Washington state school will not reopen cafeteria after shooting rampage

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A Washington state high school where five students died in a shooting rampage last October has decided to permanently close the cafeteria where the violence unfolded, a spokesman for the school said on Monday. The cafeteria at Marysville-Pilchuck High School has been sealed off since a 15-year-old freshman opened fire at a table filled with his friends and cousins in October, fatally shooting four teenagers before taking his own life. One teen boy was wounded and survived. The Marysville community, about an hour's drive north of Seattle, had strongly opposed reopening the cafeteria, and the school district has decided to keep the facility permanently closed, said school spokesman Aaron Toso. Instead, the district will begin raising money to build a new cafeteria for students, who have been eating in the gym since the incident. There was no decision yet on whether the old cafeteria will be condemned or permanently sealed, Toso said. The October shooting at the high school sent shockwaves through Marysville and the close-knit community of the adjoining Tulalip Indian Reservation, home to shooter Jaylen Fryberg. The incident renewed debate about gun control and school safety, as the weapon Fryberg obtained had been legally registered to an adult family member. It also focused attention on how to spot warning signs of possible violence among youths after it was revealed the shooter had left a series of troubling social media postings and then arranged to meet his victims via text message ahead of the shooting. (Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Beech)