A PACK NOT A HERD! A reader emails with this story:
I work (dispatcher) for a small town police dept (total of 26 sworn officers –counting the Chief) on the California coast, about half way between LA & SF.
Today we had a report from the high school of a juvenile with a pistol holding a classroom (teacher & students). All of my units immediately responded and the first one arrived within 2 minutes. On arrival, we found that the 15 yr old was down, disarmed and restrained due to the actions of two of the students (a 15 yr old & a 16 yr old). Although the suspect (15 yrs old) claims to have brought the pistol and taken everyone hostage so as to have a captive audience for his own suicide, he made sure he had a full magazine in the pistol and a spare magazine available (9mm FMJ – 29 rounds total). The two young men (not jocks, both are relatively scrawny) spontaneously took it upon themselves to disarm the suspect and prevented a tragedy (even if he had only blown the top of only his own head off, it would have been horrific for the kids who had to watch).
I think that the “don’t get involved” mentality has taken a beating lately, and I think that’s a good thing. I have his name, but I’m not using it since he says this is more information than has been released to the public, officially.
UPDATE: Here’s a link to the story, which is as described above. Excerpt:
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. — A suicidal sophomore student was arrested Friday after he briefly held about 25 classmates and two teachers hostage at gunpoint, police said.
The unidentified boy was tackled by two classmates, who took a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic gun from him, police Sgt. John Allen said.
No injuries were reported.
Police were called to Arroyo Grande High School at 9:11 a.m. after they received a report of a student with a gun, Allen said.
The unidentified 15-year-old pulled out the loaded weapon and pointed it at two teachers in his sophomore English class, ordering them to sit down, Allen said.
I expect that this won’t get much coverage — though it should.