Atlanta Elementary School Shooting Disaster Averted (Aug 20, 2013)

School Gunmen, Michael Hill Booking, 20

Bottom Line Up Front: This appears to have been a barricaded hostage situation at a school where the mentally deranged gunman was trying to commit "Suicide- By- Cop" by getting police to kill him. It WAS NOT an Active Shooter Situation (Newtown, Va. Tech, etc.) where a gunman comes in and starts shooting everyone. The gunman can be suicidal in either type situation and often are. 

Incident: Law enforcement stated it could have been a massacre for the school, but ended with nobody hurt. Officials believe the gunman walked into the front office of the school Tuesday afternoon at about 1 p.m. with an AK-47, despite the school security system that requires visitors to be buzzed in. He may have followed behind someone who was authorized to be in the building, but never got past the front office. 

     Once he was inside, the gunman told the school secretary to call a local TV station.  He told the TV station editor to "start filming as police die." "All the time of doing this, I never experienced anything like this," TV station editor said. "It didn't take long to know that this was serious."  Inside the front office, he held one or two employees captive for a period of time. School bookkeeper Antoinette Tuff said she was one of the hostages. Tuff said she tried to convince the gunman to put down his guns. 

     She said the gunman told her he had no reason to live because nobody loved him. "And I just explained to him that I loved him," Tuff told ABC News. "I didn't know much about him. I didn't know his name but I did love him and it was scary because I knew at that moment he was ready to take my life along with his, and if I didn't say the right thing, then we all would be dead." Tuff also said the suspect told her he hadn't taken his medication. In an effort to calm him down, she told him about her own troubles: how her marriage fell apart and about her struggles with opening her own business. "I told him, 'OK, we all have situations in our lives," she said. "It was going to be OK. If I could recover, he could, too." 

      "I think we can all make a reasonable assumption he came here to do some harm." said law enforcement as Hill "did not have anything else in the bag that would harm people." Only one weapon was recovered. During the standoff, Tuff told the media the gunman "went outside several times and shot at police officers." Police Chief Alexander said the suspect fired about six rounds while officers from at least a half-dozen law enforcement agencies that raced from the school returned fire. After they had talked, she asked him to put his guns down and empty his backpack. Law Enforcement sung Antoinette Tuff's (school secretary / clerk) praises. "She was in there, she was able to talk him down," he said. "She's a real hero in all this." 

Source of the Weapon: Authorities are looking to locate the owner of the AK-47, who they believe is an acquaintance of Hill's. Davis said officials believe Hill got the weapon from an acquaintance's house, although he wouldn't say whether the weapon was stolen or not. There was a photo of Hill holding a rifle, found on his cell phone. Hill told investigators he was on medication. "He indicated that he was on medication and had stopped taking it."  

Previous Violent Behaviours:   Tim Hill, the brother of Michael Brandon Hill, said his brother previously threatened to shoot him and suffers from mental disorders and "was bipolar and suffered from ADD," and that the two have not spoken recently. 

• A Henry County sheriff's official said Hill was also charged in March with making terroristic threats for an incident between Dec. 30 and 31 of 2012. He "unlawfully threatened to commit the crime of murder, a crime of violence, for the purpose of terrorizing another."  Tim Hill told the media the charge stemmed from Hill threatening to shoot him. 
• Michael Hill was issued a no-contact order afterwards. Court records show that Hill pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years' probation and anger counselling.

Present Violent Incident Charges: For this August 20th act of violence, Hill is charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, making terroristic threats and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was questioned for hours by police, but they have no clear idea of what may be a motive or whether Hill has ties to the school. Police chief Alexander said Hill "may have had prior contact" with someone at the school, but the investigation was still pending. No other individuals are expected to be charged.

Recovery Phase Initiated: Buses transported elementary school students from their school to nearby McNair High School on Wednesday to resume classes, a day after a potential massacre was averted. Students were greeted by counsellors and a sign that read, "Welcome McNair Elementary School. Our prayers are with you".  Excerpts taken from Internet article By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

Discussion Points: Being mindful that the incident is new and the investigation is incomplete, here are some things to consider:

• Hostage Situation vice Active Shooter Situation: The gunman talked instead of just shooting everyone.  He was not (thank God) just trying to kill everyone he saw as fast as he could, or he was convinced otherwise.
• Typical Suicide By Cop scenario, a mentally deranged individual with violent intent who is suicidal attempts "suicide-by-cop" by creating a situation where police end your life because of the imminent threat you pose. His request to a hostage to call the media & his statement to TV editor about "start filming as cops die".    
• Response in a Hostage Situation is different than in an Active Shooter Situation. 
• Hostage situation: if there is no safe escape and you are detained by a gunman, build rapport and empathy with hostage taker so they see you as a person. School Secretary did this and it saved lives. 
• Active Shooter: A Run - Hide - Fight (similar to ALICE) response is more appropriate if immediate mass shooting occurs. 
• School Access Control: Having single access point entrance (critical), a locked entrance (good), and a buzzer access control system (good) still requires a trained human being to make a deliberate decision EVERY TIME they buzz anyone in or not. Once a person is buzzed in there needs to be person-to-person (P2P) screening contact as a seemingly innocent person may now (once in the school) demonstrate threatening behaviour (take out a hidden weapon, display aggression, etc.) once inside the school. A nefarious individual may "tailgate" someone buzzed in so be careful. 
• The P2P screening contact allows the opportunity to alert others (activate 911, announce "lockdown") to trigger an immediate response and possibly mitigate the threat (using your judgement) to regain the initiative against someone planning to do harm. The secretary did this as well by talking to the gunman. 
• Societal Mechanism to Maintain Visibility of a Threatening Member of a Community. "See Something, Hear Something, Say Something" can help identify a threatening individual and in this instance his brother reported him in March (charges filed, arrest, three years probation  and anger counselling, and medication). However who was tracking this and how could this have been prevented. What is the local areas threat assessment and threat tracking process, if any. How could this mentally deranged individual have been prevented from coming to the school to harm himself or others. This area is the critical vulnerability in preventing mass rampage shooters in our society.

