A high school. A courthouse. A bustling strip of bars and restaurants.
Gun violence left nine dead and more than two dozen injured in three southern cities in recent weeks, ravaging communities and leaving residents searching for answers and struggling to regain a sense of normalcy.
The shootings – one that left two students and two teachers dead at a Georgia high school; another that authorities believe was a targeted “hit” that killed four in Birmingham, Alabama; and a third that left a Kentucky judge dead in his chambers – all caught their local communities off guard and drew national attention.
On Tuesday, school resumed at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, and students filed back into classes where just weeks before they hunkered down, taking cover from a classmate now charged with murder. In Birmingham, life began returning to the neighborhood amid an increased police presence this week.
To college student Mia Kerikas, the entertainment district where the shooting unfolded had been “just a real neat place, no matter what time you’re down here.” Then the unthinkable. “It’s so sad,” Kerikas told the Montgomery Advertiser , part of the USA TODAY Network, “that something like this happened to people just wanting to get together and have a good time.”