Sandy Hook Elementary
On December 14, 2012, 20 children and 6 teachers were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The school had recently implemented upgrades to its security, so when classes started, the entrance doors were locked and would only be opened remotely after visitors were identified by video monitor. The shooter didn't follow protocol, however, choosing to simply shoot out the glass from the locked door.
Since the school was a gun-free zone (another protocol the shooter didn't follow) none of the faculty were permitted to have weapons. In fact, it appears that it was chosen specifically for that reason; other schools in the area were using police protection; Sandy Hook did not. Investigators believe that the 20-year-old shooter, an avid Call of Duty gamer, had been planning this for a number of years. They found a 7' x 4' spreadsheet at his home that meticulously documented past attempted and successful killings that he had been following. It is believed he was trying to earn himself a place at the top by scoring more "points"; and you lose "points" if the enemy kills you before you can get a high score. An unprotected elementary school was a perfect place to rack up a high number of kills in a short period of time.
Police say that 154 shots were fired in less than 5 minutes. Interestingly, even though he had 30-round magazines, he appeared to reload only 15 rounds much of the time.
When the shooting began, the principal, Dawn Hochsprung, courageously ran at the gunman to stop him; he shot her dead.
Question: If you were in this principal's place, would you rather:
- Run at the gunman empty-handed, and try to physically overpower him?
- Pull out your gun and shoot him before he can kill more people?
Dawn Hochsprung only had option A available to her.
The Newtown school board has subsequently voted to have a police presence in all its elementary schools.
