At Least Two People Shot at California High School
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Posted
Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, at 2:06 PM ET
Bobak Ha'Eri/Wikimedia Commons
On the same day as Vice President Joe Biden was meeting with NRA
representatives to discuss how to prevent gun violence, there was news
of another school shooting. Initial reports say two people were shot.
Information is still scarce about what happened at Taft Union High
School, but it seems there were no fatalities. And one of those shot
appears not to have been seriousy hurt because he or she denied medical
treatment, according to a local ABC affiliate.
The shooting started at around 9 a.m. and police took the shooter into custody around 20 minutes later. The local station, 23ABC News, reports that it received calls from inside the school from people who claimed to be hiding in closets.
end quote from:
Shooting at Kern County's Taft Union High School.
repeat quote:
Law enforcement declined to comment on rumors that the alleged shooter had put together a hit list last year or was the victim of bullying. end quote from Above.
When I grew up bullying would more often be met with a knife or a gun than today. I'm not sure why our society has changed? Maybe violence was more a part of our culture in reaction in a self defense kind of way when I grew up than now and self defense and vigilantism was more tolerated in our society than now. Now it is more likely that the people being bullied commit suicide and I guess I don't really understand why this is true and I wonder why people don't defend themselves any way they can? One reason might be that bullies are often a part of gangs and alone you can't win against a gang since formal gangs are much more common now than when I grew up. And now it is much more likely that gang members have AK-47s and other automatic weapons whereas in my era in the 1950s and 1960s gang members more likely had knives, chains and metal clubs but not even guns.
Also, gangs of kids under 18 or 20 are likely going to have these AK-47s with larger magazines no matter what laws are put in place because they are going to steal them and modify them themselves. So, the laws likely won't have any effect at all against gangs and criminals they will only affect law abiding citizens capacity to defend themselves from criminals.
end quote from:
next quote:
Teen shooter targeted two classmates at Taft Union High School in California; heroic teacher helps disarm the gunman
The teacher was wounded after a shotgun pellet grazed his head, the Kern County sheriff said. The 16-year-old suspect is in custody and one student is in critical condition in Bakersfield.
Comments (60)By Victoria Cavaliere / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Thursday, January 10, 2013, 1:04 PM
Updated: Thursday, January 10, 2013, 4:22 PM
ABC Live Stream
Shooting at Kern County's Taft Union High School.
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A student opened fire in a central California high school on Thursday,
critically wounding one student and narrowly missing another before
being talked down by a “heroic” teacher, law enforcement officials said.
The teacher suffered a “pellet to the head” and is expected to recover, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said during a press conference. At least two other students were lightly wounded in the panic after shots erupted around 9:30 a.m. inside Taft High School, in Taft, Calif., about 40 miles south of Bakersfield.
The 16-year-old male shooter was in custody and a shotgun was removed from campus. The wounded student, also 16, was airlifted to Bakersfield in critical condition after suffering a bullet to the upper right chest, Ryan Dunbier, a senior deputy with the Kern County Sheriff's Department, told the Daily News.
The gunman apparently had intended his targets, Youngblood said.
He walked in late to his first period class armed with a shotgun and “multiple rounds,” aiming and firing at the first student, Youngblood said.
The teen then “named a second (student)...he tried to shoot but missed,” the sheriff said.
The teacher, presiding over a class of about 28 students, “engaged” the student in conversation and a campus supervisor rushed into the room, urging the teen to lay down his weapon.
“He in fact told the teacher ‘I don’t want to shoot you,’” Youngblood said.
The "heroic" action of the teacher saved lives, he said. That teacher was not named.
The shooter and his first victim had a “dialogue” before Thursday’s incident, but the details were not known. Law enforcement declined to comment on rumors that the alleged shooter had put together a hit list last year or was the victim of bullying.
Terrified students were evacuated and worried parents gathered to pick their kids up in a nearby football field.
The mother of one student told KERO-TV her daughter called 911 and then called home. "'There's just blood everywhere,'" she said. "“My friend's been shot, my teacher has been shot,'" the frantic student told her mom.
