The security measures at a Memphis Jewish school stopped an attempted murderer on Monday. The “do-something” lobby and the media are silent.
A 33 year-old suspect armed with a handgun allegedly tried to enter, was stopped by the locked doors and fled — but not without school officials sending his CCTV still photo and photos of his red pickup truck to authorities who quickly confronted the suspect. Students and full staff were not yet back to school after summer break.
The man, described as a past student of the school, was pulled over three miles from the school and was shot by Memphis police after confronting them with his handgun. He is listed in critical condition at an an area hospital.
Former classmates of the suspect told the press that he “struggled with mental health for a number of years.” Twenty years earlier the suspect’s mother had called 911 when her husband, the suspect’s father, began behaving “‘erratically and appeared to be emotionally distraught’ … and was on medication for bipolar disorder.’” Upon responding to the 911 call and seeing the husband brandishing a gun when not holding it to his head, they shot and killed him. The mother “alleged that she and her minor son were within the "zone of danger" when [her husband] was killed." She filed a lawsuit against the police department which was dismissed in 2010 owing to her inability to prove that “the police officers' conduct complained of in this case was motivated by considerations of race, color, religion, ancestry or national origin.”
A lot of unanswered questions still: How did the suspect obtain his gun? Was he ever committed to a mental health institution? Mental illness alone doesn’t mean a person is violent (the majority are violent only to themselves) but considering he walked, armed, into a school with obvious intent, and confronted police with a gun, he was violent. He has no criminal history beyond a traffic offense, but did he have a violent history at home?
Thankfully, the school he targeted was a hard target and their security — with quick-thinking staff and fast-acting police — prevented tragedy.
Thank God they had security.
The media is evil. Thank God the doors were locked.