Apparently, the teachers were told to leave... Why didn't one of the teachers jump this guy? At least the children might have had a chance to run for it...I guess hindsight is 20/20. If I ever find myself in a situation like this, I'm going to fight the person.
All of the adults females, except the teacher, were either pregnant or were holding infants. I can understand them wanting to protect their own children. The main teacher ran for the nearest phone. Yes, in hindsight, one of the teachers with an infant could have ran for the phone and the main teacher could have tried to attack the guy, but given the split-second they had to figure out what to do, I can understand the decision that was made.
"Apparently, the teachers were told to leave... Why didn't one of the teachers jump this guy? At least the children might have had a chance to run for it...I guess hindsight is 20/20. If I ever find myself in a situation like this, I'm going to fight the person."
No you aren't. You are going to think, like these teachers evidently did, that if you just listen to the guy, he won't kill everyone. You are not going to assume he is going to execute everyone and provoke him. You are going to listen to him, as one should when thrust into this situation.
As to the police - The perp's call to a local radio station to give 10 seconds notice was NOT a real notice. He was going to shoot at that point, no matter what.
I think no one can tell what would have been the right thing to do in that situation as a teacher. I myself would like to think I'd jump the guy and try and take the gun away from him, but not all people will fight back. When you have a gun aimed at you I think it would be hard not to follow orders from the gunman.
" Why didn't one of the teachers jump this guy? At least the children might have had a chance to run for it... "
I'm sure that those teachers are just devastated that they didn't live up to the expectations of you "monday-morning-quarterbacks" (of which this thread apparently has a surfeit.)
Unfortunately, they are not combat-trained Rambos/Rambettes, prepared by training and inclination to make a split-second assessment of a completely unexpected life-threatening situation, and take appropriate action. (Appropriate, evidently, being defined by what some people here, sitting in safety, would like to believe *they* would have done.)
Here is the bottom line -- Exactly *none* of you second-guessers were there, confronted with the situation. And very few of you actually know how you will react when confronted with mind-numbing terror.
Lighten up.
Please.
How many times have you had a gun pointed at you by a madman?