What possible rationale would there be for running a mock terror attack like this? A demonstration? A dry run? A show of strength?
A reminder of Beslan?
Criminal minds are interested in possibilities, that is, what can we get away with and for how long? Notice how realistic the “fake” guns are and that the bearers of them were studiously ignored (lest teachers be found guilty of racism, bigotry,xenophobia) until the weapons were openly displayed and actually pointing at children. If the intruders had instead been members of ISIS there would have been another massacre.
Even fake terror assaults like this are sufficient to cow the populace. Keep them on edge with unrelenting fake and real attacks over enough years and they will convert.
I predict the brunt of terror attacks in the US will be Beslan-style ones on schools. As “gun-free zones,” they and the malls are the softest targets of all.
It’s going to be very bloody. It might even push some Americans to lift their noses off their iPhones long enough to light a candle.