A year after a shooting at Ingraham High School, students are traumatized and want change

It’s been a year, but Kalli Dahlberg doesn’t think she’ll ever forget the morning of Nov. 8, 2022.

Her second period social studies teacher was wearing the same “Vote!” T-shirt he wears for every Election Day and talking about the Electoral College, when she heard gunshots just outside her classroom.

Dahlberg remembers her teacher crouching and running to the door to lock it from the outside. But as she reflects on that day, standing outside school on a windy November day, Dahlberg said what really sticks with her is the look of “absolute terror” on her friend’s face.

“I had a lot of moments that day where I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is happening,’” she recalled through tears. “That was one of them — just, ‘Oh my God.’ That wasn’t lockers. That was a gunshot. This is happening now.”

Later, Dahlberg crawled to the corner of the classroom farthest from the door. As her classmates texted their families and friends, Dahlberg realized she’d left her phone across the room. She could barely remember her mom’s phone number, but she borrowed her friend’s phone to text her goodbye — just in case.

“It was obviously a very traumatic situation,” she added. “At least for me and some other people in my class… we thought we were next.”