A gunman was fatally shot after opening fire in a library on Florida State University's campus early Thursday, sending hundreds of students who'd been studying for final exams running for their lives and cowering behind bookshelves. Three students were found suffering gunshot wounds at the scene.
Police received a call about an "armed subject" at the Strozier Library on the school's main campus in Tallahassee at 12.30 a.m. ET. Officers confronted the gunman and ordered him to drop his weapon, according to Tallahassee Police spokesman Dave Northway. "The suspect did not comply with the commands and shot at the officers," he added. "They returned fire and the suspect was killed.”
During a press conference at 6 a.m. ET, Police Chief Michael DeLeo described the shooting as an “isolated incident with one person acting alone.” It was unclear whether the gunman was a student.
One of the shooting victims was listed in critical condition early Thursday, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare spokeswoman Stephanie Derzypolski said. Another was in stable condition. Police said a third victim had received a "grazing injury" and was treated at the scene.
Several tweets were sent out during both the shooting and the police response.
This is one of them.
Students say a man started shooting at FSU, police told him to put the gun down. He didn't. "They lit him up, man." pic.twitter.com/ZK8vKJfe22
— Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) November 20, 2014
Here is video of the students in the library receiving instruction about the shooting courtesy of Gawker.I can only imagine how frightened these students and their parents must have been as this tragedy unfolded.
Currently there is no known motive, nor is it clear that the gunman was a student.
Update: Now we know that the gunman WAS a former student, and lawyer, named Myron May.
The gunman was a former graduate and a lawyer, named Myron May.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that update.
DeleteI wrote this post a few hours ago, and at that time the name of the man had not been released.
Makes one wonder about a couple of things.
ReplyDeleteFirst, while a law student did he not learn that things like indiscriminately shooting into a building wasn't quite legal? (That's sarcasm for those who didn't pick up on it.)
Second, I wonder what the motive is going to be if they find out. If there IS none - or none they are able to determine - I personally would place this automatically into the category of mentally unstable.
(Let's not get into the discussion about whether or not a person can do this and still be sane, okay? Believe it or not, there are arguments to be made on both sides of the issue.)
And a third question: While it is obvious he refused to obey the rightful command of the police, why is it he was killed? Surely someone in the department who was present had a rifle at the ready and could at least have TRIED to disable him. I mean, it's not like they were all standing there out in the open. Or were they?
I find it disturbing that today it appears the first reaction is shoot to kill.
No, I am not attacking the police for doing what they did! I am merely asking questions which is normally considered a good thing.
Police aren't trained to "wing" someone. They are trained to kill. I'm glad the police killed him.
DeleteLeland, as the relative of a cop who has investigated officer-involved shootings, I can tell you that shooting to disable is a luxury they don't have in certain situations (such as when someone is pointing a weapon at them, especially when that person has already shown a willingness to harm others). Maybe in an ideal world, they could shoot to injure, but in reality,they do not have time to shoot once and then check to see if they've neutralized the suspect (nor is that always verifiable immediately, and even a severely injured person can pull a trigger). Their priority is, and has to be, public safety, and in this kind of situation that often means a "kill or be killed" attitude. If the gunman had put down his weapon and walked out with his hands up, then no, they should not have shot him. But when he's already shot innocent people and is firing at them? They do what it takes to ENSURE that the threat is stopped ASAP.
DeleteI don't know details about this situation, but often when someone starts firing at the police like this, they're bent on "suicide by cop." They won't surrender and they won't stop shooting until they're dead, and they don't care how many people they take with them.
I will also mention that while there are macho and racist cops, most of them don't WANT to take life. Those involved in this shooting will likely have to undergo some form of counseling before they return to active duty. Their families may have a difficult time processing what happened. They themselves may suffer nightmares and other symptoms of PTSD. OTOH, they may be confident in their decision, knowing that with the information they had at the time, a kill shot was the best option. They very likely, though, won't be down at the local watering hole slapping each other's backs because they took a life today.
Yeah I think I should weigh in on this one as well.
DeleteMany years ago I taught a self defense course to a bunch of cops, and afterwards we started joking about what they would do to incapacitate somebody like me who would be hard to deal with in a hand to hand confrontation.
To a man they each said they would just shoot me.
