20 dead at Va Tech

[RockyMtnNFO]

It has to do with typical SOP in that situation. Basic premise used by most departments is to courdon and contain around the area involved to prevent the shooter from fleeing or moving to a new area to inflict damage. There is some good reasoning about this, it allows for good officer communication and provides informations for the Commander on scene to be able to build a picture of the scenario. Unfortunately its an adaptation of doctrine used for hostage scenarios its slow as hell and doesnt work in a situation with an active shooter who is not concerned with survival/escape.

Could they have done it differnt, sure they could but we dont have the same informations the officers did at the time they were making decisions out there in the field therefor we deffinately dont have any right to pass judgement on the actions of the officers.

Heck, yes we do. Gunshots in the building= go in and kill, not sit outside and wait. There were plenty on scene, from what I could tell, to contain while others went in. Protect and serve; how was this accomplished?

I could be wrong and forgive me if I am, but I don't see how sitting outside was the right thing to do.

R/

Steve

 

[Lawman]

Heck, yes we do. Gunshots in the building= go in and kill, not sit outside and wait. There were plenty on scene, from what I could tell, to contain while others went in. Protect and serve; how was this accomplished?

I could be wrong and forgive me if I am, but I don't see how sitting outside was the right thing to do.

R/

Steve

Lots of limiting factors based on what little info you may have at the time. Do you have eyes on the shooter, do you know how many shooters, are there bystanders in the area that would have to be removed from the site meaning you need more manpower (escort and question), if there a possibility of other non hostile armed individuals (this has gotten other cops killed). And combine this with the fact that you may be under orders to maintain position until further orders.

Plus yeah we see lots of guys standing around, thats typical since not everybody operates as an entry unit due keep the possibility of oversaturating an area and failing to secure the overall area down. They did enter the building but with no clear timeline on time from initial shots fired in the engineering building to initial entry into the building (which was secured with chains that required breaching) its impossible to really know what happened without that info and the dialog of the commanders on scene.

Gotta remember this is a lot differnt then a stand up shootout its a hunt for an enemy of unknown strength and intention.

 

[KSUFLY]

Heck, yes we do. Gunshots in the building= go in and kill, not sit outside and wait. There were plenty on scene, from what I could tell, to contain while others went in. Protect and serve; how was this accomplished?

I could be wrong and forgive me if I am, but I don't see how sitting outside was the right thing to do.

R/

Steve

I agree with you on this one. Once they had a perimeter set up they should've been going in and treating everyone as the shooter until they could verify they weren't. I've done several school shooting scenerios and I don't understand how they could've allowed classes to continue while this was going on. I understand that the police thought he might've fled the campus. If he could've fled the campus he could've gone to the other side of the campus. You get as many people out of there to limit any further casualties.

Of course, none of us were there and it's hard to questions the decisions that were made. May God bless the families and friends of the victims.

 

[MattWSU]

How do we know that the cops hunkered down outside with assault weapons weren't the secondary force securing the scene? There were no cameras on the inside and a primary team could very well have already breached the building. I say we shouldn't pass judgement until speculation becomes solid fact.

Condolences to the victims and their families.

 

[Brett327]

I say we shouldn't pass judgement until speculation becomes solid fact.

Condolences to the victims and their families.

No kidding. Enough pointless armchair quarterbacking. None of us knows enough about the facts of the case to speculate about anything.

Brett

 

[raptor10]

No kidding. Enough pointless armchair quarterbacking. None of us knows enough about the facts of the case to speculate about anything.

Brett

That didn't stop Jack Thompson from blaming this on video games... before we know who the gunman is/was...

 

[sodajones]

This may be considered a thread jack, but I thought it might be important. Kind of ironic.

source

 

[Brett327]

If you guys want to start yet another inane "let's arm the faculty" thread in the firearms area, be my guest, but as already stated here, let's keep the politics out of this thread.

Brett

 

[Flash]

This may be considered a thread jack, but I thought it might be important. Kind of ironic.

source

Gun bill gets shot down by panel

Ummm, please heed this advice.........

Let's not turn this into a political discussion, please. Bad enough that 32 people had to die without anybody hijacking it for their pet cause, left or right. Hindsight is always 20/20 and the initial reports are never right. That said, what a damned shame. Prayers as above for the innocents involved and their families.

 

[fc2spyguy]

Thoughts and prayers to everyone involved.

Everytime I hear about this it brings me back to my sophomore year in HS. I was about 20 feet away when my assistant principal was gunned down in HS. The situation was much different here, but I'm sure many of the people are going through what I went through then. It sucks, there is no getting past that. However, I have gone on to live a normal life, and those who survived this will do the same.

 

[HeyJoe]

Tough times, especially for those directly related to the tragic victims of this senseless act. I have a nephew in ROTC there and a senior in engineering so it's been a tense day, but somewhat relieved when he checked in once cell phone circuits cleared.

All the best to those who are wounded and dealing with recovery as well as those who suffered loss and all the students and staff who will likely never forget this emotional wound to their pysche nor the unfortunate victims.

 

[invertedflyer]

^^ glad everyone was OK. Prayers to everyone involved... sad to see such a bad thing happen in a good state.

 

[WishICouldFly]

The shooter's weapons' serials were filed off, and he had no ID on him during the second shooting...he had definitely planned it out to some extent.

 

[Birdman]

A 20-year-old AF ROTC Cadet Murdered

Air Force ROTC cadet killed in Va. massacre

 

[metrogirl]

Here's the latest:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070418/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_shooting

Wow, I'm speechless.