General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I admit--I wasn't very accurate on my original speculation. Allow me to try again. [View all]Yo_Mama
(8,303 posts)It is obvious that this was planned for the gathering, because some stuff was done the day before, and other stuff was done just a few days before.
But they did do a controlled fire and leave, and a lot of the preparations were done to hide their identities - smashing the cell phones, renting the car, etc.
I think this was planned to be part of a sequence. After the shooting spree, the explosives were supposed to go off (failed). When enough personnel were at the county, they probably planned to strike somewhere else.
I think they underestimated law enforcement's ability to respond, and weren't able to go to the second target. Also, some rather brave guy at a nearby business had people run in for refuge, grabbed his revolver, and ran out there and hid behind something. He saw someone with a gun come out of the building and get into the SUV, which would have allowed the police to immediately target it. That man may have prevented them from an afternoon of merry mayhem.