Cincinnati Enquirer | CityBeat
Cincinnati Enquirer Editor Carolyn Washburn explained in a blog post Tuesday why the paper decided to name a 17-year-old student who attempted suicide in front of classmates on Monday.
The Enquirer’s Jennifer Edwards Baker wrote that the honors student stood up in front of a classroom of about 22 other children in Green Township, “struggled to chamber a handgun, placed it to his right temple and discharged one round into his head,” according to a police report. The paper’s story noted the shooter’s name, age and hometown; the name was repeated by the city’s alt publication, CityBeat, in an item noting the Enquirer story.
Washburn said it “was a difficult decision to name the student” but was necessary.
This was an unusual situation, an extremely public situation. A young man brought a gun into a school. He discharged it in a crowded classroom. There was chaos for an entire community. And one factor – though not the only one – is that students and parents at the school already know who he is; school administrators named him to parents. What will be important now is helping people understand what happened as appropriately as we can, insights that we hope will help other families and their children.
The student remained hospitalized with a head wound. No one else was injured.
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