Reading that from outside the US is surreal. In any other country, “The damage he could have done…” would be things like:
- Annoyed the staff
- Harassed some kids
- Occupied a couple police officers for a few hours while they took him to the station and gave him a good talking-to, possibly holding him until he sobered up.
Imagining this as a life-or-death situation is breath-taking.
My heart goes out to my American friends.
My daughter is is on a tear on Facebook, she shared this tweet from this person.
I grew up in a high crime adjacent area. My high school was one of the better ones in the district but still had SROs even though they weren’t armed. It had an open campus for most of my freshman year, but that ended when there was a series of gang related shootings at another high school in the district which made leaving campus during school hours grounds for suspension.
That other school by the way had tall fences, brutalist concrete architecture with no windows facing the streets, and a constant police (not SRO) presence.
This was all in the early/mid 1990s, well before the Columbine massacre.
Yep, and the shooter at the Laguna Woods church in CA was from Las Vegas. He’s full of shit.
Most irresponsible take so far:
As my brother in law says: “Lawnmowers don’t cut grass. People do. But if you want to cut as much grass as possible with very little effort or skill, you’re going to need a lawnmower”.
He played my high school several decades ago, already a has been then. Perfect for the has been association.
Having Indiana next door creates an easy gun pipeline.
And before Chicago’s gun laws were put in place the gun crime rate was much higher. Implementing restrictions caused a reduction in gun crime. What a concept.
Good for him.
Maybe Ted Nugent or Kid Rock will be available instead.
He planned to shoot students at the school before the police chase began. I don’t like high speed chases in residential areas but that wasn’t a factor here. From a CNN story: “Abbott said that in the first of three messages, about 30 minutes before the school shooting, Ramos wrote, “I’m going to shoot my grandmother.”
Shortly after, he wrote, “I shot my grandmother.”
And finally: “I’m going to shoot an elementary school.”
He allegedly sent similarly chilling text messages to a girl he met online describing how he had just shot his grandmother and was going to shoot up an elementary school.“
They let him walk in, pushed him into a classroom and stood around putting on their fucking gear while he slaughtered a classroom. People were begging them to do something and instead they stood around fidgeting.
God Money demanded more human sacrifices and America dutifully provided them. And not just this time, but every time. These were someone’s CHILDREN. I just cannot comprehend how their lives can be so casually brushed aside as the price of doing business.
I’m an American but I am also a parent and for that reason I decided many years ago not to raise my children in the States. I live in Germany and I had to learn German when I moved here. I also had to learn to fit into this culture and how to provide for my family. What I never had to learn is the German translation for " life shooter drill."
Yep, and transphobes in Texas are all ready attacking trans people over it.
Uvalde PD, US Marshalls, US CBP and a SRO were all on scene dressed like Proud Boys at an insurrection and stood around yelling at and fighting with parents instead of fucking doing something.
Warning: Video shows distressed parents pleading with and being assaulted by cops.
No fewer than three (three!!!) different LEOs engaged him before he even entered the classroom and accomplished absolutely nothing. They knew someone was approaching an elementary school with a rifle and utterly failed to do anything but kettle him into a full classroom and harass terrified parents while he executed their children.
This is the story that needs to be told right now. America’s leadership has demonstrated that they don’t give a damn about the victims, so the narrative needs to be shifted to how everyone who was supposed to protect these children utterly failed and either cowardice or bureaucracy prevented them from limiting or preventing the bloodshed. This isn’t the first time we have copious evidence of police cowardice and inaction while precious seconds tick away and they straighten their Punisher logos.
ETA: From official statements:
“Officials say he “encountered” a school district security officer outside the school, though there were conflicting reports from authorities on whether the men exchanged gunfire. After running inside, he fired on two arriving Uvalde police officers who were outside the building, said Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine. The police officers were injured.”
THREE FUCKING COPS!!!
Edited to clarify that he was engaged once before entering the building and again after entering. I deeply regret the error UPD, you fucking cowards. /s
Arming teachers is surely the best solution. /s
Cops need better training. Stop telling them the most important thing is for them to come home at the end of the day. It’s their fucking job to put themselves at risk and it’s time they start doing that.
They’d probably show more courage than the police.
