During Monday’s edition of MSNBC Live With Stephanie Ruhle, reporter Mariana Atencio interviewed some members of the Santa Fe High School baseball team, including two who got shot during Friday’s mass shooting that killed ten people. Atencio repeatedly tried to get them to become gun control warriors like many of the teens who survived the recent mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
In the wake of the Parkland shooting, many students from Douglas High School became outspoken gun control advocates and media heroes, including frequent TV guests David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez. These students headlined the “March for Our Lives,” a large gathering demanding Congress pass gun control that took place in Washington, D.C. on March 24.
About halfway through the interview, Atencio brought up Parkland: “You think about Parkland. It happened in February. There’s been a national debate about gun safety and gun reform. What do you guys think should be done?” She may have hoped to hear the students channel their inner David Hoggs and demand gun control. Instead, Santa Fe High School student Trenton Beazley simply advised students across America to “be kind to others.”
Atencio also asked them “Have you heard what you want to hear from lawmakers, from the Governor, from your Senators?” She got this answer: “I haven’t heard much. But I’ve seen stuff about our school. Somebody said that they’re going to be donating metal detectors to our school. But I just think just simply locking the doors to anywhere, just locking the doors from outside, having the kids all come in one way, looking for suspicious things, locking the doors to every classroom. That would prevent a lot of things from happening.”
Atencio tried to get them to become gun control advocates one final time, suggesting that they have a “responsibility” to become gun control advocates like their counterparts in Parkland: “We saw the teens in Parkland really become the voices of the movement for gun reform across the country. Now your voices have become all important. How do you feel about that responsibility on your shoulders right now, Trenton?”
Once again, Atencio did not likely get the answer she had hoped for. Beazley responded to her question by saying “It’s just kind of, you know, what it is. You know, it’s sad that it happens everywhere but, you know, you just kind of have to go through it.”
The media has expressed disappointment that the tragedy in Santa Fe has not prompted the same calls for gun control that resulted from the mass shooting in Parkland. Even though they probably did not give her the answers and activism she wanted, Atencio still praised the Santa Fe students for showing “unity, resilience, incredible example, not only for the community of Santa Fe but for the rest of the country and the world.”
A transcript is below. Click "expand" to read more.
MSNBC Live With Stephanie Ruhle
05/21/18
09:26 AM
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Welcome back. I’m Stephanie Ruhle. Sad to talk about another story like this one. Classes at Santa Fe High school, they’re cancelled today and tomorrow after Friday’s deadly shooting. About 90 minutes from now, the school will hold a moment of silence for ten victims; eight students and two teachers. Yesterday, the community honored one of the victims, a Pakistani exchange student who had no family in this country. 13 other people were injured when the gunman opened fire. Police say the 17-year-old suspect has confessed to the crime. MSNBC’s Mariana Atencio joins me now from Santa Fe High School. Mariana, Kelly Clarkson, a Texan native, spoke over the weekend and she said moments of silence don’t do anything, it’s time for something more. You have been talking to some of those Santa Fe students. What are they telling you?
MARIANA ATENCIO: There’s a lot of grief Stephanie, a lot of shock and coming to terms with what happened. And for them, you know, you see it in the news. They tell me they saw Parkland happen in February. But when you start hearing those gunshots, you never quite think that it’s happening in your school. I’m here with the Santa Fe baseball team. Two of their members, Rome Shubert and Trenton Beazley, got shot in that massacre on Friday. Rome, can you walk me through what you experienced?
ROME SHUBERT: Just normal day, doing work as usual, and I didn’t know where a couple of shots rang out and immediately hit the deck, flipped the table in front of me, a few more shots rang out, and I looked at the back door. He may have left the room for a second, so I took off for the back door. No idea I had even been shot in the head. Got over the wall and started running towards the parking lot.
ATENCIO: And you got shot?
SHUBERT: I got shot in the back of the head and it came out just below my ear. And it missed all my vitals and everything.
ATENCIO: Trenton, you also got shot. And less than 48 hours later, Stephanie, this team was on the baseball team -- you guys didn’t play, but you were out there.
TRENTON BEAZLEY: Yes ma’am.
ATENCIO: Why was it important for you to show face in the community?
TRENTON BEAZLEY: You know because our community, they really just backed us up, the whole situation. And our team is like, we’re like brothers to each other, we’re family. So you know if us going out there, it’s like losing a brother, so we all had to be together.
ATENCIO: When you guys think about the prospect of going back to school, what are your thoughts?
SHUBERT: Definitely hard. I don’t think I’ll be able to even go near that wing of the school. It’s going to be really difficult.
ATENCIO: You think about Parkland. It happened in February. There’s been a national debate about gun safety and gun reform. What do you guys think should be done?
BEAZLEY: It’s just kind of hard to control some of this stuff. I just say you got to be kind to others. Because they could, you say one thing to one kid, and that could set it off.
ATENCIO: Have you heard what you want to hear from lawmakers, from the Governor, from your Senators?
SHUBERT: I haven’t heard much. But I’ve seen stuff about our school. Somebody said that they’re going to be donating metal detectors to our school. But I just think just simply locking the doors to anywhere, just locking the doors from outside, having the kids all come in one way, looking for suspicious things, locking the doors to every classroom. That would prevent a lot of things from happening.
ATENCIO: We saw the teens in Parkland really become the voices of the movement for gun reform across the country. Now your voices have become all important. How do you feel about that responsibility on your shoulders right now, Trenton?
BEAZLEY: It’s just kind of, you know, what it is. You know, it’s sad that it happens everywhere but, you know, you just kind of have to go through it.
ATENCIO: This generation, Stephanie, as you heard, I mean, the stats are staggering. And they are showing unity, resilience, incredible example, not only for the community of Santa Fe but for the rest of the country and the world. Thank you, guys, for joining us today. Stephanie, back to you.
RUHLE: Thanks so much, Mariana, as we think about those kids down in Texas.
