Details are still sparse, but Baltimore's WJZ television and the Baltimore Sun are reporting that one student at Perry Hall High School is in critical condition after another student apparently shot him in the back in the cafeteria on the first day of school. The alleged shooter is in custody and the school has been evacuated, so this was, fortunately, a relatively minor incident as school shootings go. But it's yet another disturbing incident in this summer of the gun, following a man burst into a Colorado movie theater and opened fire and another attacked a Sikh temple in Wisconsin with a semiautomatic pistol a few weeks later. Those are in addition to the more recent shootings near the Empire State Building and at the Family Research Council.

CBS reports a Facebook page allegedly belonging to the shooter included a threat, and one Facebook page that's being passed around on Twitter as the suspect's includes this final update: "First day of school, last day of my life. t(~_~t), fuck the world." But we're not going to provide a link because there's nothing to prove this page belongs to the shooter. 

This story is becoming depressingly familiar, and now that schools are getting back in session we're really hoping Monday's incident will prove isolated, and not a trend.

[Inset photo via Perry Hall High School / Megan McHargue]

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Adam Martin