Sidenote: This story in its entirety is fake; no characters nor incidents in this story are true or real.

"Girl, I am so stressed for this midterm!" Chris told Rosa. "Like, I studied so much, and memorized the different equations, but what if he gives us something entirely different?"

"Chris, it's going to be fine" Rosa responded, reassuring her very stressed friend. "Prof Gutierrez told us to study these specific equations. If he wasn't going to test us on them, then why would he tell us to do so?"

"True, but we'll see what happens" Chris replied. Both students walked into the semi-full class, opened up their notebooks, and began to study again.

"Bro, you saw the game last night right!" Ricardo asked.

"Yeah, I'm so glad that the Eagles finally beat the Patriots!" Jose responded.

They were heading to their "Introduction to Sociology" class.

"Yeah, like, I'm not a fan of the Eagles, but I'm so happy that the Patriots lost!"

"Me too! Wait, what is that guy carrying over there? Is that a gu-"

*Bang!*

Jose fell to the ground, and laid there, not moving. As Ricardo crouched, he heard another sound.

*Bang!*

Ricardo fell to the ground too, lying next to his friend; his last memory was seeing the gunman walk past him, and into the university's academic building entrance.

The bodies on the ground were all similar to his own skin tone.

"Hey Chris, can you explain to me what the equation in 2A is? I don't really get it" Rosa asked.

"Yeah, that's easy, it's-"

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

Screaming started as students ran into the different classrooms from the hallway. A couple of minutes later, the students in Chris and Rosa's classroom shut the door, stacked a couple of desks to block the door, and hid from sight.

All of the students in the class shriveled as they heard the shooter open the other doors of the classrooms, hearing the same bangs that they heard in the hallway. When the shooter arrived at their classroom door, he opened it suddenly, tipping over the stack of desks meant to keep him out. Then everyone started screaming.

"This is for America!" he yelled.

"No it's not!" Rosa yelled back. The shooter paused for a moment in shock, and everyone looked at the girl who made the remark.

Despite her trembling arms and legs, she rose out from under the desk, and added "you're only doing this for you".

"Want to say that again?" the shooter asked.

"Just before you shoot me, and kill us all, I want to know why" Rosa replied.

"Because of people like you", then he gestured towards her and the other non-white students in the classroom.

"What do you mean people like me?"

"Don't pretend you don't know! You see it in Texas and California already. There is a literal immigration invasion, and many of them are Hispanic."

"What?"

"They take our jobs and healthcare, they don't pay taxes, and they reap the benefits that Americans like me are supposed to get! Even our President said so!"

"That's totally not true. Don't you know that illegal immigrants actually pay taxes, as well as contribute to social security that they will never receive? Secondly, how do your racist ideas give you the right to kill people? Seriously?" Rosa said. She was trembling in fear while saying this.

"That's true because I've seen it! Literally I saw one of them take away my father's job! That literally drove my father to kill himself" the mass shooter replied.

"How?"

"About 6 months ago, my father was working for this one manufacturing company. But then that manufacturing company ran out of business. Then after applying to a couple of other jobs in the area, gets an interview. Then when he is waiting to be interviewed at the office, this latino guy comes in for an interview too. Well, the latino guy got the job, and my father felt like a failure. He got back into his old habits of drinking, and one day I found him on the floor dead. He killed himself with this shotgun I'm holding. That latino guy stole my father's job! Because of him, my father is dead!" he explained.

"I'm so sorry, but what does this have to do with you killing people" Rosa asked.

"Because I don't want anymore latinos or immigrants in this country! They are taking our jobs and they killed my father!"

Sirens are heard in the background by some students, yet this goes unheard by the mass shooter and Rosa.

"No, we didn't, your father did. And maybe that latino guy did get that job. So what? That has nothing to do with the kids you shot outside, the many people that you killed. That has nothing to do with me! Yet you put us all in this one group, thinking we all are the same! We're not! I was born here! Most of the kids you shot were probably born here! We're not all the same! Though you have this extreme anger and hate in your head that says otherwise! So please, just walk out that door, and leave, please" Rosa said.

The mass shooter stood there; one could tell that he listened.

Then the room went black, shots were heard, and screams were heard.

Police rushed in with flashlights that lit the dark room.

As the mass shooter laid on the floor dead, Rosa stared at him intently.

No, she did not pity him in the slightest, she simply got better insight.

For Further Reading:

• Brooks, Mike. "Video Games Don't Cause Mass Shootings. What Does?" Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers LLC, 7 Aug. 2019, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tech-happy-life/20....
• Hennigan, W.J. "How Big a Role Does Social Media Play in Homegrown Terrorism?" Time, Time USA, 30 Oct. 2018, time.com/5438481/terrorism-social-media/.
• Garvey, Megan. "Transcript of the Disturbing Video 'Elliot Rodger's Retribution'." Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 24 May 2014, www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-transcript-uc....