The stabbings of July 1 hit this city like a blow to the gut, leaving us speechless and baffled.

What is so dumbfounding about this violence is that there seems to be no reason in it, no context in which to make sense of it. This bloodshed wasn’t gang-related. It wasn’t racially motivated. It wasn’t part of some other criminal activity.

Nor is Ryan Sullivan’s death like other senseless deaths his classmates have seen in recent years. He didn’t die of an overdose. He didn’t take his own life.

Many of the paradigms we turn to when confronted with this kind of tragedy prove useless here.

Ryan Sullivan’s death can’t be explained by lack of family support or despair or insufficient funding for youth programs. Indeed, it’s hard to see what anyone could have done differently to keep him safe.

If there can be any consolation in the midst of this tragedy, it is that the youth of Somerville, who are by now not unfamiliar with sudden loss, are learning how to cope with catastrophic news in as healthy a way as possible.

All day Friday, as the news spread, groups of teens gathered together to talk about what happened and to share each other’s support. When night fell and the full moon rose, they found each other on the corner of Warwick and Cedar streets, helping each other make sense of the senseless.

Small comfort it is to Somerville that our children are becoming wise in the ways of calamity and adept and coping with devastation.

We send the Sullivan family our condolences, and to Jules Stevens, who as we go to the presses is still in hospital, our best wishes for a speedy recovery.