Reading further into this issue I discovered that casualties were avoided due to the fast response by the UT administration in notifying its students that a gunman was on the campus and that they should stay inside the buildings they were in. What is on my mind after reading this story is what our response at Texas Wesleyan would be if this were to happen in our library. UT students were sent instant text messages and were notified about the cancelation of class on thei cell phones, our school can barely get e-mail to work consistently. How many times have we shown up to class to find out it was canceled by a rudementry note on the door? I strongly believe that Texas Wesleyan is not ready to deal with a shooter situation. I believe current policy is to evacuate all buildings and head toward the parking lot... alot of good that will do us.
I agree that the proper planning and ability to act quickly was paramount in the outcome of this event. I also believe that the shooter who had a freaking AK-47 did not have it in him to hurt others. If he really wanted to he could have mowed down that entire library, no matter how quickly they ran. TxWes does have it's issues, one of them being students don't check their txwes email regularly.... There is an emergency warning system WEMS currently in place and it has worked in the past to notify me of events. You have to register for it at http://www.txwes.edu/security/RegisterProc.htm
I think that in this day in time that you are never in a 100% safe environment. Where there is people, criminals and violence is not far from it. We as people have to learn to be more observant as to what is going on in our surroundings. We will not be able to see every violent act that will occur in the future but we shall try to prepare for it and try to avoid its negative outcome. We have to be more alert. I am not sure how they spread the word around to let the students know about the gunmen but as this occurred on campus I think there should be certain things will be done to inform the students of such things that may occur. There should be some kind of signal that is done to inform the students because emailing cannot be checked right then. There are some who do not know how to check their email at all.
Considering how certain people can just obtain guns shootings like this don’t exactly surprise me. Troubled people have easy access to guns in certain areas, even without a license. They can steal one from anywhere. This is why certain safety percausions must be taken to, maybe not completely stop acts such as this odd shooting, but at least lower then greatly. Setting that aside, a shooter with just one weapon without a bomb that didn’t hurt anyone but himself was obviously not determined to kill anyone., maybe one last attempt of attention or to make people understand him. I want to know when the police are going to find out more details about the possible second shooter or Colton’s helper in the shootings. I always wondered if things like this ever made people hesitant to enroll in a college. Then again, colleges might take extra safety measures to prevent incidents like this happening again so students are more eager to go there. Since there have been more serious shootings than that why don’t all universities prevent events like this from happening? Why do they have to wait until it is their turn like UTA? Another thing, what was Colton like? Would people have expected him to do something like this?
It horrible to think what happen at the University of Texas . They did a great job of evacuating and letting everyone know that there was a shooter on the loose. The main reason why nobody got hurt or killed was because everybody was alerted in time. Colleges and high schools should look at what the University of Texas did and their procedures to prevent tragedy in an event like that. Texas Wesleyan I hope is prepared for a situation like the one the happened at UT. Because its true are email doesn’t work half the time and messages aren’t sent in a timely matter. So I believe txwes might not be ready for an attack like that. I think something should be done with law enforcement in order to get schools prepared for shooting. Maybe training seminars on how to evacuate and how to avoid situations like that. Tragedies like that can be avoided as demonstrated by the University of Texas . With proper notice and proper plans situations and tragedies can avoided. I think seminar on how to avoid being abused how to deal with society situation should be held because obviously something was wrong with this nineteen year old to do something like that.
Shot Fired on UT Campus In 1966 Charles Wittman shot and killed 16 people and wounded 32 from the tower on the University of Texas campus. Within the last 3 years, there have been a couple of “scares” on college campuses’ concerning shootings. The most recent, other than this week at University of Texas was Virginia Tech. After Virginia Tech, Texas Wesleyan recognized that there was a need for a warning system and devised an emergency plan which includes emails and a text message warning that can be sent to students as well as their parents. It is the students responsibility to sign up for the alerts and then to read warnings if they should occur. When a gunman is on campus, you cannot broadcast a warning over a loud speaker, so notification has to be done in a calm manner. As a parent of a student attending college, it made my heart “ache” when I heard the news of a shooting on campus. My first thought was of a terrorist attack, and then I was afraid for other students on the UT campus because I remember the tower shooting. I could understand the fear of parents hearing the news, not knowing what was happening and if their child was in danger. I was relieved when it was discovered it was only one student and not a terrorist act, or someone up in the tower shooting people again. But it saddens me to think that getting a gun and killing yourself was the only answer that the young man could come up with to solve his problem. Our class just finished a study of theories that try to explain the criminal behavior, including psychology, sociology and behavioral theories, but none explain suicide. I have lost a family member to suicide and it is devastating to the family. Not only because of the loss of a loved one, but for all the unanswered questions and the guilt has it left on the surviving family. I hope the media leaves the family alone and lets them mourn the loss of their son.
