(Article republished from en-Volve.com)
School Superintendent Tony Reddick discussed the incident, as you can watch here:
Law enforcement, commenting on the incident, noted that the altercation and shooting followed the man’s attempts to enter the elementary school, with the School Resources Officer blocking him from doing so and fighting him off.
CBS42 reported much the same thing, noting that “a man arrived at Walnut Park Elementary in Gadsden around 9:30 a.m. Thursday and attempted to gain entry to vehicles and buildings on-site.”
That same report added that the school resources officer was injured in the attack but managed to kill the attempted intruder, shooting him dead following a physical altercation. In its words:
“A school resource officer who also works for Rainbow City police responded and called for assistance from other law enforcement. A physical altercation ensued, police claimed, and the suspect was shot and killed. The resource officer, officials said, received minor injuries.
Tony Reddick, Superintendent of Gadsden City Schools, also commented on the incident, which he described as “pretty bad”, saying:
“I got a call from the principal who’s really distraught, and I really couldn’t make out what was happening. But I knew it was something pretty bad.”
It is as yet unknown why the man was attempting to enter the school, though the proximity in time of the incident to the horrific shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas makes it seem as if the intruder was attempting a copycat shooting.
Regardless, the school resources officer’s brave, speedy response shows what the cops in Uvalde should have done and why having armed guards on school campuses is a good idea: that way the schools are not soft targets, at least as long as there are brave men willing to step up and defend the children.
On that note, a 2019 study shows there wasn’t a single school where a teacher was armed that had a non-suicidal gun violence incident during school hours. In that report’s words:
“After the Columbine school shooting 20 years ago, one of the more significant changes in how we protect students has been the advance of legislation that allows teachers to carry guns at schools, the study notes. “There are two obvious questions: Does letting teachers carry create dangers? Might they deter attackers? Twenty states currently allow teachers and staff to carry guns to varying degrees on school property, so we don’t need to guess how the policy would work.”
“There has yet to be a single case of someone being wounded or killed from a shooting, let alone a mass public shooting, between 6 AM and midnight at a school that lets teachers carry guns. Fears of teachers carrying guns in terms of such problems as students obtaining teachers guns have not occurred at all, and there was only one accidental discharge outside of school hours with no one was really harmed.”
“While there have not been any problems at schools with armed teachers, the number of people killed at other schools has increased significantly – doubling between 2001 and 2008 versus 2009 and 2018.”
While 28 schools currently allow teachers to carry, whether Republicans will press that issue or work to hire others to protect schools is unclear, particularly given the GOP’s fight against the educational establishment over the “groomer” issue.
Read more at: en-Volve.com
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