Normally, in mass shootings of this type, the number of wounded is substantial, often even greater than the number of dead. For instance: at Columbine 12 were killed and 21 injured; at Virginia Tech it was 32 killed, 17 wounded; and at Aurora it was 12 dead against 58 wounded. Yet at Sandy Hook, 24 victims were declared dead at the scene, two died the same day at the hospital, and only one still survives as of today.
newspaper this morning said every victim was hit more than once
sounds like he was making sure of the kills
Wow. Did that save more people from being hit, I wonder? I also wonder what made him stop, and if in such a situation other classrooms would have been better off to stream out of the building (as in the Portland mall shooting, where very few were killed or even wounded) rather than hole up.
Why were there so few wounded in the CT school shooting?
type of weapon, number of shots. It was a high velocity, small caliber rifle with minimal rifling based on the military M-16. It was originally thought the low rifling rate added to the tumbling effect upon impact but there is also the fragmenting aspect of the bullet. You can argue what causes the damage but it is effective at what it was designed for and that is a lightweight small-caliber gun with stopping power. It was based on analysis of fatal wounds made in previous wars (WW-I & WW-II). Basically the more shots the better so smaller ammunition allowed a soldier to carry more of it and fire more shots. The military version is the M-16 which is fully automatic. The civilian version is the AR-15 or variants thereof and that is what was used in the shooting.
The news reported that what made him stop was the imminent arrival of the police. He used one of the handguns to kill himself. Not that I give any credence to what is reported but that actually makes sense. It was all done on his terms.
I think the nature of the victims probably played a part as well. Little 6 year olds can’t take a bullet as well as teenagers and college students.
That’s a good point. Multiple shots per victim is horrible, but at least those bullets didn’t harm anyone else. He wasted a lot of ammo and time.
Anything that gave the survivors a chance helped them get through the tragedy until the cops could get there..
I haven’t heard if he possessed one but there is a 100 round clip available for the gun he used. Usually the clips are much smaller in capacity. 27 victims times 3 rounds leaves him with ample ammunition.
Every victim was hit from 3 to 11 times, and there were probably misses. It seems unlikely a single high capacity magazine would be enough, but we don’t yet know for certain.
Fish and bicycles. Too many variables between the two that a comparison makes no sense. Based on currently available information:
Oregon
[ul]
[li]Suspect ran into the mall, past dozens (or more) of potential targets.[/li][li]Random shooting. Witnesses and evidence say he was shooting wildly, at the ceiling, before “aiming” at people. The word is in quotes because those killed may have been killed by random gunfire and not specifically targeted.[/li][li]Evidence indicates his weapon of choice jammed several times, allowing many to escape.[/li][li]Evidence indicates suspect panicked, ran down a corridor and killed himself in seclusion.[/li][li]No evidence (so far) suspected targeted the location or any individuals.[/li][/ul]
Connecticut
[ul]
[li] Evidence indicates suspect targeted the location.[/li][li]Evidence indicates suspect’s mother had ties to school.[/li][li]Evidence indicates suspect broke into the school, confronted the principal (and others) and killed them.[/li][li] Evidence indicates suspect targeted one or both classrooms.[/li][li]Evidence indicates suspect shot everyone multiple times.[/li][li]Evidence indicates suspect killed himself upon arrival of police.[/li][/ul]
The only current evidence that is comparable to both incidents:
[ul]
[li]Suspect is young male.[/li][li]Suspect has socialization issues.[/li][li]Suspect used “assault” weapon.[/li][li]Assault was premeditated.[/li][li]Suspect committed suicide.[/li][li]Potential victims followed lockdown procedures in place.[/li][/ul]
If you have a group of children in a small space then one bullet will likely pass through multiple bodies. There aren’t going to be any misses inside a class room. He certainly wouldn’t need a single magazine because the small children had zero chance of attacking him between magazines. The outrage over this will get a lot worse when the details are made public. I just walked through it in my mind and it’s so much worse than my original rage over it allowed for. I’ll stop here.
I’m not so sure that’d be the case. Have you ever seen those carnival arcade shooting booths? It looks like a lot of stuff on the wall (the space covered) but really, it’s mostly empty space. Just firing blindly or haphazardly is more likely to hit the larger target: the empty space. That’s pretty much what the arcade operator relies on. Yes, there were a lot of children in the classroom; however, that classroom was still mostly empty space. Since every victim was hit more than once, I’d be inclined to say the killer aimed at each and every victim before firing.
I dunno. I have my thoughts and I really don’t want to post them as an argument. If it’s possible not to publish the details of the investigation that would be a good thing for all concerned.
Quoted for truth. This is one of those times where I find the analyst in me fighting with the rest of me. The analyst wants to know the answers and the rest of me says, “Dear Lord, why do we want to think about this in ever greater gory detail?”
Sadly I made the mistake of thinking it through analytically and truly truly regret it. I’m afraid I’m going to dream about it now.
The Dunblane (UK) shooting produced more dead than wounded. Mostly kids, the gunman had two 9mm pistols. It depends on how trapped the victims are, the shooter’s skill and determination to kill, and how the would be victims react. Kids, when ordered to, can just lie on the ground and wait to be shot.
I believe it was the medical examiner in Newton who described the bullets as “imparting all their energy to the body” (i.e. they did not pass through). I assume he meant that the rounds mushroomed or disintegrated inside the victim.
I knew that such ammunition existed for hand guns (e.g. hollow points, Glazer safety slugs, etc.), but was unaware that it was also available for long guns. Is that, in fact, the case?
a 223 cartridge is like a 50 caliber explosive cartridge driving a 22 sized thin-jacketed bullet. It’s a relatively slow spinning bullet so it both tumbles and breaks up on impact due to the high velocity.
They said on the news today they don’t know how many times his mother was shot. I’ve also heard it was a head shot(s). I take that to mean the bullets really messed her up.
As is obvious, I did not know that. Thanks!
should have posted a picture.
here’s a .223 next to a .22 long. That kind of puts it into perspective.
