Oregon gunfire resonates in Marysville: ‘Be gentle’

MARYSVILLE — The tragedy might have occurred hundreds of miles away, but it felt close to home.

The Marysville School District on Thursday quickly posted a simple message on the district Facebook page. It read: “Our hearts and thoughts go out to Umpqua Community College and the Roseburg, Oregon community.”

Nearly a year ago, Marysville Pilchuck High School endured the loss of five young lives when a freshmen shot his closest friends before killing himself in a school cafeteria.

On Thursday, a 26-year-old man gunned down people at the Oregon college.

“What Marysville Pilchuck is doing right now, as well as every other school that has been through something like this, they are dealing with some of the fallout,” said Mary Schoenfeldt, a trauma expert who worked on recovery efforts with the Marysville School District for several months after the shootings here. “It (takes) people back to their own experience. They will feel compassion for the victims and witnesses and it will be a reminder of what their experience was.”

Schoenfeldt said adults — parents, counselors and other staff — should remind students and themselves that they have come a long way since the Oct. 24, 2014, shootings.

“Just listen to them and be gentle with them,” she said.

Writing a note can be as helpful for the senders channeling their thoughts as it is to the receivers coping with the shock and sadness, she said.

For now, the Marysville School District and volunteers are planning a “Walk of Strength” event on Oct. 24 to mark a year since the MPHS shootings. It will include students, staff, police, firefighters and people from the Marysville and Tulalip communities.

The event begins at 9 a.m. that Saturday at the high school stadium. It will include time to gather and reflect as a community, walk around the high school and plant thousands of red and white tulip bulbs.

The Roseburg shootings occurred the same day fourth- and fifth-grade students from Lowell Elementary School in Everett practiced a disaster reunification drill. The morning event occurred at Everett Memorial Stadium.

The gist of the drill was to make sure students were connected to families or authorized adults after being taken from their school to another location. That’s what happened in Marysville a year ago after the shootings.

The Everett district had reunification plans on paper but had never practiced it with students and parents, school officials said.

“Our goal was to make sure we had tested a plan and we had thought through ways we would do this if there is an earthquake, a gas leak, a boiler blows up, whatever it might be,” said Mary Waggoner, a school district spokeswoman.

Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.