Police shoot and kill man who fired shots inside a school summer camp.

 

Duncanville police at a press conference. Dallas Morning News.

Police shoot and kill a man who fired shots inside of a school summer camp. The Dallas Morning News. The incident occurred at a fieldhouse that was hosting a summer camp for 250 children between the ages of 4 and 14. The shooter confronted a camp official and fired a shot. Counselors immediately reacted by evacuating students and locking doors. The gunman attempted to enter a classroom but was unable to get in due to the door being locked. The suspect fired another shot while trying to get in, but then retreated to the fieldhouse where the suspect was shot and killed by the police. It was unclear what the motive of the attack, but a witness said he was threatened to "shoot up the place" if he wasn't allowed to see someone he wanted to see. The response to the incident is in stark contrast to the Uvalde shooting that left 21 people dead, with doors being locked and police responding within minutes. 

My Comment:

This story would not be notable if it wasn't for the massive contrast between it and the Uvalde shooting. In that shooting doors were left open and then police took forever to stop and kill the attacker. In this case the attacker was dead two minutes after help was called and the people at this building actually were able to secure the scene and protect the children. 

Some people might downplay this incident because nobody but the attacker died. But that seems naïve. We don't know the motive but based on the witness statement it seems like a custody incident. Plus, he threatened to shoot up the place and given that he fired his gun twice and he knew that the people at the fieldhouse were children, I have little reason to doubt that if this had gone differently people could have died. 

I can't praise everyone involved in this enough. Though locking the doors and shooting the attacker seems like the bare minimum for teachers and police respectively, it is clear that we can't always count on that happening. These counselors and police officers did exactly what they needed to do and they should be commended for it. 

Some of this is due to pure luck though. A two minute police response time is usually pretty unlikely,  unless the officer is at the scene of the shooting. This incident shows why it is important to have armed people near likely targets as the longer it takes to put down the shooter the more people they can injure or kill. 

It's also a very strong argument against efforts to not fortify schools and other targeted places like churches. Democrats have argued that the only possible solution to mass shootings is to ban guns, even though that's not at all possible. This incident shows that a fortified environment with competent people can stop a tragedy. Sure it's not great that the attacker died and a bunch of people got scared but compare the outcome here to what it was in Uvalde and it's not even close.