Knowledge is Power and School Preparedness 

is about Preparation, not Paranoia.  

Anniversary of July 22, 2011 Norwegian Massacre

Young Survivors of 2011 Norwegian Shooting Massacre
(Click on the Above Link) to see some of the survivors...

On July 22, 2011, a car bomb killed eight people at the executive government building in Oslo, Norway. Shortly thereafter, Anders Behring Breivik, responsible for the bombing in Oslo, opened fire at a summer youth camp for members of the Labor Party on the isolated island of Utøya, Norway killing 69 (mostly young) people and wounding (209) many more; 500 people survived.

15 Year Old Norwegian Survivor

Comment: This was a psychopathic act of violence from a madman who was captured and is in jail. The survivors of these violence acts against these youth will result in recovery for many years, and more than likely the rest of their lives. Not to mention, the impact these incidents have had on their families, friends, and loved ones will need to recover as well. 

Our focus always has to be on PREVENTION of these tragedies, if you SEE SOMETHING, HEAR SOMETHING, YOU NEED TO SAY SOMETHING. If only someone in Anders Behring Breivik's life was concerned about his extremist beliefs and purchases of weapons & bomb making materials; or if someone had stumbled upon his violent cyber postings this perhaps could have been prevented...? 

From a Response standpoint, in the most extreme cases of rampage shootings knowing how to RUN, HIDE, and as a last resort FIGHT (Protect Yourself and Others). Unfortunately in today's world this is a LIFE SKILL that can make us all more resilient.

It is about PREPARATION, not PARANOIA....

Initial Observations from the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

RESPONSE RELATED:  

• This school had trained in lockdown drills and procedures. Teachers and students knew what to do and they did it which lessened the tragedy. Had the law enforcement first responders not arrived or were not activated by the 911 call, the shooter had hundreds of rounds and victims left. Their (school leadership, faculty, students, and law enforcement) preparedness saved lives. 
• The shooter may break into the facility or room even if doors are locked. This speaks to the “Fight / Resist” to make it harder for them to make a smooth entry into the building / room.
• It appears as the adult(s) (Principal pictured above) fighting the shooter slowed the shooter and bought time for others. If someone is going to kill you, don’t make it easy for them. Inaction is not an option.
• Some people heard “booms”, gunshots, or a confrontation over the school announcement system.  There will be different ways of finding out there is an violent threat in the building.
• Teachers hiding, reassessing and improving their hide site for students was critical to saving lives.
• Teachers kept students calm and due to their young age kept them distracted and occupied.
• The arrival of Law Enfocement in the rapid Active Shooter response is believed to have influenced the shooter to kill himself as he had 100s of rounds of ammo left and more potential victims.  (The sooner the Police show and close with the shooter, the sooner many shooters kill themselves similar to Columbine;  Nickel Mine,Pa;  Va Tech, and now Newtown, CT.)
• Sometimes Running (as a response) to get out of threat area or as part of the directed evacuation is key. Responding Police clearing the school directed many children to Run to the Firehouse.
• You may have to evacuate students / people past a violent (blood, bodies, etc.) crime scene.
• School and First Responders had a known location for evacuation and student reunification (the firehouse).

RECOVERY RELATED:  Many of the recovery decisions are almost surreal after the fact so it is important to plan for them ahead of time, despite how distasteful the topics and decision points are. They won't get easier after an incident. 

• The school is a crime scene to be processed for days, maybe a week. Once cleared, then and only then can clean up and repair happen.  Depending on when this happens, how long do you close school for? When do you re-open? 
• It is more than just cleaning up the crime scene (bio-hazard clean-up, repair damage & bullet holes). What parts of the building off limits (library at Columbine, Kindergarten class at Sandy Hook, Norris Hall at Va Tech etc.) and how does that effect classes and a return to normalcy.
• Crisis Intervention and Counseling services for everyone, ask for state and federal assistance. It is required immediately and will continue for years to come.
• Loss of key Personnel (the Principal and School Psychologist, Teachers, Staff) calls for a rapid decision for replacing school leadership and Subject matter personnel. The decision for the assumption of leadership in the absence of others not being there, maybe temporary or permanent.
• Coming back into school needs to be well thought out and phased: Parents visit school, Parents and Students visit school, Parents and students go to school and classes, Students go to school with some Parents visiting.
• Columbine HS planned it as “taking back our school” and they excluded media due to the adversarial & invasive relationship they had at that time.

