Gunman at School Board Meeting

SeattleShooter

SeattleShooter

Well-known member
That was some crazy stuff! School board meetings are either real real boring or extreme.

I understand that there are no weapons allowed on school property but I truly feel that a non crazy person that has been trained (I have a feeling this guy did not have any training) could have ended this thing at the time he was letting people leave. Just one second is all it needs as you are being asked to leave to end the threat. I do not want to turn this into a "gun control" topic, but this example is just crazy. It could have ended before he got one round off. And I am a left of center guy! If I could carry during work, I would. Thats just me.

But if it were me in there with no gun, I would have framed up the shot with all the board members and the guy, kept rolling, and leave. That was a good POV though.

So lucky no one was hurt.
 
Lensmith

Lensmith

Member
What impresses me...is the calm manner the board members spoke.

Not sure I would have been able to do that.

The woman who hit his arm with her purse was a fool.

Sad the guy offed himself but glad no one else was hurt.
 
P

photoguy603

Well-known member
I watched the video a few times....and I too was amazed at how the board calmly talked to him....I don't think I'd be able to do the same.

That woman was a fool. I agree....she should have never tried to be a hero and could've gotten herself killed. I'm sure she wasn't thinking clearly and was in shock but taking that action could've cost her her life.

As for the security guard...former detective I read.....kudos to him, he took his shot when he felt it was the right time and honestly saved the lives of those board members.
 
1911A1

1911A1

Well-known member
If that woman wanted to take out the gunman with a purse, she should've brought a giant one like my wife uses.

Swing one of those babies hard enough, and you just might kill somebody.
 
shootist

shootist

PRO user
Talk of the calmness of the board members prompts me to say that the guy on the far right (the only visible board member) had it together and seemed to genuinely have an idea how to get out of that situation and try to help the guy.

The board president ("I'm the only one who signs the paperwork") could NOT have handled that worse.

To continually tell the guy that he has no idea who his wife is only proves the guys point and "justifies" his action.

To call the guy out on wanting to be killed by police basically challenges him to make it happen and encourage him to take action that would ensure it.

I felt like shooting that guy!

Sad, sad, horrible story. No doubt the guy snapped and probably DID want to die. I'm certainly NOT saying I can understand doing this or where his head was but honestly I don't believe he ever had any intent on shooting anyone. There's NO way anyone could miss that many shots from that distance.

Again....I'M NOT DIMINISHING THE HORROR OF THIS EVENT. He wanted to die. He did.

Thank God no one else did.
 
Last edited:
zac love

zac love

Well-known member
The whole video seems amazing & crazy. I was amazed by so much of it, all commented above.

I disagree with you shootist & think the board president did all right, though I'll defer to a criminologist / psychologist official opinion on how he reacted.

I think lying to the guy by saying they knew who his wife was might have accelerated the situation. Once you start lying, you're stuck on that road. The guy will ask follow up questions & you won't have answers that will please him.


I saw part of this video on Chicago news last night & they were calling the purse woman a hero. Granted they cut the video at the end of her swing, when it looked like she might be helping things. In my mind, slightly deceptive editing. If they kept the VO for another 2seconds, her actions look less heroic & more foolish.
 
shootist

shootist

PRO user
Of course you don't lie, Zac.

You just don't offer repeatedly that the guy's wife was a nobody to them.

You turn it to how can we help you and your family and keep things open to a positive resolution.

I stand by my feeling that (at least from the edited video I saw) The Pres. escalated the event. If he had shut up and left the talking to the other guy, I wouldn't be surprised if there were no shots fired and everybody was alive today.
 
T

Tom Servo

Well-known member
Honestly, I think it's somewhat silly to criticize a school board president for his lack of hostage negotiation training.

What's next? The city councilman who doesn't know how to clear a room in a tactical assault?
 
shootist

shootist

PRO user
Expertise isn't expected just common sense, Tom. Too much to expect these days? Apparently.

Just like the other day when I was shooting an "anti-bullying" assembly at a local elementary school. Included was a skit where the Principal berates and belittles the kids portraying the bullies. I stopped rolling. Reporter asks why I'm not rolling and I tell him we'll never use it because it's against every iota of common sense that the way to defeat bullying is by bullying the bullies. As soon as the program is over, an administrator is all over us begging us not to show that part. Apparently the principal was ad libbing and undid most of what they'd been preaching all year.

So....when it comes to school personnel...hostage negotiation expertise? no. Common sense? Apparently not. Lauding their "calm demeanor"...hell no.
 
T

Tom Servo

Well-known member
Define common sense as applied to a situation no one ever thinks they will face and therefore has probably never thought about it. If I were elected to a school board the first thing on my mind wouldn't be to run through possible man-with-a-gun scenarios and figure out the optimal response.

My read is that the guy was being honest while trying to engage the guy in conversation and hoping to convince the guy that he would look into the wife's situation as soon as he knew who the wife was.

Was it the best method? No, but it's pretty easy to armchair-quarterback the performance of someone who's being shot at, and a lot harder to actually deliver that performance.

Really, I think the entire school board, with the exception of the Purse Basher, did a fantastic job of staying calm and not panicking. There are a LOT of people out there who could not have done nearly as well.
 
zac love

zac love

Well-known member
Tom Servo said:
Really, I think the entire school board, with the exception of the Purse Basher, did a fantastic job of staying calm and not panicking. There are a LOT of people out there who could not have done nearly as well.
Click to expand...
amen

I truly hope that I'd be one of those people who would stay calm, but I can't guarantee it & wouldn't know for sure until I had a gun pointed at me.
 
Camera Face

Camera Face

Active member
I think it's slightly unfair to blame the board president for what happened. I tend to blame the dude with the gun.
 
canuckcam

canuckcam

Well-known member
What the president didn't have was tact. It's a great way to (try to) de-escalate tense situations. Like when the power-tripping cop is tearing into you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top