Video Captures Man Confronting School Board Before Shooting

[Stinky The Clown]

This is quite something. The video is embedded in the story at the NYT link. In this edited version, they do not show anyone being shot, even though the gun was fired several times. The knucklehead ended by turning the gun on himself and banging his brains.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/video-captures-man-confronting-school-board-before-shooting/

[JanMichael]

1. "Kick" because that is some disturbing stuff.

A real confrontation between a guy who is over the edge and a school board that might have done some things that just might make a person on the edge go over the edge and act out.

Not saying the guy with the gun is "ok" just that he did something that I imagine many folks regardless of the political spectrum of color would like to do.

[guruoo]

2. In a town I once lived a fellow did himself in front of city council after

they voted down his request for them to rezone his home from residential to commercial.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

3. A few brave people in that video.

The woman who tries to clock him with her purse - not too smart but brave. The other woman who tries to help her. And then the council member who tries to take the blame and let his colleagues go free.

[NuclearDem]

4. That guy? He was the one who essentially escalated the situation to the point where shots were fired

I appreciate him taking the blame for it, but after that, he handled the situation very poorly. He got argumentative with the guy holding the gun, which is NOT what you want to do in a hostage situation. You don't want to start interrupting. You don't want to tell the guy that the police are going to kill him.

He started well, but he handled the rest of it very, very poorly and put the other people's lives in danger.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

6. I suppose you and I might do better and practice our expert ...

... hostage negotiating skills when we have a gun pointed in our face.

In the meantime, I'll give the guy credit for trying to save his colleagues - possibly at his own expense.

[NuclearDem]

7. Fair enough

I only speak harshly about it because I have gone through hostage situation training in SERE. But I thought it would just make sense to not argue with a guy that's holding a gun.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

9. It did go downhill at a certain point. Didn't it.

I suppose the people that deal in that realm now have a training video.

And people shouldn't use their purse as a weapon unless it has a brick in it. :)

[NuclearDem]

10. Exactly

These were the kinds of videos they showed us during our training. I think everyone should be encouraged to take classes similar to the ones they put us through (training on how to handle yourself as a hostage, that is). Might save some lives down the road. :)

[LisaL]

12. I simply must point out that everybody made it out alive, except

the shooter. Even if these people didn't behave as perfect hostages, isn't it the end result that matters?

[NuclearDem]

16. True, they did all get out alive

But they really did have a close call, that I think proper training (and some common sense) could have avoided.

[LisaL]

17. Considering that even trained hostage negotiators

don't always get good results, I sincerely doubt it.

[NuclearDem]

18. There's a stark difference between hostage negotiators and hostages

There are certain behaviors and techniques hostages should use to make hostage situations end better for them.

http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-an-Abduction-or-Hostage-Situation

That article pretty much sums up what we learned in SERE. Points number 6, 8, and 9 especially could have kept there from being shots fired in this situation.

But I speak as an observer...not one of the hostages.

[LisaL]

19. I am pretty sure that a hostage could do everything

right and still end up dead. Whereas all these people are alive. So whatever they were doing it worked for them.

[NuclearDem]

20. Yeah, I know they all came out of this alive

And that, in the end, is the important thing...but they did have an extremely close call. What if the shooter had been more accurate with his first shot? He very well could have killed the person he was speaking to. I think it was more luck than anything that no one was hurt.

I'm just saying, my own training and experience made me nervous while I was watching that video...

Just FYI, I'm not arguing your point that under pressure, people will make mistakes, and given the situation, I think he handled the situation the best he could...but just to a trained eye, there were quite a few mistakes that could have gotten someone killed.

[Pithlet]

22. I'm no expert at all and it was nerve wracking to watch.

When the one guy stood up and started arguing with him about how he voted on the taxes, I thought Oh, this is where the guy starts shooting, and indeed it was not long after that. But stress and fear can make people react in funny ways. It's easy wonder what that board member was thinking, but I've never had a gun pointed at me like that.

[flvegan]

5. Nobody was shot, short of the crim.

He was shot, but chose to end himself.

The investigation here continues...

[AsahinaKimi]

8. Very disturbing

yikes.

[LisaL]

11. OMG. I can't believe that woman tried to hit him with her purse.

[Trajan]

13. Very disturbing to watch ...

Being fired isn't enough to do such a thing ...

[Puregonzo1188]

14. Does anybody know anything about his wife?

He says she was fired, but he never elaborated? What was the rest of the story?

[LisaL]

15. In 2000,

he was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, for:
"Attorney Ben Bollinger, who represented Duke during his trial, told The News Herald of Panama City that Duke was waiting in the woods for his wife with a rifle, wearing a mask and a bulletproof vest. She confronted him and then tried to leave in a vehicle, and Duke shot the tires. He said that as part of his sentence, Duke was required to complete psychological counseling. Bollinger did not immediately return a phone message from the AP."
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/cops-man-fires-at-776712.html

I have no idea if he still has the same wife, or got re-married, or what.

[sharesunited]

21. Of COURSE the general public should have access to guns and ammo!

He was a law abiding gun owner.

Until he wasn't.

[aikoaiko]

23. You didn't read the story, did you?

:shrug:

[sharesunited]

24. That usually gets asked by people who don't have any goods to deliver.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

25. if you had read the last paragraph of the story

...the man was a convicted felon...

sP

[sharesunited]

26. Shouldn't have had a gun? So, how'd he get a gun?

Here's how: Too many guns, too much ammo, too readily available.

So why persist in the charade of "lawful" gun possession?

It came off the assembly line as sweet and innocent machined steel.

Where did it go from there?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

27. Illegally...

[aikoaiko]

30. the goods? You mischaracterized this person as law abiding gun owner when he was not.

My god, have you no shame.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

28. More anti union and anti worker agitation from you...

[Still a Democrat]

29. Gun control needs to find it's voice again in this country

Disturbing stuff.