THESE ARE A FEW INITIAL OBSERVATIONS MEANT FOR DISCUSSION AND REVIEW. 

GOD BLESS ALL OF THE FAMILIES IN NEWTOWN, CT AS WELL AS THE FIRST RESPONDERS.

Modern Day Life Skill: Surviving an Active Shooter

School Shootings...Workplace Shootings....Shootings in Public Places (Movie Theater, Mall) are all examples of the potential of violence occurring wherever you may be. While it is not probable, it is none-the-less possible - so you must be prepared. Teaching students and young adults the LIFE SKILL of how to mitigate the dangers of an active shooter situation is prudent. The past belief and practice of merely calling the police and hiding from a gunmen (lock-down mode) until police arrive is no longer the only consideration you make when developing a plan of action on how to react. Watch the video as it suggests to RUN from the danger if possible, HIDE if you have no option to run (with some self protective considerations), and if there is no escape and you perceive you are about to encounter an active shooter, than FIGHT to increase your chances of survival. Individually or in a group that swarms an attacker using improvised weapon (books, chairs, fire extinguishers, hot water or coffee, etc.) increases your chances vise remaining a passive target.


This video (RUN. HIDE. FIGHT. Surviving An Active Shooter) is a DHS sponsored product created by the City of Houston which demonstrated the evolution of citizen preparedness to a violent encounter created by an active shooter situation.

Be Prepared and Make Your Luck by training and conducting capabilities through drills. 

3 Norwalk Public Schools Go into Lockdown Due to Nearby Gang Related Shooting

     At 1:40 pm on June 1, 2012, a 22-year-old city man was shot multiple times while walking on Grandview Avenue between Kellogg Street and Leuvine Street. It is believed by the media (The Hour) that the victim is a member of the MGs, a Meadow Gardens-based gang. A car drove by and someone shot at him multiple times. Residents reported hearing between four and seven shots. Police believe the shooter was in a gray, four-door Honda Civic with no front license plate. The car, described by witnesses as a 2006 or 2007 model, was seen speeding from the crime scene. The shooting was the second shooting in three days. A 19-year-old man was shot at the playground of the Meadow Gardens housing complex Wednesday night.
      The shooting happened just a few blocks from Jefferson Elementary School. Ponus Ridge Middle School and Jefferson and Kendall Elementary schools were locked down while the investigation was taking place. Shortly after receiving the initial call, police discovered that the crime scene was on Grandview Avenue, and the road was blocked off from Kellogg Street to Leuvine Street.
     Superintendent Susan Marks said it is standard procedure to lock down the schools during a police investigation of a violent incident that happened so close to a school. "As I understand, the police had a great presence at the school. We always stand down based on what the police direct us to do," said Marks. "Unfortunately we've done this before and our schools do know what to do." 


Points for Discussion:

• Executing a Lock Down to prevent violence from occurring or from spreading within a school OR a Lock Out to secure the school from violence entering the school are incident responses which require a simple plan, discussion, and practice drills to ensure you are capable.
• It is always good to review situations to discuss other related contingencies:
• What if the shooting victim stumbled into the school looking for help?
• What medical capability resides within the school while you awaited alerted 911 response?
• What if the kids were outside in post lunch recess and you heard gunshots? Drop and Cover and Reverse Evacuation back into the building?
• Do you plan for Crisis Recovery teams to help the students and staff recover from the incident?
• Conducting an After Action Review following the incident is critical to capturing vital lessons learned and shared with other schools throughout your district. 

WHEN IT COMES TO SCHOOL PREPAREDNESS, YOU "MAKE YOUR LUCK" BY RAISING EVERYONE'S AWARENESS OF THE TYPES OF INCIDENTS THAT CAN OCCUR AND PRACTICING THE RESPONSES THROUGH DRILLS. 

 

TEXAS POLICE RESPOND TO LOCKDOWN CALL AND SHOOT & KILL 15 YR OLD MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT WITH REPLICA PISTOL (PELLET GUN) WHO AIMED IT AT POLICE.

An unfortunate tragedy occurred when police responded to a Lockdown incident at Cummings Middle School in South Texas. The shooting happened during first period at the school in Brownsville, a city at Texas' southern tip just across the Mexican border. Responding officers were required to shoot an eighth grade student who was holding a weapon.

The fifteen year old student, Jaime Gonzalez, had assaulted a fellow student and pulled a black pistol (see picture above) triggering the Lockdown response by school authorities. Jaime had walked into a classroom and punched a boy in the nose for no apparent reason. Police did not know why he pulled out the weapon, but "we think it looks like this was a way to bring attention to himself."  Teachers were notified over the school intercom that the school was on lockdown. They locked classroom doors and turned off lights, and some frightened students dove under their desks. They could hear police charge down the hallway. Students described the panic they felt during the lockdown. Renee Almazon, 15, crouched with her teacher and classmates away from all windows and doors. "We all moved to the corner where they couldn't see us," she said. Her teacher kept telling the class, "This is a real thing,"

A recording of police radio traffic posted on TV website indicates that officers responding to the school believed the teen had a handgun. An officer is heard describing the teen's clothes and appearance, saying he's "holding a handgun, black in color." The officer also said that from the front door, he could see the boy in the school's main office.  The student continued to brandish the weapon while police arrived and police repeatedly instructed him to drop the weapon which he failed to comply. The police were required to shoot him for their safety and the safety of others. Officers shot the teen with assault rifles, the interim police chief said. Unfortunately the boy died and his weapon turned out to be a replica (see picture above) Glock pellet gun. About 20 minutes elapsed between police receiving a call about an armed student and shots being fired, according to police and student accounts. Authorities declined to share what the boy said before he was shot. Police Chief Rodriguez said the teen was pointing the weapon at officers and "had plenty of opportunities to lower the gun and listen to the officers' orders, and he didn't want to." The chief said his officers had every right to do what they did to protect themselves and other students even though there weren't many others in the hallway at the time. Police said officers fired three shots.

