School Shooting Prevented

In Green Bay, Wisconsin, disaster was avoided.

Two young men were arrested who had stored up "... nine rifles and shotguns, a handgun, about 20 "crudely made" explosive devices, camouflage clothing, gas masks, two-way radios and hundreds of rounds of ammunition ..." were arrested today, according to news reports (see here for an example).

In an earlier post, I remarked that if we demonstrated our concern for young people in a very tangible way, that they would be more likely to reach out to us when there was danger of some sort of attack at school.

In Green Bay, someone did the job. A student stepped forward. "If someone hadn't come forward, we'd be talking about funerals instead of charges," said Brown County District Attorney John Zakowski. Authorities have made it clear that the 'someone' was a student.

I'm very happy for that school and community that, despite all the pressures that may have prevented a student from coming forward, an adult- and some of the reports I've read imply it was an adult at the school- presented that child with the means to do the right thing. Authorities have called the child a hero. Rightly so. Heroes also are the adults who created the environment that made that child feel comfortable in coming forward.

GP