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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLogan High School - Three hour lock down - kids just released
Logan High School is about two block from where I live. While raking up pine needles from the redwoods in the backyard, a helicopter started flying overhead. It was a Channel 2 - Fox News chopper and it was flying much lower than the law allows (1000 feet.) When it wouldn't leave, we decided to check out what was going on in the area.
We first drove just a block before we were stopped by a neighbor. The woman had noticed us taking pictures of the low flying helicopter. She told us her son attends Logan but was home sick. He was receiving updates from his girlfriend, who had gone to school, about the situation inside. They were on lock down. Someone had threatened to "shoot up the school."
The cops had blocked off the streets going to the school, so we turned around and went home. We were trying to get pictures of the Fox News chopper flying lower than the 1000 feet, when we saw the drone. My first drone sighting, at least one like this. It was flying lower than the helicopter and almost silent. Freaky. Hopefully, the person I was with got a picture, as we're reporting both to the FAA.
We decided to walk to the school parking lot. As we walked, we first came upon cops, a couple of firetrucks and an ambulance surrounding an SUV. We still don't know if this vehicle or its owner were somehow involved, or if it was an undercover vehicle, that just happened to have the back door up.
We continued to go closer to the school and found parents hanging with each other, all very worried about their children. The kids were locked in whatever room they had been in when the threat came in, with lights out, no sounds allowed. They could text their parents with updates but they were not allowed to call.
One young mother told us she was in Oakland when her freshman son sent a text, "we're on lock down, there's a shooter." The mom told us, "He's my only child. I've been crying, I'm scared. I sent him here to get him away from the gangs. This is supposed to be a good school." Another mother told us she was receiving texts from her two children, both freshman. One of her children had sent a text, "we're okay." This mother said, "Well I'M NOT!" She told us she can't believe she didn't get in an accident, racing there from San Francisco, where she had been when she first found out."
A cop walked over to give us an update, stopping a student who was trying to cross the street, off school property. The cop told the kid, "You're not allowed to leave the property. Stay on this side of the street." The update was, "They're not letting the kids out yet. They're searching every room to make sure it's safe." One of the parents, a dad, said, "My daughter has a doctor's appointment. It's hard to get in to see this doctor" obviously, a plea to see his daughter and remove her from the situation inside the school. The Officer simply replied, "I'm sorry, you'll have to reschedule."
In an attempt to get more information, I asked the Officer if there had actually been a shooter, seen in the school, with a gun, or if a threat had been called in?" He stated, "It was a call."
The parents, my friend and I, all had a short conversation about the fucking NRA. Complete agreement that the, NRA is the worst thing that has ever happened to this country.
Wandering over closer to the school, telling freaked out parents as we passed them "It was a phone threat, no one was seen with a gun" and receiving a "Thank you" response from each one, we came upon a group of students just hanging out in front of one of the buildings. Turns out, this threat happened during lunch. Many kids leave for lunch, making a short trek to the nearby fast food restaurants. When they returned, however, they were not allowed back inside. But they also were not allowed to leave the property. They talked to us for a while, telling us what little they knew about was going on, which wasnt much. Just what the texts, facebook updates and tweets they received stated. Turned out, we knew more than they did.
We told these kids about the dad trying to get his daughter out of the school by using the doctor's appointment. One young man then told us, "I had a dentist appointment. My mom came to pick me up and got in the school. Now SHE can't come out and I can't go in!" While we all laughed, it was noted that this is only funny because we know everyone is okay.
As we walked away, all these young kids told us, "be safe." That will never be forgotten by me.
Finally, the warning bells that had been going off for nearly three hours, stopped. The kids were allowed out. Grateful, happy, parents, that were by this time, surrounding the school, were noticeably relieved.
I cannot fathom what it would be like, especially in this day and age, to get a call from the school, "The school is on lock down. Everyone is safe but the situation is being investigated. Your child wont be able to leave until the police are finished checking the school." All the while, receiving texts from your child or children, "I can't call. We're not allowed to make a sound. The rooms are dark. There's a shooter." (Evidently, the fact it was a phone threat, didn't reach all the kids.)
It is a sick society we live in, when children are subjected to this, across the country, nearly daily. Luckily, this was a threat. Still, a threat that caused so much fright, so many tears, so much anxiety, loss of work, loss of study, missed appointments, resources used up that could have been used elsewhere. What it must be like to grow up with a very real fear, "I could be shot dead today because I went to school." What must this do to the psyche? How can we possibly expect kids to care about life? No wonder narcissism is running rampant. Why should a child of today give a shit about anything? How difficult it must be for parents to make their kids understand that, life is precious.
All because GUNS! All because NRA! All because Second Amendment! All because of complete and total idiocy that has swept the nation, especially state and federal officials, because of the fucking NRA.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)shoot up a school?
Please show us where the NRA, 2A, and Firearms are responsible for threatening to shoot up a school.
