If you or someone you love is going through a mental health crisis, don’t be afraid to seek help. If you see something, say something.

The most recent school shooting in America, at the time of publication for this story, happened in on October, 10 in “Leland, Mississippi, where fans of Leland High School had gathered after that night’s homecoming football game, [and] authorities say multiple people opened fire on a crowd and killed seven people and shot or injured 26,” according to a column by Jarvis DeBerry from MSNBC.

Mississippi was plagued with two other gun violence events that same night, all on high school campuses, according to DeBarry’s column.

Everytownresearch.org states, “In 2025, there were at least 118 incidents of gunfire on schoolgrounds, resulting in 36 deaths and 108 injuries nationally.” 

For the 2025-2026 school year so far, there have been 13 school shootings with injury or deaths, 47 people injured or killed in school shootings, seven people killed (four students or other children, and three staff or other adults killed) and 39 people injured, according to an Education Week publishedW on October 16.

However, there is not just one agreed-upon definition for a mass shooting, or gun violence. 

According to a NPR’s All Things Considered by Julia Kim in September of 2025, “ the Gun Violence Archive — which counts all instances in which four or more people were shot (injuries and deaths), not including the shooter, and regardless of location — reported over 300 mass shootings this year.”

Kim also states that “the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government, a nonpartisan think tank, only tracks shootings that occur in public or populated places, involve at least two victims (injured or killed), and excludes incidents related to gang violence or terrorist activity. By its definition, there have been 12 mass shootings in 2025.”

According to the “Mass Shooting Fact Sheet” on the Rockefeller Institute of Government website, 22% of mass shootings are most likely to occur at a school. 

What’s Happening at Home

While Portsmouth High School’s safety and how safe students feel at school are higher than the national average, according to Assistant Principal Shawn Donovan, PHS is committed to ensuring the safety of students and staff against gun violence. 

“We want to continue to try to improve what we do here for safety for students and staff and the people here, also for our building and facilities,” Donovan stated. He continued to assert that everyone is dedicated to making sure an incident does not occur.

Donovan addresses the dangers of increasing numbers of gun violence, noting that “it seems overwhelming to think that it’s such a big issue. It seems like you can’t go anywhere without being affected by it or it touching you or your life in some way.”

Students’ responses have proved that while they feel safe in PHS, many students believe that there is still room for improvement in the safety at PHS. 

“I do feel safe at school, especially in Portsmouth,” stated Amalia Kimball in an interview. 

“I do feel safe to a certain extent,” said Addie Delisle while responding with Kimball. Both students are seniors at PHS and have experienced lockdown situations at PHS to gun violence. 

According to a May 14, 2024, Seacoast Online article by Karen Dandurant, there was a Portsmouth School Shooting threat on April 12, 2023, which involved a 26-year-old Kyle Hendrickson. 

Hendrickson took a Snapchat video in front of PHS, inside of a vehicle with a handgun. The video contained overlaying text reading “Imma gonna shoot up the school” and caused PHS to have the next day of school off. 

Hendrickson was sentenced to 37 months in prison. 

Kimball and Delisle both were able to recall the day of this event, saying that they felt there was a lack of information in PHS. 

Another incident that Kimball and Delisle were able to recall was the bullet on a bus incident. 

Another Seacoast online article from Ian Lenahan on October 24, 2024, states that a single .22 caliber bullet, unfired, was found on a Portsmouth public school bus. 

Steve Chinosi, PHS principal, was told by the Portsmouth police department that to keep everyone safe they needed to keep everyone in classrooms.

No weapons or ammo were found during the police interviews and check-ins with students, and bags were checked of the students who were on the particular bus where the bullet was found. 

Students Kimball, Delisle, and Bailey Trudel, also a senior at PHS, remember being told it was a “medical hold” during this event.

After the hold lasted longer than usual, Trudel said that she began “hearing from peers and teachers what was going on by rumor, not by actual information.”

After the event was when students were informed clearly that it was in fact not a medical hold, but a sort-of-shelter in place to prevent moving between classrooms. 

Chinosi said “in retrospect I said the wrong thing” when referring to calling the incident a medical hold, and he states “we don’t want to take away the trust we all have with each other.”

“Overall, we learned a lot, and mistakes are part of that journey,” said Chinosi. “Continuous improvement is the goal. We took the right steps after [this incident] to keep growing and learning.”

Officer Lynn Thomas, PHS Resource Officer, states that students need to “be aware of their surroundings” and to “see something, say something.” 

When asking her if she had anything to say to students at PHS, she said: “I just want you guys to be kids, enjoy being kids,” and “It’s okay not to be okay, seek out help.”

According to a Columbia University Irving Medical Center Article, approximately 5% of mass shootings are related to severe mental illness.

National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline- Call 8000-273-8255 or Call 988. You are not alone.