On Wednesday, Jan. 17, I caught myself in the midst of a crowd of frantic students running down the steps of Eaglecrest to flee away from presumably the sound of a gunshot and fights occurring both in and outside the school.
As many local news sources from 9News to Fox News have covered the recent course of events, only one general piece of information is that an unknown student has been hospitalized and there are no recent updates.
The perspective of the student community is crucial during this time to fully grasp the situation. From bystanders of the fights that unfolded to the students quickly trying to get away from the situation, Smoky became a big part of the Eaglecrest-Smoky rival game situation.
“After the game, me and my friends left the gym area and we went to kind of like the [Eaglecrest] common [area] and we were just sitting around and one of my other friends fell something on their arm hit them, and then she backed away,” Naod Mikael (11) said, “And then all of a sudden, everything just happened so fast to the point where I feel like we just couldn’t catch it. So they started fighting and everything and then we saw police like, like start jumping on the kids.”
The majority of the Smoky student crowd, like Mikael, were mainly situated in the Eaglecrest commons where an indoor fight broke out.
“Suddenly, everyone turns my direction, which is near the staircase, I’m like, why is everyone up near this way?” Elhonei Negusu (12) said, “And turns out everyone starts dashing, [they] started running.”
Many students also believed to have heard a gunshot during the situation.
“We thought we heard what we thought was a gunshot,” Mikael said, “I don’t know if it was an actual gunshot. But like, what I’ve heard, that was the first time I’ve ever had to run and evacuate a situation like that.”
Historically, both Eagle and Smoky students know that at an event of a rivalry game, separate exits are designated for both schools to avoid fights between students like this one.
“There actually [were] multiple fights and one person actually did get body slammed on, like he was like knocked out,” Negusu said.
From videos emerging on many social media platforms, two are the most prominent– one indoor and one outdoor. Allegedly, the fight that occurred outside was toward the Eaglecrest exit, probabilities that it was mainly students from the home high school are high.
Students can say that this is not an unfamiliar turn of events to happen at the school.
“I’m not surprised. I’m really not surprised because if anything, I’m expecting this to happen,” Negusu said.
Some students reflect on fights themselves in the school environment that hinder emotions for many.
“I feel like we’re all a little bit too rough on each other. I think we kind of take that challenge to like where we take it out on other people and that can cause anger and violence where she kind of releases into why we get into fights,” Mikael said.
Ultimately, this sequence of events took a big toll on both student populations at Eaglecrest and Smoky Hill. Further information as to who was involved in both fights and the student hospitalized is to be determined.