Parents Reaction: Jaime’s distraught parents demanded to know why police took lethal action against their son. "Why was so much excess force used on a minor?" the boy's father, Jaime Gonzalez Sr., asked The Associated Press outside the family's home Wednesday night. "Three shots. Why not one that would bring him down?"  Then she flipped through three close-up photos she took of bullet wounds in her son's body. "What happened was an injustice," she said angrily. "I know that my son wasn't perfect, but he was a great kid." Jaime had gunshot wounds on his shoulder and rib cage, and one in the back of his head. "That's the shot that bothers me the most," Jaime Gonzalez Sr. said to The Brownsville Herald.

The officers will be placed on leave, a normal procedure in this type of event. Students, who were bused to another high school after the incident to meet their parents, Administrators said the school would be closed Thursday but students would be able to attend classes at a new elementary school that isn't being used.

Superintendent Carl Montoya remembered Gonzalez as "a very positive young man… Just something unfortunately happened today that caused his behavior to go the way it went. So I don't know," he said Wednesday. Gonzalez Sr. said he had no idea where his son got the gun or why he brought it to school, adding: "We wouldn't give him a gift like that." 

The Associated Press and The Brownsville Herald contributed to this report.

Points For Discussion: 

• While this is certainly a tragedy, if ANYONE in a school commits a violent act and then brandishes a weapon (real or a realistic replica) causing a LOCKDOWN which then triggers an emergency law enforcement response (active shooter or hostage situation), and that individual refuses to put the weapon down when directed by police, they will be shot, and if shot, they stand a good chance of being killed.
• Many school shootings are over in the first few minutes before law enforcement arrives adding to the sense of urgency by law enforcement.
• Where did the boy get the replica pellet gun from? Why did he bring it to school?  Who else knew he had it?
• If this young man brought the replica gun to school to get attention, he did, and the replica gun put his own life at risk, and his failure to comply with armed officers cost him his own life.
• All students KNOW any weapon or something that looks like a weapon is FORBIDDEN to be brought into a school for this very reason.
• When Law Enforcement tells you to do something requiring them to draw a baton, taser, or firearm, YOU DO IT. You can ask questions later, complain, or make a complaint if you feel justified, but YOU COMPLY, especially in an emergency.
• After the fact, hindsight can appear to be 20/20 but unless YOU have ever responded in-extremis to a life threatening situation requiring the use of deadly force with even a rudimentary understanding of terminal ballistics, then you shouldn't second guess the police.
• This shooting like all shootings will be professionally investigated and the results and actions will be reviewed and disseminated.   

Final Comment: I feel sorry for the young loss of life (although understandable under these circumstances) and for the law enforcement professionals that were required to use deadly force because they faced a threat to the safety of the school community and their fellow officers. My prayers go out to his family and the law enforcement officials (and their families) who will bear the burden of what happened. God Bless.  

High School Teacher Arrested & Fired For Hitting Administrator Following an Evaluation

REDUCTIONS IN SCHOOL STAFF and PERFORMANCE COUNSELING 

CAN LEAD TO WORKPLACE VIOLENCE

Dec 13, 2011  

A Springfield Mass. High School of Commerce math teacher of nine years, Willie Vega (44 yrs old), was accused of and arrested for punching the female Vice Principal in the face after he received a bad evaluation. Police said Vega became “enraged with his evaluation,” stabbed it with a pen and crumpled it up before he punched the 41-year-old female vice principal. The vice principal tried to flee her office but police said Vega blocked the door. The vice principal then grabbed her portable school radio and called for help, police said. Vega’s punch caused the vice principal’s left eye to swell up, 

Vega will be summoned to Springfield District Court on Jan 25th on assault and battery and kidnapping charges, Springfield Police Sgt. Delaney said. Vega, was placed on administrative leave with pay while an internal review was conducted. The accused teacher Mr. Vega refused to answer questions at a school disciplinary hearing about the alleged assault. His decision to remain silent was based on advice from a teacher’s union lawyer, according to Timothy T. Collins, president of the Springfield Education Association. The internal review resulted in the termination of Mr. Vega's employment as a teacher according to Springfield Public Schools spokeswoman Azell Cavaan. 

School officials were “shocked” and “shaken” by the allegations and are “cooperating fully” with police. the school Principal Charles Grandson IV said yesterday the school made counselors available to students and faculty. “All of us are reaching out to and supporting the administrator involved and making sure that that person is taken care of mentally and physically,” Grandson told the media. “She is getting better and school officials are working to make sure she has the support she needs.” The accused teacher said he has a meeting scheduled with two lawyers today as he faces assault and kidnapping charges. “I can only say I’m going to defend myself fully and use every resource I have to defend myself,” Willie Vega, told the media, declining to comment further. He was released on personal recognizance. The accused teacher must obey a no-contact order with the victim, and also has to obey the school’s trespass order. 

