Despite low homicide rates on university and college campuses, the number of fatalities has slowly increased in recent years not only on university campuses, but on grade school campuses as well, which is where we’ve seen the most increases. Crime, but more importantly homicides, has been making its way onto school campuses, and it’s becoming too common. We as a society are becoming more desensitized to this issue. 

   As a future college student, I believe that these issues need more attention because of how the crime and homicide rates are increasing. At the University of Idaho, four students were brutally murdered in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022. Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20 were all fatally stabbed in their sleep. 

   After almost two months, Bryan Kohberger, was arrested on Dec. 30, 2022 at around 3 a.m. in his family’s house in Albersville, Penn. with about 50 police officers on the scene. The suspect was a graduate student at Washington State University, which is 10 miles away from where he allegedly committed the crime. Kohberger was identified as a suspect thanks to DNA technology and police officers that tracked his white Hyundai that led to him.

   Although this story broke headlines, there are many others that don’t receive the same amount of attention, which is why more attention needs to be brought upon this issue. 

   On Nov. 15, 2022, three football players at the University of Virginia were fatally shot by a former player. The lives of wide receivers Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr., as well as linebacker D’Sean Perry were all taken, while two others were wounded. The perpetrator was identified as Darnell Jones. According to Fox Sports Radio, the University of Virginia admitted to knowing that Jones was previously convicted of having a weapon charge, though it was weeks prior to the triple homicide. 

   When killers are not apprehended right away and convicts with prior charges are committing crimes, students within these communities feel unsafe. A further background check could’ve been conducted with Jones, since the University admitted to knowing that he had a prior weapon charge. 

   Near Temple University, police have been investigating the possibility that several recent home invasions are all connected to one another after a third invasion left a 26-year-old man fatally shot, a 15-year-old girl with four gunshot wounds and another victim in critical condition. 

   The feeling of not knowing if you could be next to succumb to one of these tragic attacks is a feeling that students, whether grade school or university, should not face. It’s a constant feeling that also lingers with me knowing that I’ll soon be in college as well. The homicide rate in these schools needs to decrease, rather than increase, and that starts with us.