Giving It The Old College Try

On Tuesday there was a school shooting at Northern Virginia Community College, and as much as it pains me to say this, having attended a community college myself, it is quite obvious that it was perpetrated by a community college student.

Based on the evidence available, 20-year-old Jason Michael Hamilton was angry at his math teacher for his grades, so he plotted and planned his revenge. He bought a high-powered rifle from the local Dick's Sporting Goods the day before exacting his revenge, most likely going home to continue stewing about his plan while living in his parents' basement. The next day, he slept in, then went to the school. At 2:40pm, he burst into the classroom and walked towards the teacher's desk at the front of the room. He silently took aim at his teacher and fired, but missed. The teacher yelled for the other students to exit quickly and call the authorities, then hid behind her desk as he fired again. Then his gun jammed so he threw it on the floor and gave up. MSNBC noted in their article that "a more experienced gunman might have been able to overcome the jam." He walked into the hall and sat in a chair waiting for the police, calmly following their orders without resistance.

Thankfully, we ended up with a slacker who poorly planned his massacre, failed to learn how to properly use his weapon, and gave up the second something went wrong. It's kind of like reading an article in The Onion.

The other thing that struck me as odd were the quotes mentioned in the Washington Post article:

Police treated the incident as an "active shooter" scene and entered immediately, said Sgt. Kim Chinn, a Prince William police spokeswoman.

"I can't say enough good things about the way this was handled," [school provost Sam] Hill said.

Prince William Police Chief Charlie T. Deane said, "It had the potential for something much worse."

"At the end of the day, when I go home, if everyone is safe, I know I did a good job, and that's what happened today," [Campus police officer Anthony] Mellis said.

Yes, you arrested the shooter and nobody was injured or killed. But did you really keep everyone safe and have a chance to utilize your recent training? No. The shooter's poor aim, the shoddy craftsmanship of the gun, as well as the shooter's disappointing work ethic were the only life savers here. Stop patting yourselves on the back. You did your job, and you did it well, but this won't be a TV-movie lauding the heroics of the Prince William PD.