May-Lin Racinez

Shootings have intensified discussions about gun laws and how the Second Amendment should be interpreted.

On Nov. 28, 2025 – Black Friday – a 17-year-old male fired shots outside of a Macy’s in the Westfield Valley Fair shopping mall due to an argument with another shopper. The incident happened around 5:40 p.m. and three people were shot.

In the past few years, the increase in public shootings has raised concerns about safety and gun laws. Due to the close proximity of the recent shooting, many SCHS students question how protected they are from violence.

Senior Jace Vu was working inside of the mall at GAP when the shooting occurred. She described her experience during the incident and recalled the moment she found out about it.

“I was actually mid-shift. I immediately heard, ‘Everyone close the doors. Everyone evacuate!’ I looked up and everyone was running into stores nearby,” Vu said. “We were closing the doors and we were yelling at everyone to evacuate. I didn’t get a chance to really process what happened. I was just in a state of fight or flight.”

Vu explained the procedures she and her coworkers had to follow in order to keep themselves and customers safe while the incident was happening.

“Company policy has it that you can’t hide in the fitting rooms or the bathrooms. You have to hide in a stock room. So (my coworkers and I) were yelling at everyone to just hide in the back,” Vu said. “None of us actually knew what was going on.”

Junior Kenneth Vo, who was at the mall with his two friends, shared his point of view as a customer.

“I was in the middle of buying pants and then there was loud popping noises nearby at the corner at Macy’s,” Vo said. “It took a second for people to register and then everybody immediately ran to one direction. I was freaking out because there’s a bunch of people running around. (It was) really chaotic, people screaming.”

As an employee, Vu worked on helping panicked customers inside of the store and keeping them calm while waiting for the police to arrive.

“I remember standing by the door, guarding it, before they asked me to turn off the lights. It got really cramped in the back… we started handing out bags for people to use as fans,” Vu said. “My main priority was making sure that other people felt okay. It’s not a situation that anyone wants to be in.”

After hearing about the incident, freshman Abigail Ng was surprised that something so dangerous would happen at a local mall, and shared her perspective on gun violence as a result of it.

“Watching the news and seeing them talk about places you know is a really weird feeling,” Ng said. “We have enough shootings. It’s time to put guns away.”

Physical education teacher Julie Kawamoto discussed various forms of violence, including gun violence, with her students. She shared the importance of educating students on the topic and her concerns on student safety, stressing the necessity to educate students on violence.

“I always feel concerned for our students’ safety, especially when something like this hits so close to home. I just hope that our students, no matter where they are, know exactly what to do in this type of situation,” Kawamoto said. “Since I teach about various violence, including gun violence in Health class, I realize that these topics and conversations are truly important to talk about to today’s youth.”

Junior Ynez Fern Ariz conveyed her view on gun violence, explaining the need for stricter policies to protect people from similar situations.

“I think the government needs more control over who can access weapons and should focus more on civilian safety. I hope I never experience a shooting, but you never know, especially since so many people have access to guns,” Ariz said.

Vo also agreed that gun ownership should be regulated to make sure only responsible people could have access to firearms.

“Politically, letting people have guns is not really bad, but there should definitely be a test or something. It is a common trend amongst shooters that they are always a little crazy or stupid, so there should be a test before you can get a gun, like an IQ test,” Vo said.

The Guardian reported that countries such as Japan and the U.K have taken a more preventative approach to gun violence by restricting firearms and holding stricter background checks, training and mental health screenings. These measures seem to help keep gun violence away, and they reflect a growing issue with the lenient policies in America.

Vu believes that serious action must be taken to prevent future tragedies.

“Someone physically being like, ‘I’m going to kill you’ is never the way that anyone wants to die,” Vu said. “I think it is a big problem in America, and we’re doing better to work on it, but at the same time, I feel like we could be doing so much more to help enforce laws so that a 17-year-old doesn’t have a gun in his hand.”