# It's happened again: A school shooting, this time in Maryland **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 20, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882 "2018-03-20T13:20:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/21 "2018-03-20T17:22:58Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > The article says the shooter was injured. I wonder how that happened. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Updated from the OP’s site: > > > [@article](#): > > > > A gunman opened fire Tuesday at a high school in southern Maryland, injuring two students before he was wounded by **an armed school resources officer** , authorities said. > [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > So this is a Good Guns story, right? > > #PlaceName Strong Quit harshing HD’s buzz. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/22 "2018-03-20T17:23:36Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > So this is a Good Guns story, right? > > #PlaceName Strong It is what you want it to be, I guess. In this context it could have been much worse, if not for an intervention. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/23 "2018-03-20T17:25:17Z")
So, one dead, 2 hospitalized, and a bunch of kids left with a memory they could easily have done without. Swell. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/24 "2018-03-20T17:42:51Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > So, one dead, 2 hospitalized, and a bunch of kids left with a memory they could easily have done without. Swell. It’s all part of the American high school experience…according to NRA spokespeople who think that _Unforgiven_ presented a positive message about the merits of armed conflict and that if we just armed all teachers we’d live in a polite society [like Andy Griffith](https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/02/18/sotu-panel-part-1.cnn). Even though Andy Griffith [didn’t carry a sidearm](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fer9ql7itc). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/25 "2018-03-20T17:52:29Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Although mass shootings are news, the particular attention paid to the shooter and his (perpetrators of mass shootings are [almost exclusively male](https://www.statista.com/statistics/476445/mass-shootings-in-the-us-by-shooter-s-gender/)) motivations make it more appealing for someone who wants to go out in a blaze of media-celebrated glory. Given that perpetrators of school shootings, and and in general mass shootings not related to other crimes such as a robbery gone wrong, are almost invaribly outsiders who feel marginalized and whose primary motivation is to be seen as someone with power, it is not difficult to draw the conclusion that media attention and particularly that surrounding the shooter’s motivations (which is inevitably some variant of being bullied, minimized, and ignored, but ultimately inscruitible as to why any non-psychotic person would make extensive plans at a suicidal blowout) is some factor in why mass shootings are appealing. > > The media shouldn’t stop covering shootings because the public needs to be made aware of the problem, both how frequently occurs (compared to the entire rest of the world where is is nearly unheard of save for deliberate acts of ideological terrorism) and how young, often underage perpetrators gain access to firearms, but they do need to stop celebrating the shooters by parading out their family history, pictures of their childhood, and the panel of experts attempting to dissect the shooter’s psyche by remote viewing to the satisfaction of no one. The media attentiin should be on the victims, the details of the incident, and especially on what both administrators and elected officials are going to do to effectively address the problem besides prohibiting non-functional cosmetic features or holding public prayer meetings. If the news media needs to mention the perpetrators by name at all, it should be prefaced by, “The pathetic, mentally incompetent shooter Dick Worthless…” > > Meanwhile, as a society we should be de-emphasizing the use of violence to resolve ‘problems’ of an emotional nature, addressing the militarization of police and society at large, and in general paying a lot more attention to how unstable young men obtain firearms to use in these kinds of shooting. But deemphasizng the focus on the shooter in media reporting is definitely a position responsible news outlets should have been moving toward long ago. > > Stranger Sounds reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/26 "2018-03-20T17:54:49Z")
> [@](#): > > The shooter has been identified as 17-year-old Austin Wyatt Rollins. The two students who were injured — a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl — were being treated at local hospitals, officials said. The female victim is in critical condition. > Sheriff Tim Camerson… said there is an “indication that a prior relationship existed between the shooter and the female victim.” Officers are working to determine if that was part of the motive. Typo removed. It will be interesting to see how this story plays out. Not apparently political nor religious, not terrorism, minor using a gun, and the governor of the state has proposed $125M on security and another $50 million on armed police in schools before this happened. (He is a Republican). Maybe the students at the school can march to support those initiatives. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/27 "2018-03-20T18:01:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Sheriff Tim Camerson… said there is an “indication that a prior relationship existed between the shooter and the female victim.” Officers are working to determine if that was part of the motive. Not that easy to just bleat “We need better mental health care and intervention!” this time, is it? