With the recent shooting that occurred on December 11^th at roughly 11.10 pm, students may begin to wonder if Iowa State’s campus is truly safe.

The same article that reported the shooting also states that there have been two prior shootings on campus, one in February and one only a few weeks ago.

When I came to Iowa State during orientation, my mother asked anyone she could, “will the campus be safe for her?”. They all answered with yes and began to tell us about the quickness of the Iowa State Police Department and the Ames Police Department. They also would tell us that nothing extreme has happened at Iowa State, of course besides the incidents that happen when college kids experience their first few times of being intoxicated and students who test how long popcorn can stay in the microwave before setting off the fire alarms.

It is relatively rare for there to be an incident that severely scares the student body, such as a shooting with intent or a repetitive shooter. The crime rates at Iowa State is low and there don’t seem to be people targeting the campus and their students.

The shooting that occurred this week was a drive by shooting on Stanton Street, leaving one person injured. This incident is more than likely not a threat to the Iowa State community and there is likely no immediate danger to come from this incident. The aspect of this shooting that immediately disturbed the students most was the suspicious person in Buchanan Hall. However, this was handled by the police department as most other events are handled, quickly responded to and handled to the best of their ability.

The shooting that happened a few weeks ago was a robbery before the holidays that went south very quickly. On November 18^th, 21-year-old Xavier Jordan Shepley was shot in the upper torso when confronted by two men attempting to rob him.

The first one that happened February of this year was a shooting in Campustown, by four males, who shot from their car at a crowd and injured three people.

In the end, these things have a few things in common. For one, they are unrelated and spontaneous events. Secondly, they both were attended to by the police very quickly and taken care of in the same manner.

These events are still tragic and scary, but they are all unpredictable and relatively non-threatening. Just because some people do bad things doesn’t mean that every time you leave the house, something bad will happen.

Note to the readers: I write how I speak, 50% sarcasm and 50% the truth of what I experience and how I process my experiences. None of what I say it meant to offend anyone.