Points for Consideration:

• As an employee, no one likes to be told their professional performance or behavior is substandard, but accountability is critical for any organization to function effectively. 
• As a supervisor, few are comfortable with face to face (F2F) performance evaluation counseling if it is negative in nature.
• A supervisor must prepare the performance counseling properly, especially a negative counseling. Things to consider:
• The environment: where is this taking place, observers in the room, physical setting, etc.
• Rehearsing and war-gaming the employee response: how might the employee respond, factoring in the dignity of the teacher, rebuttal scenarios, control of the meeting.
• Personal safety: if it is anticipated that the employee will react emotionally;  having another administrator, security, or even the School Resource Officer (SRO) standing by in a "low profile" manner can be a prudent measure.
• Personal and professional maturity of the employee receiving negative performance counseling AND the experience level of the administrator providing the negative performance feedback are factors to consider. 
• Strongly recommend the Administrator's supervisor rehearse and role-play a variety of counseling scenario outcomes. 
• If you anticipate the employee's response might get emotionally heated or even violent, you must rehearse the responses for this with the key personnel that could be involved.   

Remember, having to do more with less or reducing staff in tough budget times can cause great emotional and psychological stress causing unprofessional behavior and even violence at times. Educational leaders and administrators must prepare for this potential through realistic planning for the worst case scenario. 

Westhill HS Students Arrested After Setting Off Homemade Explosives (June 2011)

Response to Student Homemade ChemBombs in Maryland 2008

STUDENTS WILL ON OCCASION WILL BRING

HOMEMADE EXPLOSIVE DEVICES TO SCHOOL

On July 2011, in Stamford, Connecticut, two city high school students face felony charges after setting off two small homemade bombs containing household chemicals on a friday morning at Westhill High School. A Westhill employee told police he would seek medical attention after inhaling fumes from one of the exploded devices, which were set off in trash bins. No other injuries were reported.

 

The bombs, contained in plastic bottles, produced loud explosions around 9:45 a.m. in two cafeterias at the Roxbury Road high school, said Stamford Police Sgt. Joseph Kennedy. The noise from the device caused "sheer panic" in the cafeteria, where a school resource police officer was posted.

 

The devices did not cause a fire, but one trash bin began smoking in the Raynor cafeteria, Kennedy said. An unidentified teacher or administrator went to the trash bin and inhaled chemical fumes and planned to seek medical attention. The exact contents of the homemade chemical bombs were unknown, but Kennedy said the two students filled plastic bottles with household cleaning solutions and mixed them with aluminum foil to cause a chemical reaction. The chemical reaction generate enough overpressure to cause the plastic containers to explode and release chemical liquid and vapors nearby.

 

Police officers and school administrators used surveillance video footage to identify the two 16-year-olds who set off the devices. They were arrested about 45 minutes after the explosions, Kennedy said. The students were charged with felony counts of second-degree assault, risk of injury to a minor, first-degree reckless endangerment and manufacturing bombs. They are being held at the juvenile detention facility at Bridgeport. Their names are being withheld because they are juveniles.

 

Kennedy said it is unclear whether the 16-year-olds were involved in a Wednesday incident at Westhill in which students threw water balloons filled with bleach at each other. School officials wouldn't disclose how the students will be disciplined. "Unfortunately, student privacy laws don't allow me to share the specific details of the disciplinary actions that will be taken," said Sarah Arnold, a spokeswoman for the district. "But the administration is going to pursue the maximum penalties."

 

According to the district's student behavior policy, students in possession of "explosive materials in school, or ignition of any flammable material in school" can be considered for removal from class, in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension and expulsion. Shannon O'Connor, a 16-year-old junior at Westhill, said she was sitting in the cafeteria several feet from the trash bin when one of the teens threw the small homemade device into it. The loud explosion startled everyone in the cafeteria, but the panic quickly subsided. "Everyone just screamed and jumped," she said Friday afternoon. "It scared me and I wasn't even near it."

Points for Consideration:

• It is a fact of life that teenagers left unsupervised and armed with a little information will try or experiment with chemicals and incendiary devices creating dangerous situations. The phrase "...it is all fun and games until someone loses an eye!" becomes deadly serious when kids can be injured. Many things that start out as a prank or something that seems cool turn out deadly and legally serious for the adolescent participants.
• Taken to a nefarious extreme, the Columbine incident was planned as a large two phased bombing attack to be followed by a shooting spree to kill the remaining survivors. Bombs (in duffel bags) were placed in the cafeteria during the busiest lunch period, but failed to detonate.
• Google search how to make a homemade device and you will be taken to YouTube where you can watch short films that will show you how. What is more disconcerting is to watch those short films made by kids who are demonstrating how to do this or that and even the film footage is an accident waiting to happen. Young kids playing with mixing interactive chemicals without any idea of the danger at close range.
• Parents / Guardians, Teachers, and students need to be tuned to that special frequency that if they "see something or hear something, they need to say something" to an authority figure so immediate action can be taken.
• The proper placement of cameras can be invaluable in finding out who was involved in an incident and what actually occurred.
• The reaction of students, school workers, and faculty to an explosion is often overlooked to include the unintended response (heart attack, anxiety attack, asthma attack, etc.) can turn a prank into a more serious affair (serious injury or death).

