Investing.com -- The U.S. Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime announced the awarding of a $2.1 million grant on Friday to organizations providing support to the victims of last October's fatal shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School outside Seattle.
The announcement came on the eve of the one-year anniversary of the tragic event, perpetrated by a ninth-grade student and member of Tulalip Tribes, a prominent Pacific Northwest tribal family. The student shot five peers in the school cafeteria, before taking his own life. Only one of the five other students wound up surviving the massacre.
The grant will be made to the State of Washington's Department of Commerce's Office of Crime Victims' Advocacy to help support its crisis response and consequence management service costs for organizations providing crisis intervention services and trauma-informed care, the Department of Justice said in a statement. Earlier this week, a contingent of fourth graders at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club took part in a music therapy program funded by Tulalip Tribes that has helped the students cope with the trauma resulting from the shooting. The program was one of several initiatives launched by the tribe this year to provide assistance to its members affected by the shooting, the Everett Herald reported.
"Though a year has passed, the pain and deep sorrow surrounding the shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School remains," said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes for the Western District of Washington. "These funds will provide critical services to those whose lives are forever changed, and will further support the Marysville-Pilchuck school community as it works to rebuild its sense of safety."
Following the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995, U.S. Congress authorized the Office for Victims of Crime to set aside up to $50 million annually from the Crime Victims Fund for the Antiterrorism Emergency Reserve Fund to assist victims from extraordinary circumstances, such as a mass-shooting or other terrorist acts. Most recently, the OVC made grants to help assist victims from the Boston Marathon attack in 2013 and the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012.