I kind of jokingly said, "Yeah but at least you would wing me right?"
At which pint they all broke out laughing, told me I was watching too many westerns, and that police are not trained to "wing people" they are trained to stop people.
Essentially what they said is that they were trained to fire at the torso as it presented the largest target, and if you lived fine, but if you died. well those were the breaks.
So there you have it.
I'm sad for you that you had to spend any time training our current crop of law enforcement assholes. They only do it because they aren't smart enough to do anything else, hence their strong-arm tactics and lack of intelligence. That being said, it must have been a hoot to work with a bunch of low IQ donut-quaffiing idiots that like to use weapons to subdue people because they are too fat and slow to do anything else. Donuts...yummmm.
DeleteYes, of course, we all know this. The outcome of that kind of policing has been all too obvious for more than 30 years. IT HAS TO CHANGE!
DeleteOh, and, that "suicide by cop" thing"? Bullshit.
Delete@ 2:56
Delete"They only do it because they aren't smart enough to do anything else, hence their strong-arm tactics and lack of intelligence."
You, sir (or madam) are a complete idiot! The vast majority of police officers today are highly educated, dedicated people. And not only that, in a tremendous number of municipalities, they are cross trained as fire fighters.
You damned well better hope that you never really need one of these people to help you. Personally, if I were a police officer, I'd let you rot with that sort of opinion about their work.
Oh, and just so everyone knows, I have 2 nephews and a brother who are police officers. And they are DAMNED good shots, so if the opportunity arises - meaning they have cover and there is no imminent threat due to that cover - they DO try to wound. And have. Yes, if they are caught without cover there is no hesitancy to make sure they are safe and I don't blame them.
Having said that, my favorite comment from those 3?
Only an idiot approaches an armed and firing suspect in the open! We hide!
I am both a teacher and a librarian.
ReplyDeleteI feel like a double target. Seems most of the shootings I hear about take place in a school, a library or a school library.
Another instance of a bad (mentally suspect) guy with a gun.
ReplyDeleteWe can either arm everyone - and have bullets flying everywhere when this happens...
OR we can make it more difficult for bad guys and whackos to get guns.
Two of my nieces attend this university and this news greeted me in the wee hours of the morning. Thankfully, they are both fine but quite shaken.
ReplyDeleteIt is sickening that this is the 90th school shooting since Sandy Hook. And nothing gets done about it. It's easier to get a gun than to get a driver's license or voter ID.
At this point, I don't even think if it hits close to home for some of our bought-by-the-NRA elected officials it would make any difference. Sad and horrible.
That shooter is a LAWYER and went to Texas Tech, a great school. So he wasn't an idiot. People think this was about a girl friend. But no one knows. Thankful it was just the 3 people affected and only 2 hospitalized. But prayers to those 2 people.
ReplyDeleteNot only does no one know, but no one will ever know. There will be no arrest, indictment and prosecution and/or discovery of mental illness. The police took care of all that. All we're left with is speculation and guessing.
DeleteFlorida State is home of the Heismann trophy winner Jameis Winston, whom the college has been protecting from alleged rape and other violations. Jameis' hearing keeps getting postponed. Could the shooter be disgusted with school officials and their policy of protecting athletes who make money for the school?
ReplyDeleteHis facebook page had bible verses, conspiracy theories about the government being able to read your mind and other nonsense. I heard on the radio, one of his former classmates, saying "He was such a "Nice Guy. I mean, if I was leaving the campus store with my arms full, he'd hold the door open and ask if I needed help getting the stuff back to my dormroom, who does that anymore?"
ReplyDeleteGee, he's off his meds, off his rocker, and he's got a fan convinced chivalry isn't dead. I wonder what the answer would be if the reporter asked her if she ever took him up on it, or better yet, if he were still alive, would she? They spoke with quite a few of his profs, they all remember him as a "nice guy" or "good guy" or "you could hardly tell he was there, he never asked questions and sat in the back row"
Not blaming anyone, this is a tragedy that could happen anywhere and with anyone, but a prof says "you could hardly tell he was there", shouldn't something like that ring some bells? He obviously was socially awkward at least, anti social at worst, shouldn't someone have sent him for some help?
All three universities my kids go to have doctors, nurses and psychological counseling on campus, but what good are they???