The hallways and cafeteria at Dadeville High School—known for being filled with laughter and chatter—were eerily quiet this past week as students in the Alabama town grappled with the aftermath of a mass shooting at a classmate’s Sweet 16 party.
“Just walking into the lunch room, it was like you were in a library,” Chris Hand, the school’s principal, said.
During the first few days of classes, only about half the student population, which ranges from grades 6-12, showed up to school. According to Hand, some were still in the hospital recovering from the attack. Others were grieving. And some students stayed home because the shooters were still at large.
