My boss called this morning to say that she wouldn't be coming in. She assumed that I had heard the news, but because we got home from Salt Lake City in the evening and then decided to watch a movie, I was shocked to find out that 3 UW students died violently sometime Saturday night or Sunday morning. One of the students was her daughter's friend. It's horrible to hear about something like this.

There are very few details at this point, but the local news is stressing that the community is not in any immediate danger. That stuck out to me, because it's rare to find a town that does not experience this kind of thing often enough to just be used to it in some ways. Most communities cannot make the claim that they are still safe, because some other horrible thing is most likely going to happen again soon. But I don't think Laramie has seen much violence since Matthew Shepard died several years back.

In any case, I am keeping my eyes peeled for more details, and my prayers go out to the families and friends of these young people. I can't help but wonder what was going through their minds, or what plans they had that were cut short- even just plans to sleep in, or to go on a vacation, or talk to their parents. Everything is so fragile.