CHEMISTRY OUTSIDE  OF CHEMISTRY CLASS IS DANGEROUS

for STUDENTS



 

Maryland Teen Arrested for Terrorist Collaboration and School Shooting Discussion

A POTENTIAL THREAT TO A SCHOOL WITH AQ INSPIRED JIHADIST INTENT

http://articles.philly.com/2011-08-28/news/29938534_1_jihad-jane-mohammed-terror-cases

Mohammed K. (a 17 yr old Pakistani born American high school senior in Ellicott City, Maryland) was secretly arrested by the FBI recently. Mohammed excelled in school, winning scholarships based on his creative-writing skills, and was accepted to Johns Hopkins University. The under-aged Mohammed K was arrested for allegedly conspiring (since the age of 15) with the 48 yr old woman (Colleen LaRose) from the Philadelphia suburbs known as Jihad Jane. (Jihad Jane is charged with conspiracy to support terrorists and to plan to kill a foreign citizen.) The LaRose indictment does not cite Mohammed by name, but uses a code name to allege that he helped her raise money and recruit others for a jihad. According to another court document, LaRose sent Mohammed her boyfriend's U.S. passport, which she had stolen for the jihad plot. Mohammed hid it at school. Mohammed K also spoke in a jihadist chat room of a Columbine-style plot with a Pittsburgh-area friend (Emerson Begolly) a former Neo-Nazi turned Jihadist Pennsylvania college student. 



"I had a lot of thoughts about you today," the teen, Mohammed K., wrote to his Western Pennsylvania pen pal (Emerson Begolly) late last year. "About us both doing martyrdom operations together in my school. . . . It was like we both were in a big truck and had guns and we were shooting randomly at a huge crowd of kids." The chats provide new insight into a boy who at age 15 allegedly began helping Colleen LaRose, the 48-year-old "Jihad Jane" from Pennsburg, who U.S. officials say represents a disturbing new face of homegrown terrorism.

Mohammed's chat room friend was Emerson Begolly, a Pennsylvania State University student who was soon charged with soliciting unrelated terror attacks. Transcripts of the chats were publicly filed in that case. During the Nov. 22 chat, Mohammed told Begolly he lived near National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade, Md. "The place where I live is a HOTBED of NSA and all the security agencies of Amrika [sic]," Mohammed wrote. "And the kids who study in my school proudly state that their parents work in NSA and FBI, and even carry key chains - piss me off." "Like Columbine?" Begolly asked. "Na'am, lol" Mohammed wrote, using the Arabic word for "yes" and Internet slang for "laughing out loud." Online, Begolly and Mohammed also discussed taking hostages and how to use weapons and bulletproof vests. They also wrote dark poetry. At one point, Mohammed cited advice from the Al-Qaeda magazine Inspire. "We should strike the snake at its head." At another, he hesitated when asked whether he was prepared to strike immediately. "I wouldn't get too excited. I think practice comes first."

Points for Consideration:

• This is another successful example of the US interagency Counterterrorism Network (US intelligence / Law enforcement / Military) at work and keeping us safe and secure.
• This is the classic mix of global Islamic extremists leveraging Web 2.0 technology (jihadist chat rooms, Al Qaeda Inspire magazine, etc.) to virtually "chum" for wanna-be / not-so-bright terrorists and radicalize smart but impressionable young people to do their nefarious bidding.
• Terrorist operations evolve from Planning to Preparation, and then to Execution. Whether they are successful or not, it generates media attention which generates fear (the enduring goal of terrorism) which helps the cause.
• Those arrested, killed, or blown up are celebrated as being holy warriors (jihadists) and they become Muslim extremist role models for future extremists.
• John Gidurik (author of Terror at Beslan) warned that terrorist attacks at American schools are a matter of WHEN, not IF.  While these two chat room jihadists were not a band of Chechen (Muslim) Terrorists like in Beslan, Russia; had they went on a rampage in a US school with a few others... it would undoubtedly be repeated.
• Many of the ingredients were there as they were in the Planning stages (course of action development) and they knew they needed to "practice" (Preparation phase). 
• While it appears Al Qaeda's ability to plan big strategic level attacks have been frustrated by the US interagency, their mission-type orders (go forth & kill western infidels) to Muslim extremists and low cost Web 2.0 resourcing (Internet, AQ Inspire magazine has a lot of "how-to" information) gives them a great return on their investment (ROI).
• Had a AQ mid-level manager monitoring a jihadist chat rooms found out that a smart impressionable jihadist American student was considering shooting up his school which was full of students whose parents worked at the National Security Agency (NSA: Signal Intelligence folks), how hard would it have been to exploit or resource a terrorist attack against that American school...connect those dots...very possible. 

Islamic Radicalization of select / disenfranchised members of our citizenry could turn into a strategic critical vulnerability if we are not aware of the foreign and domestic threat to do so and we do not prepare. 

