Vigil.us wins Rep. Yvette Clarke’s 2022 Congressional App Challenge in New York’s Ninth District

When asked what inspired the creation of Vigil.us, the student said, ”Early in 2022, news of the Uvalde School shooting was being covered all over the internet. I was shocked, horrified, and scared at how easy it was for a criminal to enter a school with a weapon. As a high school student, I felt like we were just sitting ducks waiting for a shooter to come into our building one day. I also felt enraged that almost nothing was being done to prevent shootings in general, not just in school, from harming more innocent people. However, articles started to surface with reports stating that the shooter from the Uvalde school shooting hinted that he was going to commit such a crime from personal anecdotes of his coworkers, friends, and relatives. I was surprised that not one of them reported this behavior prior to the incident and that made me realize that detecting signs of instability and violence was extremely difficult. Not many people would be willing to go through the trouble of contacting the FBI or the police station over minor suspicions. Thus, I decided to create an app that solved this exact problem: to make reporting suspicious people easy, anonymous, and detailed. I hope that with my app, more suspicious behavior will be reported and that more potential shooters will get caught before they get the chance to commit any atrocities.”