartbreaking to hear about another schools shooting because schools are supposed to be safe havens for their students.”she continued. Unfortunately, school shootings are not a rare headline in our news.  Just last week nine people were killed at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College when a gunman armed with six weapons open fired on campus. Whether it be greater security or more thorough background checks, something needs to be done in order to prevent such tragedies from occurring.