SEE SOMETHING / HEAR SOMETHING - SAY SOMETHING



Louisiana High School Shooting Plot Foiled by Concerned Students

SEE (OR HEAR) SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING SAVES LIVES

Aug 6, 2011: Fellow students heard about a plan by some students to attack their high school on the first day of school. School and Law Enforcement authorities collaborated to ensure a school attack planned by three students for the first day of school was foiled. The suburban school to be attacked was Lakeshore High School in Covington, Louisiana. Three 15 yr old teenagers formed a group called Day Zero and they planned an incredible and devastating attack on their school which also identified a specific student and teacher they would kill before firing indiscriminately targeting law enforcement specifically to obtain more weapons. They planned on ending the school attack with a group suicide.  

Judging from the amount of material confiscated and the detail of the plans, Sheriff Strain said, the boys apparently had been planning the attack throughout the summer. He didn't know if the targets were chosen because of something that happened last school year. He would not say whether they already had guns or where they planned to get them, nor would he comment about a possible motive. But Bonnet said it wasn't race, because the arrested boys are of different races. Strain also didn't know whether Day Zero might have had more than three members, adding, "But from every shred of evidence we have collected and every shred of intelligence we have been able to garner, we don't believe there were any other participants" in the alleged plot. The boys turned themselves in this week. A bond hearing Monday will decide if they can leave the juvenile detention center.

Strain said extra deputies are always posted around schools on the first day of classes, and Monday will be "all of that and then some ... Steps most parents will readily notice, and steps that not even students will see." He quickly added of the enhanced security, "I don't want anyone to think this will happen one day and then it will be over." He wouldn't give details.

School Superintendent Folse said he did not know how many students reported the threat or how worried they were. "It alerted them enough to turn it over to authorities, with trust that the people they alerted would look into it and take it seriously." "I'm very proud of them for stepping up and doing the right thing," Folse said.

EVERYONE IN THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY MUST PROMOTE "SEE OR HEAR SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING" ...IT SAVES LIVES.

Access INTO & OUT OF Your School Facility

KNOWING YOUR SCHOOL FACILITY IS KEY TO SCHOOL PREPARENESS

Schools and other educational institutions are designed to enhance learning. This learning must take place in a safe and secure environment. Knowing how to get into and out of your school is very important from a school preparedness perspective.  Keeping unwanted people out of your school is important. Knowing how to depart your school as an individual or with a group (class, parents, visitors) is also important. These concerns could come into play during the school day or during an extracurricular activity at your school. These access concerns could come into play during an outside activity (gym, sporting event, graduation ceremony, etc.).  Departing your school facility during an evacuation or having to quickly enter school (reverse evacuation) are important in a variety of school incidents.

How do people gain access into and out of your school? It is a simple question, but a very important one.

• What doors allow what access? Teachers and grown ups come in certain doors. Students may have some alternate entry points to gain entrance. Delivery personnel may use other entrances to make deliveries or make pick ups. Some exit ways are meant for emerencies only, but are they used for non-emergencies as well. Who has keys for these doors?
• How about windows? I heard a student (from a local school) talk about a ground floor window with a ledge that they used to "sneak out of the class room" when the teacher wasn't paying attention. How would you use the window in the room you are in as an exit if you were unable to use the door? How could you get through the window?
• How about access from the roof? If someone gets on your schools roof can they get into the school? (See the story below)
• How about subterranean access? Are there any underground entrances to your school? Sewage lines, crawl spaces, utilitiy service spaces, etc. Some schools were used as bomb shelters during the Cold War. Is there a crawl space beneath your classroom.
• Are there any repairs or renovations being done to your school facility which creates school access issues? In Aug 2011, a 15 yr old boy was found dead in the chimney of a junior high school (Ry H. Mann Internediate School in Brooklyn) when he and a number of teenage boys climbed on the school roof and there was scaffolding in the front of the building. Link: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/video?id=8299683

You do not want to wait until their is a crisis to "react" to trying to enter or exit your facility when you least expect it. The head facility manager and janitors generally know the facility, but the Principal, Housemasters, Teachers, SROs all need to know how to get into and out of the school facility regardless of where they are and what they are doing.

Live may depend upon it.

Recommended Book: Shooter Down! by John Giduck

Shooter Down! The Dramatic , Untold Story of the Police Response to the Virginia Tech Massacre by John Giduck

This book is an exceptionally well researched book (452 pages) by the author (who has worked with US Special Forces and possesses a Law Degree and a Doctorate) who is able to look at this complex tragedy from many levels.

The book has nine chapters which discuss:

• 2 Previous School Shootings consisting of the shooter using obstacles and barricades to prevent police response to save the hostages
• Sept 27, 2006: Platte Canyon HS in Bailey, Colorado
• Oct 2, 2006: Amish Schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania
• Background on the educational institution (Va Tech) and how it planned to handle an incident,
• Evolution of the mass shooter (Seung-Hui Cho)
• Early Morning Murder of Two Students in a Dorm and police response
• Follow On Shooting Rampage on campus (Norris Hall) 
• Police and 1st Responder Response to the Mass Shooting
• Ongoing Recovery (Police, School, Victims, etc.) from the Mass Shooting Incident
• Post Incident Issues and Lessons Learned

2 Addendum's:

• Tactical Review of the Law Enforcement (LE) Response to the Mass Shootings
•  Legal Review of Federal Legal Standards for LE in US.

