I watched Dateline last night with the coverage of what they are calling the Massacre at Virginia Tech. There was a large emphasis placed on the failed response of the campus security to the first shooting. The way I understand it is there was a shooting in the dorms around 7:30 and then another shooting in a classroom building around 9:30. So the campus police are being criticized for not locking down the school and getting the information out after the first shooting to ensure that the shooter would not cause more damage and to alert the students to find refuge. The explanation from the university is that they thought it was an isolated incident.
I can see where both sides are coming from here. Even if the campus police had done a better job of passing on the information to the students, how would that have stopped the shooter? When someone has guns at his disposal, he can pretty much do whatever he wants. But wouldn't it had been a good idea to alert those on campus that a madman was on the loose even if it was an isolated incident? Either way, we can't pin the blame of lives lost on the campus police. Certainly it does cause us all to rehash our safety precautions in situations like this. But seriously, aren't we still all saying that this could never happen to us?
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i've been frustrated with all the talk of what could or should have been done. there will come a time to worry about that... but can't we just focus for now on the loss and allow people the time to grieve?
and its just about made me sick how many people i've heard aren't affected by this. 33 young lives were lost (so far... 12 still remain critical). i don't know how we can't be moved at least nearly to tears thinking about it.
much love,
tuf
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