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/28 "2018-03-20T18:47:19Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Not that easy to just bleat “We need better mental health care and intervention!” this time, is it? They’ll probably check to see if he was playing violent video games, since that scapegoat’s been making a comeback. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/29 "2018-03-20T19:04:05Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > It will be interesting to see how this story plays out. Not apparently political nor religious, not terrorism, minor using a gun, and the governor of the state has proposed $125M on security and another $50 million on armed police in schools before this happened. (He is a Republican). Maybe the students at the school can march to support those initiatives. If the students want to march to support those initiatives, then no one should stand in their way. But I doubt it. They can see just as well as anyone else that schools are merely one category out of many categories of places where a shooter might open fire. Churches, movie theaters, nightclubs, shopping malls, amusement parks, restaurants, hospitals, nursing homes, museums…the list of places where a shooter might strike just goes on and on and on. So our idiot governor has proposed spending $175M, in our small-to-medium size state, to protect schools. Maryland has 8 Congressional districts, so that’s nearly $21,875,000 per district. There are 435 Congressional districts in the U.S., plus we should count DC as one CD. If the same amount is spent in each CD to protect schools, that’s a tad over $9.5 billion. To protect just one kind of place. Fortify Sandy Hook? The shooter could have just as easily mowed down that many kids, probably more, in the local Chuck E. Cheese. How many hundreds of billions would we have to spend to defend ourselves against shooters at all places where people regularly congregate? Maybe we should just do something about the guns. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/30 "2018-03-20T19:11:32Z")
And we were just told, weeks ago, that it was unreasonable to expect the Parkland school resource officer to confront the shooter when armed with only a handgun. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/31 "2018-03-20T19:19:03Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > And we were just told, weeks ago, that it was unreasonable to expect the Parkland school resource officer to confront the shooter when armed with only a handgun. Because the two situations were exactly the same, right? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/32 "2018-03-20T19:29:57Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > And we were just told, weeks ago, that it was unreasonable to expect the Parkland school resource officer to confront the shooter when armed with only a handgun. We were? By whom? Can you be specific? (It’s easy to bullshit people via the passive voice. Try giving that sentence a subject.) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/33 "2018-03-20T19:41:28Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > And we were just told, weeks ago, that it was unreasonable to expect the Parkland school resource officer to confront the shooter when armed with only a handgun. Which strawman told you that? Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/34 "2018-03-20T19:57:38Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Which strawman told you that? > [@RTFirefly](#): > > We were? By whom? Can you be specific? (It’s easy to bullshit people via the passive voice. Try giving that sentence a subject.) Here you go. > [@Are there any ways to have stopped the Florida shooter from buying guns?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-ways-to-have-stopped-the-florida-shooter-from-buying-guns/809423/17): > > it is plain ridiculous to think one deputy chasing after such a school shooter with his service weapon is a good plan. It’s a wing-and-a-prayer plan, a certain-death plan, a no-other-options plan. It doesn’t matter who recommends it, we have SWAT for a reason. > [@Sheriff officer resigns after Florida Shooting](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriff-officer-resigns-after-florida-shooting/809373/6): > > If a lone cop armed with a pistol and no body armor is supposed to rush in to engage a guy with an AR-15 or get branded a coward, all I can say is that these guys should get paid more. > [@Sheriff officer resigns after Florida Shooting](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriff-officer-resigns-after-florida-shooting/809373/11): > > If he’d gone in alone, armed with a pistol and no body armor, perhaps he’d be a hero, probably a dead one. I don’t think _not_ acting heroically makes you a disgrace or a coward. It just makes you a normal human being. Nobody should be required or expected to undertake a suicide mission as part of their job. > [@Sheriff officer resigns after Florida Shooting](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriff-officer-resigns-after-florida-shooting/809373/23): > > Nobody with 1/2 a brain can fault someone for not entering an unfamiliar building with possibly multiple shooters. > [@Sheriff officer resigns after Florida Shooting](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sheriff-officer-resigns-after-florida-shooting/809373/118): > > > [@](#): > > > > Every moment he didn’t go in was more time for the killer to kill more victims. If Peterson went in, maybe Peterson would have been killed, but at least there was a \*chance \*he could nail the gunman and the shooting spree could be abruptly brought to an end > > Great idea, let’s spend the life of one person on a chance > [@Do you expect every cop to be a "hero"?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-expect-every-cop-to-be-a-hero/809821/2): > > once someone breaks out the big guns, it’s SWAT time. A resource cop with his little pea shooter is just another casualty. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/35 "2018-03-20T19:59:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Because the two situations were exactly the same, right? :rolleyes: The last time I checked, news articles were saying the shooter had a single handgun and that there had been a connection between the shooter and one of the victims. So not the same as trying to confront a guy with automatic rifles with a pistol. I forget which early article used the phrase, but this may end up being considered a shooting at school rather than a school shooting. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/36 "2018-03-20T20:13:54Z")
