@Bobotron Me too.
http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/2015/04/27/north-thurston-high-school-shooter/26449025
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Everyone, including the kid with the gun, was saved by the teacher's immediate action. It is worth mentioning that while Mr. Olsen is the one that actually got there first, the principal, the security officer, and at least one other adult were sprinting in the direction of the gunshots rather than away to do the same thing. We don't know how bad it could have been. Think about that next time you're making a decision that relates to our public school teachers.
The child in question did explain to the police that he did not plan on hurting anyone and was just attempting death by cop, being suicidal. It's why he was shooting at the floor/ceiling. Which is still dangerous, but the kid didn't know that.
Please remind your children that if one of their friends starts talking about suicide, it is better to tell somebody. It's not a break of their confidence, they could be saving somebody's life.
This story totally had a happy ending (the teacher in question is definitely a hero), but it also could have been prevented if one of the girls that said that he'd been having text conversations about ending his life with them had spoken up. It was more than one girl.
And to end it on a good stuff note:
When it happened, a number of kids in the area were told to run, on the basis that people heard the gunshots. My son did exactly what he was told. He ran. Out of the area, then off of campus, then the mile and a half to get home. I was like 'I don't think they meant you to come home' and he said 'my teacher just said run'.
Second, the school is situated right by a shopping area which includes a Safeway, a Starbucks, and a Lowe's. With the hundreds of kids fleeing the school (there's about 1400 students) as they were, the businesses stepped up, found places in said businesses that were secure and safe for all of them, and kept them there until district officials/parents were able to pick them up. They assisted in head-counts and alerting the district as to which children were where, helping LOTS with ensuring parents knew where to go find their children. All without being directed to do so.
The communication system the school has is great, too. About every hour as a parent of a kid there, I got a text message keeping me appraised of the situation. While my child was safe, had he not come running (heh heh heh) home, I would have really appreciated the frequency of the updates. Where the kids were, where we could find them, what was going on.
So many things could have gone wrong today, but between the staff of the school and our local community, everybody ensured that it all worked out.