My thought - Accidently? Just the sort of person folks want walking around a school with a gun. And, it took this long for either him to come forward or the media to report this? I don't know which to question more.
Another story from today:
Update as of 1/27/11 - The news is reporting that this event was a fake. One would find it hard to count all the folks that were impacted by the individual who faked this.
Even though this event was not true it still pointed out holes in the response and action taken by the schools which were locked down.
In the last few days there have been shootings at three Southern California schools. Here are the links to a few of the stories.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-school-violence-20110120,0,5697218,full.story
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/01/bell-high-school-student-shot-near-campus.html
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/01/woodland-hills-manhunt-is-one-of-largest-searches-in-recent-lapd-history.html
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/18/california-school-shooting/
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0119-school-security-20110119,0,243783.story
I am big on safety and caution but the way this situation was handled created chaos, additional worry and concern for many and threw a little more gas on an already emotional fire.
I heard directly from people in the school locked down that if a student tried to go to the bathroom and did not follow the direction of law enforcement there was something of an over reaction on the part of law enforcement. Don't people realize that students who are already tense, have not eaten and have not been allowed to "hit the head" might just adopt the plan of .... Hey buddy. I am walkin' out of here for a minute to go to the bathroom. What are ya gonna do about it? Hit me with a club? Taser me? Shoot me?
I heard many direct reports of bad judgement of many of those in charge. Students were texting CNN until they were told to stop. Did that sort of activity put the students in danger? Nope. But not allowing students to eat, drink or go to the bathroom was probably news that some did not want reported.
Over reaction? If this had happened in a South Central L.A. neighborhood or in Central L.A. they probably would have sent a half a dozen units and a command unit, maybe a bit more but nowhere close to what was deployed in West Hills.
In West Hills they sent dozens of units, an army of police locked down seven square miles. They locked down students where they had nothing to eat prior to lunch and were not allowed to go to the bathroom. The 101 freeway was even shut down for a while. Busses could have been deployed to bring students in geographic groups to sensible geographic locations hours earlier. In the case of El Camino High School most student had to find their way on foot to a McDonalds parking lot south of the 101 freeway which was a parking lot itself. 3,000 plus students walking down a street at night to a parking lot that was jammed, students who had to eat and go to bathrooms. Great thinking on the part of those who orchestrated this plan.
Over reaction? In my mind, you bet. No rational plan in place? That's a 10-4 as well. Overly sensitive due to the Gardena shooting the other day? Perhaps.
A lot of folks dropped the ball on this one and acted as if they really had no idea of what to do other than just fall into a reactive mode of response.
It is clear to me that when things start to come apart so did a lot of people making the decisions.
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