ANOTHER SCHOOL/PUBLIC SHOOTING

[HairOfTheDog]

There are enough of these happening to warrant a catch-all thread, sadly.

On the eve of the Newtown anniversary, a high school senior in Colorado took a shotgun to school yesterday.

This is he:

^ Karl Halverson Pierson, 18

According to the story, he was pissed off because the school librarian and debate coach had kicked him off the debate team. He was on a mission to take her out.

He didn't try to conceal his weapon, just waltzed into the school, headed for the library (shooting and critically injuring a female student along the way) and blustered into the library.

Max Minnie, a fellow senior, was in the library and yelled for everyone to run. The librarian, Mrs. Murphy, and a bunch of kids got out. Police were en-route. They arrived 14 minutes after the first call.

Minnie described Pierson as a really smart guy, very aggressive verbally and always had to to win, but not seemingly violent.

The school had implemented practice drills in the wake of other school shootings and students exited the buildings according to the protocols. LE appeared on the scene and patted down students as they left school grounds.

They found the shooter, Pierson, dead of an apparent self-inflicted gun shot wound on school grounds shortly thereafter. LE is now investigating the shooter's home.

Two Molotov cocktails were apparently left behind in the school, according to Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson.school. One detonated but the other didn't.

No word yet on the status of the 15 year-old who was shot and critically wounded - she was in emergency surgery yesterday. Hope she pulls through.

Arapahoe High School in Colorado has more than 2,000 students. It is located about eight miles from Columbine High School, scene of a mass school shooting in 1999.

Sources:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/ara...-librarian
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/201...ooting.php
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/shooter-dead...t-colo-hs/

[ramseycat]

Why did it take LE 15 minutes to get there?

[Maggot]

The professor tells me horror stories about the high school kids she teaches. They have been passed from one year to the next not learning anything because they will not hold a kid back a year anymore. Many are real dumbasses.

[FAHQTOO]

Sadly...I think a lot of these shootings are nothing more than copycat bullshit. Of course they all have some mental problems, but I still think a lot of it is who can go out with the biggest bang...no pun intended.

Also sadly...I think there will be a worse shooting than Newtown and someone, somewhere is already sitting in their bedroom as I type planning it.

It doesn't matter how much gun control you do or don't put out there. It doesn't matter how much mental health care you give someone. It doesn't matter how secure you THINK your schools, movie theaters and malls are...there will always be away to get around all of that.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic...it's called reality.

Not too many people are going to go to school or work on Monday thinking their school or place of work is going to be shot up.

[HairOfTheDog]

Why did it take LE 15 minutes to get there?

Some of the details in the initial reports are now being corrected/clarified. Looks like it only took 5 minutes, according to this update an hour ago from CNN:

He (Sheriff Robinson) credited the quick response time for the fact that Pierson stopped firing on others and turned his weapon on himself. Only five minutes passed from the time deputies received the 911 call that they were standing over the teen's deceased body, he said.

Robinson said earlier that first reports indicated a time of 14 minutes or less.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/14/us/colorad...-shooting/


Other details that have been updated:

- Early reports cited two students (aside from Pierson) as having been shot. One girl was shot, but it turned out the second student was covered in blood from having contact with the wounded girl.

- Some early reports referred to the librarian/debate coach as "she", but appears now that the librarian is a man with the last name Murphy.

[QueenBee]

Slightly side stepping Colorado to say that I am pleased that the main stream media actually LISTENED to the people of Newtown yesterday, and did not descend on the town. Which let them honor their dead in peace. But a small part of me wonders if part of the reason they did not go was because they were all in Colorado?

[JsMom]

I thought I breifly heard on CNN that the girl that got shot sadly passed away. Has anyone else heard or read this?

[Duchess]

I thought I breifly heard on CNN that the girl that got shot sadly passed away. Has anyone else heard or read this?

I can't find anything that confirms that. According to what I've read Claire is still in critical condition after being shot at point blank range.

The shooter purchased his gun legally.

