Gun madness continues with another school shooting

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

I cannot even greet anyone because I have another insane school shooting to report. Two students are dead at Reynolds High School in Troutdale, OR.

USA Today reports:

Tragedy struck an Oregon high school Tuesday when a gunman with a rifle killed a student at the start of the second-to-last day of the year.

The gunman was found dead a short time later, authorities said.

SWAT teams descended on Reynolds High School after receiving a report of a shooting, Troutdale Police Chief Scott Anderson said. The school was locked down and a room-by-room search was conducted.

Anderson said the identities of the gunman and his victim would be released after their families were notified.

Anderson did not say how the gunman died.

This is the 74th school shooting since Sandy Hook.

How many more students are going to have to die before we ban guns?

Antoinette Tuff is a genuine American hero

Friday, August 23, 2013

Good morning to everyone.

I write today to honor Antoinette Tuff, a genuine American hero.

She is the bookkeeper at a Georgia elementary school just outside Atlanta who persuaded an armed and mentally unstable 20-year-old named Michael Hall to surrender peacefully to police after he fired off several shots outside the school.

She was working in the front office when Hall entered the school armed with an AK-47 and 500 rounds of ammunition.

While on the phone to 911, she assumed control of the situation by telling the police to hold off as she gained Hall’s trust that she would protect him from being killed by the police, if he surrendered peacefully.

As they waited outside, Hall stacked the AK-47 and the ammunition on a counter, emptied his pockets, and lay down on the floor face down with his hands behind his back. Then she buzzed the front door open allowing the police to enter and quickly take Hall into custody without firing a shot.

Petula Dvorak writing for the Washington Post has the story.

Here’s the video of her 911 call to police.

I will take intelligence, patience, courage and empathy over a gun any day.

What do you think?

(H/T to Elizabeth for providing the link to the video in her comment)