If you don't understand the connection, I can't help you. You're too smart for this.
On edit, I want to add, I don't understand your defending the NRA in anyway. Damn, even daddy Bush renounced his membership and condemned them, years ago. Long before they became as terrible as they are now.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)shoot up a school, I'm asking how they're responsible for some asshole's actions.
marym625
(17,997 posts)I'm saying that they're responsible for the fact threats are taken seriously. I'm saying they're culpable in every fucking death by shooting in this country.
FUCK THE NRA
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)Wouldn't threats being taken seriously be a good thing?
Why are they culpable for every death by shooting in this country?
I thought the culpability belonged to the person who, you know, did the actual shooting?
marym625
(17,997 posts)Dear dog, aren't you better than that?
I'm just going to have to put you on ignore. Anyone who is incapable of admitting there is a big problem in this country because of weapons and the NRA, is not someone I want to discuss anything with.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)so, how do you explain that?
kcr
(15,320 posts)GGJohn
(9,951 posts)Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)elehhhhna
(32,076 posts)GGJohn
(9,951 posts)Got a problem with that?
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)GGJohn
(9,951 posts)That's so deep and intellectual.
marym625
(17,997 posts)Thank you!
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)B Calm
(28,762 posts)kcr
(15,320 posts)That is exactly what it sounds like.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)GGJohn
(9,951 posts)Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)The school shooting phenomenon is definitely a more recent horror that has numerous factors, some of which are unrelated to the NRA.
Stronger gun control laws are certainly something the US needs, but to say that these school shootings are literally all because of guns and the NRA (as you do here) does not really make any sense considering guns have been around since before the USA was a country and the NRA has been around since the 1870s.
elehhhhna
(32,076 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)That was the remark I was referencing.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)Rond Vidar
(64 posts)marym625
(17,997 posts)and just about everything they do, then there's nothing I can say that will change your mind.
Of course it not ALL the NRA. It is not ALL anything. But god damn the fucking guns and the gun lobby. The insanity that we have in America with the guns is doing NOTHING but hurting everyone, except the gun lobby aka the NRA, the manufacturers and the dealers. Children are killing other children at an alarming rate, because of guns owned by their "responsible" gun owning parents.
rug
(82,333 posts)This happened at my daughter's high school today.
http://www.neagle.com/article/20151023/NEWS/151029918
marym625
(17,997 posts)Last edited Sat Oct 24, 2015, 03:21 AM - Edit history (1)
I don't think it was an overreaction at all. Even if it was just an anonymous phone call, this isn't something that should be ignored. Not when school shootings have become commonplace.
We don't know what the threat was, if it was from someone they already suspected of danger, etc. Would you prefer it be ignored?
On edit, I mean the police checking the school. I don't like the holding kids hostage. I wonder what the legalities of that would be. I assume, since the school has authority over them. But if a parent wants their kid out... I don't know. How would keeping all the kids locked in the school help? If there were a gun man, that puts them all at greater risk
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)And your condemning the NRA, 2A, guns because the authorities are taking these threats seriously?
Shouldn't this be a good thing? Shouldn't threats from assholes be taken seriously?
JesterCS
(1,827 posts)Have had threats called in recently.
marym625
(17,997 posts)Were the threats serious?
Rochester
(838 posts)I'd LOVE to see the next group of people "locked down" to react by rising as one, running out through all doors (or windows) and scattering to the four winds. And if anyone gets arrested, I'd LOVE to see the grand juries refuse to indict anyone for the "crime" of disobeying commands. Are we as a nation going to stand up for our rights and for the Fourth Amendment, or are we going to be a nation of cowards submitting to more and more frequent humiliations of being imprisoned in the open air; searched, threatened, enslaved, and murdered by the state's own gang of terrorists?
marym625
(17,997 posts)But they all decided to wait it out. Considering all their friends were still in the school, I don't blame them.
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)Because they knew that guns were rare.
While the cops should take this seriously, they might have taken it a little too seriously - now any idiot can cause mayhem with just a phone call:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/21/technology/online-swatting-becomes-a-hazard-for-popular-video-gamers-and-police-responders.html
Our local HS had a threat, they just started posting a couple of cops there to keep an eye on things. You know they're there, but they just hang out and are cool. I'm sure that they'll go away soon, if they haven't already.
marym625
(17,997 posts)I'm trying to find out if this threat was taken so seriously because they knew it was more than just a call with a threat. If, perhaps, another kid reported a friend and knew he had weapons. Maybe the kids who were saying there was a shooter were correct and the cop wasn't being entirely forthcoming.
We knew about an hour before the kids were let go that the situation was over. The news helicopter and drone left. You know damn well the news would not have left if they believed a shooter was walking the halls.
I just feel for the kids and parents. Kids must become completely desensitized to do much with this shit happening all the time. And with actual shootings happening with such frequency, parents must lose years off their lives every time this happens at the school their child attends