School shooting near Atlanta stopped with words

[Phrossack]

Tuesday's terrifying incident at an elementary school near Atlanta — in which a gunman with an assault rifle and other weapons entered the building — ended with no one being hurt after a school clerk apparently spent about an hour talking to the young man. She says she persuaded him to put down his gun and surrender.

"I just started praying for him," Antoinette Tuff tells Atlanta's Channel 2 Action News. "I just started talking to him ... and let him know what was going on with me and that it would be OK. And then let him know that he could just give himself up. ... I told him to put [the guns] on the table, empty his pockets. He had me actually get on the intercom and tell everybody he was sorry, too. But I told them, 'He was sorry, but do not come out of their rooms.' ... I give it all to God, I'm not the hero. I was terrified."

In an interview with ABC-TV's World News With Diane Sawyer, Tuff says "[I saw] a young man ready to kill anybody that he could and take any lives he wanted to." According to ABC:

"The school clerk said she tried to keep the assailant calm by asking him his name but, she said, at first he wouldn't tell it to her. Then, he began listening to her tell her life story. She said she told him about how her marriage fell apart after 33 years and the 'roller coaster' of opening her own business."
Tuff says she told 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill that "OK, we all have situations in our lives. I went through a tragedy myself."

Then, ABC writes, "Tuff made the request that she said helped end the standoff. She said she asked the suspect to put his weapons down, empty his pockets and backpack and lay on the floor. 'I told the police he was giving himself up. I just talked him through it,' she said."

During the incident, the 870 or so pre-kindergarten to fifth-graders at the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur were safely evacuated. At one point, the gunman exchanged some shots with police. But no one was struck.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way...-georgia-persuaded-gunman-to-lay-down-weapons

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...pect-had-nearly-500-rounds-of-ammunition?lite

http://news.yahoo.com/georgia-school-shooting-averted-brave-bookkeeper-prayer-171021833.html

Well, you don't hear of this every day. Apparently the young man stormed into the place with a rifle and a few hundred rounds of ammunition, but a bookkeeper was able to eventually talk him out of it and he surrendered and apologized after a brief shootout with police that did not hurt anyone.

Like the average American mass shooter, he seems to have been a single young male with a history of mental problems (in his case, ADD and bipolar).

Of course, there are the obligatory questions about mental health care and access to rifles with large magazines (in this case a Romanian AK knockoff, and probably semi-auto only; I didn't call it an assault rifle because I'd get yelled at). This young man only had bipolar disorder and ADD, so I'm not suggesting he should have had access to firearms restricted on those grounds. In any case, he seems to have acquired the rifle from an acquaintance somehow, and he had previously been charged with "making terroristic threats", probably for threatening to kill his brother.

 

[Ajidica]

It is nice to see one of these incidents end without anyone getting injured or killing.

Despite not having living in Georgia for over 13 years, it still felt a bit to close to home because it happened in the same county I lived in.

 

[Formaldehyde]

It seemed to me that he wasn't really interested in hurting anybody, which is quite fortunate.

 

[Bugfatty300]

Of course, there are the obligatory questions about mental health care and access to rifles with large magazines (in this case a Romanian AK knockoff, and probably semi-auto only; I didn't call it an assault rifle because I'd get yelled at).

Calling it an assault rifle isn't that big a deal. They just can't say semi-automatic rifle though. That isn't scary enough for the news. However, the author and editor of the MSNBC article who describe rifle as a 20mm cannon do need to be yelled at though.

 

[Kyriakos]

I originally thought the title was "[...] stopped with swords :/

Good that no one got hurt

 

[Angst]

This is a very heartwarming story somehow. I like the bookkeeper. That must have taken balls...

 

[IglooDame]

Calling it an assault rifle isn't that big a deal. They just can't say semi-automatic rifle though. That isn't scary enough for the news. However, the author and editor of the MSNBC article who describe rifle as a 20mm cannon do need to be yelled at though.

In the initial report on the news I did hear "semi-automatic rifle", but only once, then the only description was "AK-47" (and no clarification on semi vs auto).

And good thing, too, if it had been full-auto obviously everyone in the school would have been killed. (/sarcasm)

All that aside, props to the secretary who kept her head throughout.

 

[AlpsStranger]

Good news for once. I'm glad they talked the guy down.

*puff*

It's amazing how nice a little relief feels, you know?

This was probably a cry for help. I doubt an Adam Lanza would've been talked out of it.

 

[Antilogic]

I'm glad I can still be surprised once in awhile, it's not a bad thing.

 

[NetGear]

I originally thought the title was "[...] stopped with swords :/

Good that no one got hurt

^
im disappointed tbh

 

[Farm Boy]

Pretty amazing. Hope the guy actually gets mental support while incarcerated rather than rectal injections.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Nicely done.

 

[bhsup]

Alright, I've waited a couple of days to be respectful due to the gravity of the situation, but I'm wondering just how long before the ACLU steps in and tries to get this lady fired for invoking God in a public school.

 

[Azale]

Alright, I've waited a couple of days to be respectful due to the gravity of the situation, but I'm wondering just how long before the ACLU steps in and tries to get this lady fired for invoking God in a public school.

You're going to be waiting a while.

 

[Phrossack]

Alright, I've waited a couple of days to be respectful due to the gravity of the situation, but I'm wondering just how long before the ACLU steps in and tries to get this lady fired for invoking God in a public school.

Yeah, not going to happen.

 

[Rashiminos]

Probably more attention than he's gotten in a good, long while.

 

[Formaldehyde]

Alright, I've waited a couple of days to be respectful due to the gravity of the situation, but I'm wondering just how long before the ACLU steps in and tries to get this lady fired for invoking God in a public school.

You don't seem to know very much about the ACLU despite it frequently being a topic of discussion in this forum.

 

[Antilogic]

Respect period is over?

Score. I think that if the school official had a gun, more people would have been saved (probably unwed teenage mothers not aborting their babies or something).

 

[useless]

I wonder if VR knows that the ACLU has defended religious people?

http://aclu-co.org/news/aclu-supports-students-right-of-religious-freedom

http://www.aclu-nj.org/news/2010/03/24/aclu-nj-defends-anti-abortion-students-free-speech/

https://www.aclu.org/religion-belief/aclu-tn-successfully-advocates-behalf-student-preachers

More here: http://www.aclufightsforchristians.com/

I guess they must really hate the religious VR!

 

[Takhisis]

This is compelling evidence that all teachers should be armed with assault weaponry and children instructed to fire weapons as early as possible.