The victims of yesterday’s shooting at a Texas high school were in a place where they should always feel safe – in a time when many do not. For generation lockdown, the question is no longer if it could happen, as much as when it will happen.

“Was there a part of you that was like, this is not real. This would not happen in my school?” someone asked Paige Curry, a student at Texas’ Santa Fe High School.

“No, there wasn’t,” Curry said. “It’s been happening everywhere. I felt I’ve always kind of felt like eventually it was gonna happen here, too. So, I don’t know. I wasn’t surprised, I was just scared.”

It’s worth another listen: “no” part of her thought it couldn’t happen at her school.

She is the newest member of the heartbreaking chorus formed from voices around the country, from Lexington Park, Maryland, to Benton, Kentucky.

“I didn’t really believe that something like this would happen to a school near me,” said Makayla Bonds, in Maryland. “And it’s really scary.”

“There was a lot of blood everywhere it was horrible,” said a student in Kentucky.

It’s a generation that knows no matter how forcefully they chant “never again,” their experience suggests they probably will.

In 2018 alone, there have already been 16 school shootings, the highest number at this point during any year since 1999.

Rome Shubert, a sophomore at the school, was treated for a gunshot wound to the head. “[The gunman] had fired 10 to 12 shots in the room before he left,” he said. “I’m one of the lucky ones and I’m glad that God spared me but I just feel bad they didn’t make it. They had no reason to be shot they didn’t deserve that.”

Santa Fe High School was on lockdown less than three months ago. Today, it was for real, which is why one girl no longer thought it couldn’t happen at her school.

“I wasn’t surprised, I was just scared,” she said.

And sadly, she is the voice of this generation.

As of May 18, more than 30 people have been killed and more than 40 have been injured in these shootings in 2018 alone:

• May 18: Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas (9 students, 1 teacher)
• May 11: Highland High School in Palmdale, California (1 injury)
• April 20: Forest High School in Ocala, Florida (1 injury)
• March 20: Great Mills High School in Great Mills, Maryland (gunman dead, 1 dead, 1 injured)
• March 19: Douglass Park Elementary School, Virginia (1 injured)
• March 13: Seaside High School in Seaside, California (3 injured)
• March 7: Huffman High School in Birmingham, Alabama (1 killed, 1 injured)
• Feb. 14: Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. (17 people killed, 14 injured)
• Feb. 5: Oxon Hill High School in Prince George’s County, Maryland (1 student injured)
• Feb. 1: Salvador Castro Middle School in Los Angeles, California. (2 students shot)
• Jan. 23: Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky (2 students killed, 18 injured)
• Jan. 22: NET Charter High School in New Orleans, Louisiana (1 student injured)
• Jan. 22: Italy High School in Italy, Texas (1 student injured)

The question is now, what steps will be taken to make an effort to try to slow down the school shootings in the United States?