[Duchess]

This is Claire -

[HairOfTheDog]

I read that Claire was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and Pierson shot her in the head. Authorities don't believe she had any connection to Pierson.

She's actually being reported as 17 ys old; earlier reports had her as 15.

Horse-lover, good student, friendly...is how she is being described.

Her family released a statement asking for prayers.

She sounds like a great kid; really hoping she makes it.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/14/us/colorad...?hpt=hp_c2

[JsMom]

This is Claire -

She is beautiful. Im at a loss for any further comments.

[Maggot]

Interesting...........


According to CNN:

The rampage might have resulted in many more casualties had it not been for the quick response of a deputy sheriff who was working as a school resource officer at the school, Robinson said.

Once he learned of the threat, he ran - accompanied by an unarmed school security officer and two administrators - from the cafeteria to the library, Robinson said. "It's a fairly long hallway, but the deputy sheriff got there very quickly."

According to Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson, "The deputy was yelling for people to get down and identified himself as a county deputy sheriff. We know for a fact that the shooter knew that the deputy was in the immediate area and, while the deputy was containing the shooter, the shooter took his own life."


It is very fortunate indeed that lamebrains hadn't made Arapaho High a "gun free zone" and thereby prevented the deputy from packing heat. The notion of finding comfort by posting a "gun free zone" notices is delusional idiocy of the highest order.



link

[HairOfTheDog]

I support having armed resource officers, or guards, on school grounds - when that's supported by those in the community.

Based on what I've read, I think the armed deputy being at the school of this latest shooting definitely helped to limit the number of fatalities, Maggot.

As long as they're well trained and stable individuals, it's an extra measure of security for schools that can afford it.

[F.U.]

Sadly...I think a lot of these shootings are nothing more than copycat bullshit. Of course they all have some mental problems, but I still think a lot of it is who can go out with the biggest bang...no pun intended.

Also sadly...I think there will be a worse shooting than Newtown and someone, somewhere is already sitting in their bedroom as I type planning it.

It doesn't matter how much gun control you do or don't put out there. It doesn't matter how much mental health care you give someone. It doesn't matter how secure you THINK your schools, movie theaters and malls are...there will always be away to get around all of that.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic...it's called reality.

Not too many people are going to go to school or work on Monday thinking their school or place of work is going to be shot up.

Well said !

I do agree with the copy cat stuff. It all seamed to start in the mid 80's when Pat Sherril walked into a Oklahoma post office and started pulling the trigger. The media jumped on it and it was on the air for days/weeks. The term Going Postal was born and it seamed as though that got the ball rolling.

[Maggot]

I wonder what time these shooters went into the schools and if there is a tendency towards morning or afternoon. I would say the early morning if I had to guess.

[Midwest Spy]

@Maggot: After Newtown, my hope was that there would be an armed officer at every school, if not to deter every crime, to at least minimize what a perp would be able to do.

I think most rational people have no problem with that thinking.

[Maggot]

I just hate that that little tidbit never made it into mainstream media right away. It may have opened a few eyes.

[F.U.]

I find it odd that there is barely a mention to the type of firearm used. Had this ben a modern sporting rifle instead of a shotgun the media would have ben on that fact like a duck on a junebug !

[HairOfTheDog]

I wonder what time these shooters went into the schools and if there is a tendency towards morning or afternoon. I would say the early morning if I had to guess.

Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter, was an early bird. His wheels were in motion before 7:00 a.m.

Lanza busted into the Connecticut elementary school at around 9:30 a.m. The official investigative report released last week indicated that he'd likely planned on hitting the high school, but was scared off by a guard - so he probably planned on starting earlier in the morning.

Gho, the shooter who killed 7 people at the Christian College in Oakland, CA started his rampage at the school at 10:30 a.m.

The Columbine massacre in Colorado went down closer to lunch time, starting around 11:15 a.m.

Those are the ones that I recall.

[F.U.]

I would of thought that lunch time would be the preferred time. A crowded lunchroom to me sounds like a target rich environment. Each shot fired would potentially pass through several people.