When school shootings happen, the world mourns and people shake their heads, then argue about gun laws and security in schools. Seldom do they take a moment to think about just how heroic some of the teenagers can be. One such teenager was Tate Myre, a running back for the football team.
At Oxford High School in Michigan, a tragic shooting occurred on November 30, 2021. As a result of the shooting, four students were killed, with seven having sustained injuries. One of the four victims that died in the shooting was 16-year-old Tate Myre. Despite what he did during the shooting, it has not been widely reported.
According to Tate’s classmates, Tate had attempted to disarm the school shooter before he was fatally shot. It shouldn’t have come to this, and this should have never happened. Having said that, the 16-year-old risked his own life and put himself in harm’s way, knowing what the outcome could be to try and save the lives of his peers.
It’s utterly heartbreaking. These shootings should never be occurring, let alone as regularly as they are in current-day America.
The thing about this story is that we will never know how many lives he saved that day. We will never know how much time he bought from the shooter because even though it was a matter of seconds, those seconds matter.
How many were able to escape because of Tate’s actions? How much time did he buy for people to get away? How much time did he buy before law enforcement could arrive on the scene? We will never know, however we do know that this individual, this student, risked his own life with the intention of saving the lives of his peers. The time Tate bought was seconds, but so much could have happened in those seconds.
If you don’t think two seconds is a long time, think about it. Count to two Mississippi in your head, and keep in mind that we don’t know how many seconds it was that went by when Tate put his life in harm’s way. In the case of dangerous situations such as this, even half a second is a lot of time, with a lot that could happen. We will never know how many lives he saved that day. Tate’s actions were heroic, and he will be remembered as such.
Since the incident, the public address announcer at Oxford’s football games JR Laefner spoke in an interview regarding her memory of being with Tate’s father, Buck Myre, when the shooting occurred according to the Detroit Free Press. “I was walking with Buck and we couldn’t find Tate. Buck looked right at me, and he said: ‘You know who would go take that guy out, right?’ to which she replied, “I know.”
Tate’s football and wrestling coach, also has since spoken out regarding the incident, saying, “I was told that everybody in that school was running one way, and Tate was running the other way.”
Buck Myre has also spoken since the tragic incident in an interview with the Click on Detroit. “We found out at Meijer, you know, they called the four families into the manager’s office and, and told us the news. All I remember was my wife saying, ‘He was my baby.’ That was the first thing out of her mouth, she just kept repeating it, you know, so. Yeah, it was horrible. It was obviously the worst day of our lives,” He also said in the interview,

“I’m angry at that day and I’m angry at the school ‘cause Tate’s never coming home. Never. And we will never get to see him again, never get to give him a hug. Mom will never get to have her mornings with him.”

Those that were also sadly killed in the shooting include 14-year-old Hanna St. Julian, 17-year-old Madisyn Baldwin, and 17-year-old Justin Shilling. May the lives of them, and all who have lost their lives from school shootings and gun violence across the nation, be remembered. We also keep their families in our hearts during this dark time of loss and grief.