Fears rise over graduation day shootings after two killed and four hurt at school celebrations as experts warn of threat
A GRADUATION ceremony is meant to be a cause for celebration, a moment that teenagers all across the country look forward to.
But for many this year's annual festivities have been blighted by fatal shootings that have left two dead and four more injured.
Nowhere was that violence more apparent than at the Middle State University campus in Murfreesboro on Wednesday evening.
One person died while another was critically injured following a shooting that took place after Riverdale High school's graduation.
Witnesses said they heard between six and eight gunshots.
It was not immediately known if the victims were students.
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But law enforcement believes the incident may have stemmed from an argument between two men.
Riverdale’s commencement ceremony for 450 seniors started at 7 p.m. and had ended and people were leaving by the time the shooting had taken place.
The high school was closed on Thursday as a precaution.
That deadly shooting came less than a week after one person was killed and three more injured in a shooting outside a high school graduation ceremony in Arkansas.
The shooting happened last Thursday night outside the Hot Springs Convention Center, which had hosted a graduation ceremony for Hot Springs World Class High School.
Authorities have not said what led to the fight, but Hot Springs School District Superintendent Stephanie Nehus said in a statement that no current students or graduates were involved.
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Hot Springs police officers and Garland County deputies were said to be trying to defuse the situation when a single gunman began shooting into the crowd.
A second shooting in North Little Rock, Arkansas, was reported on Wednesday evening outside a graduation at the Simmons Bank Arena.
No injuries were reported but students and their parents were warned to stay inside.
And the suspected Buffalo shooter had also spoken about carrying out a shooting at a graduation ceremony, according to .
Payton Gendron allegedly gunned down 10 people at the Tops Friendly Markets store on Saturday afternoon.
The school officials described him as a "very troubled young man," leading state police to investigate him under a section of mental health laws.
He was then referred for a mental health evaluation and counselling.
The teenager pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
Then on Thursday Senator Andrew Gounardes tweeted: "Per the NYPD, they have arrested a suspect who they believe called in multiple bomb threats to Fort Hamilton High School this week.
"He is an 18 year old student at the school."
Now, officials in Arkansas are looking into ways they can prevent such violence.
They offer conflict resolution skills at schools across the state.
Mom Nickey Nichols told she is a "little nervous" for her own son's graduation.
But she said the conflict resolution program she helps to run means he is "better equipped to make decisions and not react."
She added: "It’s a part of us taking care of the whole child. Not just the academic piece."
The North Little Rock School District said it was "already working with the North Little Rock Police Department, the administration, and other stakeholders to take additional steps to prevent what occurred from happening again."
In June last year three people were shot dead and five more were wounded after a gunfight erupted outside a hookah lounge where youngsters were enjoying a graduation party.
Two more teens were killed at separate graduation parties that same year.
At the time reported how New Jersey had been prepping for graduations there to be potential shooting targets.
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Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, told the outlet: "Graduation parties should be celebrations, not bloodbaths.
"Our nation’s weak gun laws enable gun violence at parties, places of work and worship, and other spaces where we should be safe."
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