How local youth are taking on school gun violence

On the morning of Nov. 8, 2022, Saeran Dewar made her way to Ingraham High School in Seattle’s Haller Lake neighborhood. It was a normal Tuesday, only a few weeks into her senior year. During her second-period statistics class, the school went into lockdown.

“At first, everyone was just sort of frozen and confused, because we hadn't heard anything,” Dewar said.

The protocol of lockdown drills was familiar, though. The class turned off the lights, locked the door and lay down on the floor.

“It was through sort of communication with other students, over text, that we realized: ‘Oh, somebody actually got shot in the building,’” Dewar said. “And then you hear the sirens outside the building, and it gets really, really real.”