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So two people were wounded in a shooting at Deleware State yesterday. It looks like the administration and the news media are both treating it like a VT-style nutball rampage shooting. They've got the campus locked down, though for how long is anyody's guess. The shooter is still at large, and could remain so for weeks or months as long as anyone knows. If I were a student, I'd be pushing for my right to leave pretty darned soon.

In the real world, this was more likely a mugging gone wrong or something like that. But since VT, everyone has to overreact to avoid being criticized afterwards.

frankie_the_yankee wrote:In the real world, this was more likely a mugging gone wrong or something like that. But since VT, everyone has to overreact to avoid being criticized afterwards.

But in VT, the school didn't "overreact" because they thought it was a domestic issue or isolated event IIRC, because of the way the first shooting appeared. In the case of VT, if they had overreacted, there may have been fewer victims. Being criticized for overreacting is more welcome, I'm sure, than being criticized for allowing several student deaths by a madman on the rampage... again.

Of course, the point may be made that it seems necessary to live in fear and cower behind doors to stay alive anymore, no one wants to live like that...
I'd guess that students are itching to leave campus or find a way to protect themselves if it does escalate.
Hopefully, seeing as the victims were wounded, they can talk and identify the shooter.

O6nop wrote: But in VT, the school didn't "overreact" because they thought it was a domestic issue or isolated event IIRC, because of the way the first shooting appeared.

At VT, you could say that they barely reacted at all.

O6nop wrote:But in VT, the school didn't "overreact" because they thought it was a domestic issue or isolated event IIRC, because of the way the first shooting appeared.

You can't win, can you?

I agree that this sounds like a robbery because (1) it happened outdoors after midnight and (2) the victims survived. If it had been a revenge killing or rampage they would most likely have been shot multiple times.

Some genius (and I don't mean that sarcastically) needs to figure out the best policy. They lock down the schools here pretty often. Someone was calling in bomb threats to the high school. Every time, they vacated the school and found no bomb. The authorities finally figured out it was the mother of a student. She had mental problems.

The point I'm trying to make here is that if the authorities overreact to every incident, the system will be crippled.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote:

O6nop wrote:But in VT, the school didn't "overreact" because they thought it was a domestic issue or isolated event IIRC, because of the way the first shooting appeared.

You can't win, can you?

hmmm, you could start with allowing the students to be armed legally...
Isn't that what a lot of us are fighting for?

seamusTX wrote:I agree that this sounds like a robbery

I'm not so sure about the robbery. I saw a blurb on Fox and apparently the male that was shot is "refusing to cooperate with the police" thereby leading them to believe that he knows the shooter. Maybe a love triangle thing.

seamusTX wrote: Some genius (and I don't mean that sarcastically) needs to figure out the best policy. They lock down the schools here pretty often. Someone was calling in bomb threats to the high school. Every time, they vacated the school and found no bomb. The authorities finally figured out it was the mother of a student. She had mental problems.

The point I'm trying to make here is that if the authorities overreact to every incident, the system will be crippled.

Has there ever been a bomb threat called in anonymously that anyone actually found a bomb? Except for the movies most real bombers are pretty secretive.

I wonder how the Isreali's handle phone in bomb threats? I am guessing that they don't close down their schools because of a phone threat. I suspect the reason they don't is because shutting downthe schools would be a means of empowering the terrorist.

shaggydog wrote:

seamusTX wrote:I agree that this sounds like a robbery

I'm not so sure about the robbery. I saw a blurb on Fox and apparently the male that was shot is "refusing to cooperate with the police" thereby leading them to believe that he knows the shooter. Maybe a love triangle thing.

Maybe gang-related then. Either way, it looks more like some type of street crime as opposed to a rampage (which was many peoples' first reaction).

O6nop wrote:hmmm, you could start with allowing the students to be armed legally...
Isn't that what a lot of us are fighting for?

Of course. I was talking about actions that the authorities could take within the current framework.

Liberty wrote:Has there ever been a bomb threat called in anonymously that anyone actually found a bomb?

I don't know. ISTR the Irish Republican Army used to announce bombings to the police right around the time they happened. It's been a while.

Some actual bombers have done things to draw a crowd to the location of the bomb.

One other thing I want to mention is that the news at this stage is full of conjecture and possibly incorrect information.

- Jim

seamusTX wrote: One other thing I want to mention is that the news at this stage is full of conjecture and possibly incorrect information.

- Jim

Don't expect that to change any time soon. This is some kind of street crime. It will be solved when somebody (most likely a criminal acquaintance/associate) gives up the shooter. There's no telling whether this will happen tomorrow or 6 months from now.

I think the DSU spokesman Carlos Holmes made a political "gaffe" (remember, that's when a politician accidently tells the truth) when he made this statement:

"We cannot assume that he's not on campus," Holmes said. "As long as he's at large, we cannot assure the security of anyone on campus."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f ... 004D70.DTL

I think he is absolutely right, they can't assure the security of anyone. Not after the shooting, not during, not before. The logical conclusion from this is that students and everyone else are ultimately responsible for their own security -- but I'll bet a lot of nickels that DSU has a no-gun-for-your-own-defense policy, and won't even consider changing it. (I can't remember if Delaware has a shall-issue law... I think not, but too lazy to look right now.)

Oh, and I agree that the refusal of the guy shot in the ankle to cooperate with the cops indicates this was not a random nutjob shooting, but rather a personal dispute. My guess is it is over the girl that was shot.

elb