Posted on 04/23/2007 7:27:21 AM PDT by Gopher Broke
Death toll limited before campus gun ban
Posted: April 22, 2007 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A deeply troubled and disgruntled foreign student runs afoul of college authorities.
He comes to the Virginia campus armed and starts shooting in one building.
But, unlike the massacre at Virginia Tech last week, the damage was contained in this incident that occurred five years ago, before the state legislature banned guns on college campuses.
On Jan. 16, 2002, Peter Odighizuwa, a 43-year-old student from Nigeria, walked into the Appalachian School of Law offices of Dean Anthony Sutin, 42, a former acting assistant U.S. attorney, and professor Thomas Blackwell, 41, and opened fire with a .380 ACP semi-automatic handgun – shooting them at close range.
Also killed in the same building was student Angela Denise Dales, 33. Three others were wounded.
As soon as the gunfire erupted, two students acting independently of one another, Tracy Bridges and Mikael Gross, ran to their vehicles to retrieve firearms. Gross, an off-duty police officer in his home state of North Carolina, got his 9mm pistol and body armor. Bridges got out his .357 Magnum.
Bridges and Gross went back to the building where the shots were heard and as Odighizuwa exited, they approached from different angles. Bridges yelled for him to drop his weapon and the shooter was subdued by several unarmed students.
Gross went back to his car and got handcuffs to detain the shooter until police arrived.
Most news reports of the incident failed to mention the presence of two armed students and their role in subduing the shooter, saying only that he was tackled by bystanders.
Odighizuwa was tried for the murders and sentenced to multiple life terms in prison.
Virginia Tech, like many of the nation's schools and college campuses, is a so-called "gun-free zone," which Second Amendment supporters say invites gun violence – especially from disturbed individuals seeking to kill as many victims as possible.
Foreign-born student Cho Seung-Hui murdered 32 and wounded another 15 before turning his gun on himself.
A year earlier, the Virginia legislature banned all guns on campus in the interest of safety.
MAny were quoted as saying how glad they were that the ‘gun-free’ zone made them “feel safe”.
I wonder how they feel now?
bump!
Reality doesn’t count for much. The fact that they “feel” safe is what’s important!
Summarily dismissing the potential for the last line of defense, were other defensive measures or protocols implemented to insure any safety?
According to reports I’ve read, by the time the first guy with a gun returned, Odighizuwa had already put the gun and a clip on a light fixture and then raised his hands. He was done shooting. Was he done shooting because he knew somebody with a gun was coming? I don’t know.
You’ll also notice that the off-duty officers had to run to their cars to get the guns. I’m sure that’s because guns were not allowed in the school itself. I’d bet there are also any number of cars containing guns on the VT campus, whether it’s illegal or not. Nobody searches cars as you come on campus. But at Tech, most folks would have to run a lot farther to get to them. A gun in the car would not have helped in the Tech situation.
Some people would rather feel good than examine the facts of history and learn from them or examine statistics and draw an intelligent and logical conclusion from them. After all, liver-bellied liberals don’t serve any real purpose here on earth, because their only contribution to society is to restrict the rights of everyone else...so they have to “feel good” while they screw up everyone else’s lives!
The precious time was when he was chaining the doors shut
And as far as I’ve heard, nobody saw him chaining the doors.
The silence is deafening!
Maybe a gun in a someone's car was too far away to get. Maybe faculty parking is closer and that would have helped. I do know one thing, the idea that "gun free" zones are safer is foolhardy and perhaps even criminal. At the least, trying to take away someone's right to defense is immoral.
Too bad someone didn't ignore the law and carry anyway. Perhaps it is better to be judged by 12 rather than carried by 6. There's blood on the hands of many more than just the shooter.
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While the man pointed his gun at fellow students, Gross and two others ran toward him from different directions.
One of the others was Tracy Bridges, a Buncombe County sheriff’s deputy from Asheville, who also had his gun, Gross said.
When the gunman saw them, Gross said, he put his weapon down and his hands up.
The third man, Ted Besen, who has worked as a police officer in Wilmington, was not armed and ordered the gunman onto the ground. Instead, the gunman lunged at Besen, punching him in the face.
That’s when a fourth student ran up and tackled the gunman. Gross and Bridges jumped on the gunman, pulled his hands behind his back and held him as he tried to fight them off.
When the gunman was under control, Gross ran back to his car for his handcuffs
Contrast that with the story you linked above
Third-year student Ted Besen crept along the side of the building toward Odighizuwa, who had just come outside from the lounge. Gross sprinted for his car, about 100 yards away, and retrieved a bulletproof vest and a 9 mm handgun. Back home in North Carolina, he’s an officer with the Grifton Police Department.
He ran back, gun in hand.
By then, Odighizuwa had placed his gun and a clip on a light fixture about four feet off the ground and put his hands in the air. He was yelling something unintelligible to the students, Besen said. Besen, a former Marine and Wilmington, N.C., police officer, told him to get onto the ground.
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