Since you quoted me I assume you READ somewhere in there that I think they responded appropriately? I said they were not responsible for the shootings. Can YOU predict the behavior of your next door neighbor? Can you predict the behavior or 26 thousand people? Only in GENERAL can you do that, and in GENERAL, they did all the correct things.
Did they notify the students? Yes they did.
But THINK man, they had to get to the first scene, interview shocked witnesses, follow up on those leads, the information they had led them to believe that it was an isolated incident, they treated it as such. They went about looking for the individual. Now if NOTHING further had happened, and they shut down the campus, people would have been yelling about how they shut down the campus for an isolated incident. They have stated they had no reason to believe that anything further would occur. THAT piece of information lay in the CHOICE of the shooter, this all assuming that the two incidents are directly related which they have NOT yet disclosed, if indeed they even know yet.
Now take into consideration, had they shut down the campus, it would have taken HOURS to clear it of the people already there and in transit. this STILL would have left hundreds if not thousands of people still in the vicinity, because the lock down would have simply stoppered people where they were, and its CLEAR that the gunman was among them already. NOTHING would have been prevented by locking down the campus. People would STILL have died.
Ultimately the SHOOTER is responsible for his choices and actions. EVERYTHING else is REACTIONARY, and that takes TIME, it takes TIME to move that many people to action and you can NOT make choices as to whom or where to move those people when you have a virtual if not COMPLETE lack of information. You may as well have locked down the whole city. It would have done about as much good.
Thanks for your thoughtful words.
I think people need to consider what the words “lock down” mean. Any action by the authorities would have a propagation time. Even in this day and age communication is not instantaneous and the vagaries of comprehension add even more time.
After getting the message out the students and other people on campus would not vanish but would be moving out of a 2600 acre kill-zone. Some would inevitably move not out of but into the path of trouble.
And that assumes that the decision-making time of the authoriTIES (with imperfect understanding of the developing situation) would be quicker than the timing of the “lone” gunman with an already existing plan. Committees always react slower than individuals.
I think we often forget that organizations made up of human beings be it church, state or school are made up of HUMAN beings; limited, finite, and flawed.