The shocking moment a news anchor accidentally said ‘back to school shooting’ instead of ‘shopping’ live on air has renewed concern about the danger of school shootings in the US, as millions of children across the country return to their classrooms.
News anchor Maria Stephanos, who appears on Boston-based network WCVB, inadvertently blurted out the word ‘shooting’ during a live broadcast on the channel’s news show – a slip-up that was caught on camera by Massachusetts-based TikTok user Emmi, 21, who posted it to the app, where it quickly went viral.
In Emmi’s video – which she posted with the caption ‘There’s no way that just happened’ and which has received more than 8.9 million views – shows Maria discussing back-to-school shopping.
However, when the moment came for her to say that phrase, she slipped up, instead saying: ‘Back to school shoot- school shopping,’ before staring wide-eyed into the camera, seemingly horrified by her mistake.
Emmi, 21, from Massachusetts, took to TikTok to post footage of the moment a WCVB news anchor slipped up and said shooting instead of shopping
The news anchor Maria Stephanos said: ‘back to school shoot- school shopping’ while on live air
After her slip up, Maria can be seen looking at the camera wide-eyed and embarrassed
Maria has been a news anchor for over 25 years and is now a co-anchor of NewsCenter with WCVB Boston news and many are calling her slip up a ‘honest mistake.’
The video prompted many to note how common school shootings are nowadays.
According to The Gun Violence Archive, there have been 212 mass shootings in 2022 thus far, with the year before ending in 693 mass shootings.
Education Week has been tracking school shootings since 2018. In the past four years, there have been a total of 119 school shootings.
Maria is a co-anchor with WCVB and many are calling her slip up a ‘honest mistake’
In 2022 there have been 27 school shootings thus far, 34 in 2021, 10 in 2020 and 24 in both 2018 and 2019.
According to Education Week, 83 people have been killed in school shootings in the past four years.
In Boston, where Maria is based, Education Week notes that there has been one school shooting in the past four years, which resulted in the injury of a 17-year-old student and a 31-year-old teacher.
Massachusetts state officials point to their strict gun laws for the lack of mass shootings and hope other states will use them as a model.
The state’s gun laws include background check mandates, far-reaching prohibitions, and local licensing standards, all of which they claim should be a guide.
Charlie Baker, Republican governor of Massachusetts, has publicly said the state’s gun laws have proven to work and that states should also adopt the same laws to avoid school shootings.
And while there may not be many school shootings in Massachusetts, other parts of the country are facing the aftermaths of school shootings daily.
Many of the comments on Emmi’s video used the news anchor’s slip up as evidence that there are too many school shootings in the country.
Many of the comments on Emmi’s video used the news anchor’s slip up as evidence that there are too many school shootings in the country
‘Unfortunately, too common of a news headline in the country,’ commented one user.
Another user added: ‘It’s so common in the US that this didn’t even shock me.’
‘Well.. honest mistake,’ wrote another user.
One user wrote: ‘That’s how you know it’s too common.’
‘She’s probably talked ab shootings more than shopping so it’s an honest mistake,’ said another user.
‘The way it just is so normalized in our lives,’ another user added.
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