ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — On June 29, several teens were shot at the Carriage House Apartments. One succumbed to his wounds.
The ones who fired the shots were each 16 to 18 years old, as were the victims.
It has continued an uptick in violence seen in young adults and teenagers.
While it is a county and city-wide problem no matter where you live, Ector County ISD Director of Communications Mike Adkins said that the problem has started to become noticed in the schools.
While most of these incidents are isolated and are only a small percentage of students… the intensity of the fights make up for the small number.
“Yes, our school district has seen an increase, and we recognize that the incidents of violence involve only a small fraction of our students, but the district again has seen an increase in violent behaviors among students," Adkins said. "The behaviors rang from school threats, to off campus fights. They seem to be more extreme than we had in the past in these situations.”
There are a lot of factors at play, but social media has been playing a bigger role in it.
Apps like Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram can be used to instigate fights between rival teens, while messages and trash talking can be sent instantly to other people to stir up trouble.
“It plays a role, but kids, and even society in general, will use the communication tools that are available on those platforms, that are available, and kids find a way to use them," Adkins said. "So yes, it does play a role in it. There are more of them, more readily available, they turn over faster in terms of keeping your eye on these things.”
Of course, all actions have consequences. Sometimes, it's not just about disciplining teenagers. On some occasions, there may be more going on behind the scenes that they may not tell others.
The reasons for violent behavior are different for each kid. Maybe they have a troubled home life, or they just don’t have anyone to talk to.
But sometimes, all it takes is to just be present in a kid’s life, and set the right example to help keep kids from taking their anger out on each other.
At ECISD, many students have access to after-school programs and guidance counselors to openly talk about issues.
It's one of many ways that the rising violence problem among teenagers can start to be curved downward.
“There are incidents that we deal with, and there are consequences to that, but we really want to dig into what is the behavior, what's the child and maybe the family experiencing that's having them act this way," Adkins said. "Then how do we find resources that can really try to fix it or make it better.”