Final Comment: The "silver lining" in these tragedies are the lessons learned from them so that they can be applied to ideally prevent and worst case to more effectively respond and recover from a school violence incident. This book is designed for law enforcement, school administration and teachers, and parents so that we can all protect our societies most innocent, our children.

Adults (Teachers, Staff, etc.) Need To Maintain Control and Morale during a School Incident

A Mexican Teacher Setting The Example:  The accompanying video is of a kindergarten teacher (Martha Rivera Alanis) in Mexico. The teacher is keeping her young students calm during a drug cartel shootout adjacent to the school where five people outside of the school were killed. The teacher and the students were not injured. The teacher keeps the students focused on singing a song as you can hear the gunfire. While this was not an Active Shooter attack against the school, each incident requires adults to assess what is occurring and influence as positive an outcome as you can influence.

Points for Consideration:  The adults (teachers, substitutes, cafeteria staff, etc.) are the authority figure in the classroom (library, cafeteria, main office, etc.) who needs to maintains their composure in a crisis. Students will often gauge their response based upon the adult's example and response to a crisis. In numerous past discussions with students about their Sept. 11th experiences, the memory that most often sticks out in their minds is how their teacher and other adults in the building / room reacted on that fateful day. A hazardous incident can be scary enough, but it can be made even worse by adults losing their bearing and emotions in front of students. As I have often told young military leaders, that in a crisis situation they need to control their emotions in front of their subordinates to maintain group control and unit morale. Teachers, staff, first responders, and military leaders are human and have human reactions which can't be denied, but need to be self-managed in a crisis if at all possible. Sometimes you need to "act calm" even if you don't feel that way. Focusing on the professional tasks you need to complete in an incident will distract you from your personal feelings. In a crisis, "the eyes of Texas" are upon you so always consider what you are doing, saying, and even how your face looks. Try to keep the students focused on something (keeping quiet, singing, playing hangman, etc.) appropriate for the incident at hand.

We all hope we will have the presence of mind to help our students RESPOND to a crisis which helps lessen the psychological trauma in the RECOVERY to an incident.   

NYPD Releases Comprehensive Active Shooter Document for Study

The NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau released a document pertaining to the Active Shooter phenomenon titled: NYPD Active Shooter Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation. (If you have difficulty with the link, just Google search the title). It is a PDF file document that has four parts and an Appendix.

Part I - Introduction
Part II - Recommendations
Part III - Analysis
Part IV - Analytic Methodology

Appendix - a compendium of a variety of 281 active shooter incidents in a variety of locations ; office, commercial business, factory . warehouse, SCHOOLS, and other locations.

THE SCHOOL ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS START ON PAGE 78 OF THE DOCUMENT.

Irate Parent Confronting A Student in School Cafeteria

One month prior, the March 29th post titled Irate Parent & The Response of School Leadership. http://schoolpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/04/irate-parents-response-of-school.html talked about a disruption at CT school in Thomaston. (I suggest you review that post for the recommended protocols).

Now on April 29th in East New Haven at Joseph Melillo Middle School (pictured above) a warrant has been sworn out for the arrest of a parent who allegedly (after receiving a cell phone call from her daughter) came to school and confronted another student in the cafeteria during the school. An excerpt from the story is as follows:     

        

INCIDENT: What precipitated the confrontation? According to East Haven PD an official stated:  “I guess there was a situation ... where there was food being thrown, and this girl called her mother from the cafeteria, saying that this other girl was throwing food at her.”  “I guess she’s had problems with her in the past.” According to police, “it appears the parent was ‘buzzed’ in the front door but did not follow the clearly printed rules,” which require visitors to report directly to the main office. The school has a security camera that shows who is at the front door, but does not have a camera that covers the area between the door and the office, he said. But he said the incident “happened so quickly,” and that as soon as the secretary realized that the woman hadn’t come to the office, she told Principal and they went looking for her. “Instead, she stormed into the cafe and confronted a female student about a situation regarding her daughter,” police said. The mother “went up to the other girl, and from what the other officer was telling me, got physical with her,” he said. “A male student tried to stop the parent and was pushed away by that parent,” police said.

East Haven Police Department Youth Detective Michael D’Amato said the investigating officer, will seek a warrant to charge the mother, whom police have not yet identified, with breach of peace. There may be other charges as well, he said.

What should the Irate Mother Have Done If She Was Concerned:  “Regardless of what the situation was between her daughter and the other girl, the parent had no right to take the situation into her own hands by entering the school and confronting anyone other than the principal,” police officials said. “She should have gone to the main office to the principal and handled it the proper way,” he said. 

 FINAL THOUGHTS: 

• Students and Parents need to know and be reminded of how to respond if they are being bothered by someone in school. Contacting a teacher, guidance counselor, housemaster or vice principal, or principal OR even the police are a multitude of options for a student or parent to use to solve a problem.
• Students and parents need to be reminded of the PROPER way to contact each other during the school day. 
• Parents and students calling each other and texting each other throughout the school day are an interruption to the educational process. It happens more often then people may think. This does not even address student to student calling and texts which is highly disruptive and can be used for nefarious purposes or have unintended consequences.
• Parent or student communication during the school day will be addressed in a future blog.