A survivor of a 2016 school shooting in Ohio has said he was ordered to apologise after taking part in a mass student walkout to call for gun control. Cooper Caffrey, now 16, was among 43 students at Madison High School in Middletown who received detention for participating in the March 14 protests, which occurred one month after the Parkland shooting that left 17 dead in Florida.
Caffrey was injured in the 2016 shooting when student James Austin Hancock opened fire in the school cafeteria. Four students were injured, including Caffrey, but none were killed. The teen said he felt like he had been 'shot all over again' after being told to apologise for his involvement in the walkout.
When confronted over their decision to punish the students, the school board simply stated: 'We are a society of rules.' Caffrey's father, Marty, said he never expected the school to support the movement, writing on Facebook: 'The whole purpose of a walkout is to protest against an establishment.'
Hancock, who was 14 at the time, pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted murder and one count of inducing panic. He was sentenced to six years in a juvenile facility, with the potential for an extended sentence if he commits another crime. Authorities said he took a relative's loaded gun to school and opened fire, hitting two students, while two others were injured by shrapnel or while running away.
Defence attorney Charles Rittgers said there was no good motive for the attack, describing it as 'totally out of the blue'. He added that Hancock is sorry for his actions and relieved no one was hurt more seriously. All four students have since recovered.