The school shooting came as Vice President Joe Biden meets with victims of gun violence and gun rights groups to try and hammer out legislation to curb gun violence in the U.S. He is due to give recommendations to President Barack Obama next Tuesday.
The president put Biden in charge of a task force to examine gun control laws following the massacre of 20 small children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Conn., on Dec. 14.
The FBI was also on scene to assist local authorities in Taft, a mostly
agricultural town of about 10,000 people in Kern County, 125 miles
northeast of Los Angeles. Local law enforcement when room-to-room to
clear the school, Dunbier told the News.
Law enforcement said the situation could have been worse.
“This is a tragedy,” Youngblood said. “But not as bad as it could have been.”
vcavaliere@nydailynews.com
end quote from:
The teacher suffered a “pellet to the head” and is expected to recover, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said during a press conference. At least two other students were lightly wounded in the panic after shots erupted around 9:30 a.m. inside Taft High School, in Taft, Calif., about 40 miles south of Bakersfield.
The 16-year-old male shooter was in custody and a shotgun was removed from campus. The wounded student, also 16, was airlifted to Bakersfield in critical condition after suffering a bullet to the upper right chest, Ryan Dunbier, a senior deputy with the Kern County Sheriff's Department, told the Daily News.
The gunman apparently had intended his targets, Youngblood said.
He walked in late to his first period class armed with a shotgun and “multiple rounds,” aiming and firing at the first student, Youngblood said.
The teen then “named a second (student)...he tried to shoot but missed,” the sheriff said.
The teacher, presiding over a class of about 28 students, “engaged” the student in conversation and a campus supervisor rushed into the room, urging the teen to lay down his weapon.
“He in fact told the teacher ‘I don’t want to shoot you,’” Youngblood said.
The "heroic" action of the teacher saved lives, he said. That teacher was not named.
The shooter and his first victim had a “dialogue” before Thursday’s incident, but the details were not known. Law enforcement declined to comment on rumors that the alleged shooter had put together a hit list last year or was the victim of bullying.
Terrified students were evacuated and worried parents gathered to pick their kids up in a nearby football field.
The mother of one student told KERO-TV her daughter called 911 and then called home. "'There's just blood everywhere,'" she said. "“My friend's been shot, my teacher has been shot,'" the frantic student told her mom.
The school shooting came as Vice President Joe Biden meets with victims of gun violence and gun rights groups to try and hammer out legislation to curb gun violence in the U.S. He is due to give recommendations to President Barack Obama next Tuesday.
The president put Biden in charge of a task force to examine gun control laws following the massacre of 20 small children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Conn., on Dec. 14.
Wikipedia
Taft Union High School in Kern County, California.
Law enforcement said the situation could have been worse.
“This is a tragedy,” Youngblood said. “But not as bad as it could have been.”
vcavaliere@nydailynews.com
end quote from:
repeat quote:
Law enforcement declined to comment on rumors that the alleged shooter had put together a hit list last year or was the victim of bullying. end quote from Above.
When I grew up bullying would more often be met with a knife or a gun than today. I'm not sure why our society has changed? Maybe violence was more a part of our culture in reaction in a self defense kind of way when I grew up than now and self defense and vigilantism was more tolerated in our society than now. Now it is more likely that the people being bullied commit suicide and I guess I don't really understand why this is true and I wonder why people don't defend themselves any way they can? One reason might be that bullies are often a part of gangs and alone you can't win against a gang since formal gangs are much more common now than when I grew up. And now it is much more likely that gang members have AK-47s and other automatic weapons whereas in my era in the 1950s and 1960s gang members more likely had knives, chains and metal clubs but not even guns.
Also, gangs of kids under 18 or 20 are likely going to have these AK-47s with larger magazines no matter what laws are put in place because they are going to steal them and modify them themselves. So, the laws likely won't have any effect at all against gangs and criminals they will only affect law abiding citizens capacity to defend themselves from criminals.
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