Yep, I did say that. And while I am grateful this resource cop successfully took advantage of an opportunity presented to him, I stand by my original thought. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/37 "2018-03-20T20:18:19Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Yep, I did say that. And while I am grateful this resource cop successfully took advantage of an opportunity presented to him, I stand by my original thought. So do you think the police at Columbine took the right approach (waiting until SWAT arrived)? Or do you not think those shooters’ weapons (semi-auto long gun in at least one case) counted as “big guns”? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/38 "2018-03-20T20:45:44Z")
HD: I really don’t recall the specifics on Columbine. I remember there were two guys executing a reasonably well-planned attack using a diversity of firearms as well as prepositioned explosive devices. Further, their episode was unprecedented in its intensity and scope which pretty much confounded law enforcement protocols for school shooters at the time. Whether or not LE knew exactly how involved their operation was as it was unfolding I can’t say, but if they did then they would have understood the school had effectively become a combat zone and, yes, SWAT was the most appropriate resource. I’m not sure what your point is. I’m pretty slow, so maybe if you spell it out for me. FWIW in this sort of situation–I’ll be happy to allow ANY long gun or shotgun or firearm of greater lethality as “big gun”. Pretty much, anything significantly more dangerous than a pistol. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/39 "2018-03-20T20:57:04Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > HD: I really don’t recall the specifics on Columbine. I remember there were two guys executing a reasonably well-planned attack using a diversity of firearms as well as prepositioned explosive devices. Further, their episode was unprecedented in its intensity and scope which pretty much confounded law enforcement protocols for school shooters at the time. Whether or not LE knew exactly how involved their operation was as it was unfolding I can’t say, but if they did then they would have understood the school had effectively become a combat zone and, yes, SWAT was the most appropriate resource. > > I’m not sure what your point is. I’m pretty slow, so maybe if you spell it out for me. FWIW in this sort of situation–I’ll be happy to allow ANY long gun or shotgun or firearm of greater lethality as “big gun”. Pretty much, anything significantly more dangerous than a pistol. Your conclusion (that they should have waited for SWAT) is pretty much the opposite of the conclusion most law enforcement took away from the aftermath of Columbine. Generally, the guidance today is: you go in and don’t wait for backup / SWAT because every second you delay, the spree killer can be harming more people. Here’s a cite - [CNN: How Columbine changed the way police respond to mass shootings](https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/us/florida-school-shooting-columbine-lessons/index.html) > [@](#): > > They rush straight to the gunfire. > > That’s how the April 1999 massacre at Columbine High School – where two young men killed 13 people – shaped the way law enforcement respond to active shooter incidents such as Wednesday’s deadly rampage in Parkland, Florida. > > “It changed everything,” said James Gagliano, a retired member of the FBI’s elite hostage rescue team. > > … > > An exhaustive FBI review of the police response at Columbine led to a more rapid response strategy during active shooter situations, according to Gagliano. > > The “stark and important” lessons learned from the Columbine response, which was widely criticized, may have helped save lives Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Gagliano said. Before the Colorado shooting, responding officers would set up a secure perimeter around the crime scene before even thinking about moving on the suspect. > > … > > “Nowadays, what we do is go to the sound of the guns,” Gagliano said. “You get one, two, three, four people together. We’re trained. We use particular formations.” > > … In other words, I think your original thought (“once someone breaks out the big guns, it’s SWAT time. A resource cop with his little pea shooter is just another casualty.”) is wrong. It’s certainly not the regular instruction for law enforcement today. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882/40 "2018-03-20T21:09:33Z")
Well, then it’s a good thing I’m just some opinionated douche on a message board and not someone in law enforcement who might make the wrong call. My own experience suggests what I originally implied: cop walking alone and blind into an active shooting armed only with a pistol is just another target unless he gets very lucky. And I say this knowing full well I am thoroughly ignorant about whether or not perpetrators are generally competent users of their weapons. Maybe _the gamble that they aren’t_ is part of the calculus leading to the instruction you refer to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happened-again-a-school-shooting-this-time-in-maryland/810882.md?page=3)