Knowing one of my best friends attends The University of Texas and spends most of his time in the library sent chills down my back when I heard this breaking news. Luckily, he was in a different building at the time and was safe. The immediate response to the situation was perfect. The school immediately sent out text messages and had the school locked down. Once confirmed that there was only one shooter SWAT was addressed to start evacuating and escorting students out of buildings. This situation does bring up several questions regarding TX Wesleyan's security plan. Wesleyan does use WEMS for immediate alerts and I suggest everyone sign up. It's so sad to see how one person's pain can escalate to hurting so many other innocent people.
Shootings on or in school campuses are always tragic no matter what the outcome. Through out history there have always been martyrs for all sorts of reasons, wether in the work place, public facilities, or schools. The problem here lies in the individual, their family, peers, and friends. It can be all to easy to point fingers at the martyr in each individual case, especially if other innocent people lay waste to their actions. But, these individuals who commit these types of acts are actually lashing out for attention from some type of emotional trauma in their lives and dont know how to handle themselves in any other fashion. It's hard to imagine how someone could do such a tragic thing to themselves or others but how can society be so quick to point fingers when they cant recognize the early attempts of out cry's in the particular individual. I think it's SAD that we as a society fail to recognize troubled signs in our friends, peers, co-workers, etc. it just goes to show how selfish we tend to be and have become.
This is just another incident which brings up the current debate on allowing CHL holders to carry weapons on campus. On our campus, I don't believe our security staff even carry weapons so... would end like sitting ducks waiting on Ft Worth PD to show up? I believe Deavon is correct in his assessment of the Wesleyan administration ineptness. Unfornately, our school has a long way to go catching up with technology.
The questions are many - does an individual bear some responsiblity and right to protect themselves? If a person has completed the all the background check and the course requirements and met all the requirements of a Texas CHL shouldn't the student or professor be allowed to carry on campus?
The people who commit such acts are narcistic, and usually show signs of going off the deep end - but the problem is they cannot be arrested or committed to a psychiatric institution until after the fact.
God had control over this!. AK-47? imagine that. How many life could had been taken in matter of seconds.
I heard on the news that people have suggested that weapons be carried on campus. I think this wouldnt help at all. I rather say it would just make things more complicated. Police wouldnt be able to tell who the "bad guy" is if everyone is carring a gun. This student, according to everyone he knew was a great person, he just happend to snapp one day and took a gun to school. Wouldnt it be easier to have more school shootings if students could carry a gun!?
After hearing about the UT shooting on the news it made me really appreciate our school's efforts to protect us by hiring a new security staff and with the WEMS emergency notification system. Even though events like this are unpredictable and can happen at any time, knowing our school has a plan for a situation like this is more comforting than nothing.
I also agree with barbiediaz_89 in respect to the fact that allowing college kids to carry guns on campus would be a DISASTER. How much sense would it make to allow an overworked, stressed, sleep deprived college student to carry a gun around campus? It wouldn't make any sense.
It's crazy how fifteen twenty years ago you would have thought that being at school is one of the safest places to be and that actually the idea of someone coming in and killing people would just never cross your mind. Now it's totally different schools have been the leading place for shooters and world wide masacres. Even young kids like the Columbine incedent how two young boys went in shooting kids and then turned around and killed themselves. I can't imagine having the guts to actually take someone's life and just not even think that I am taking someones daughter or son or sister or brother away from somebody. At least with this shooting the students where safe and there was warnings and proper evacuations of the buildings. I agree that I don't think that he really had it in him to kill others and he realized it once he started firing off the gun. I believe he heard cries and screams and saw the fear of everyone around him and he then realized he couldn't do it. When things like this happen it leaves you asking the question WHY?
This represents another freak incident which brings into question the security around college campuses within the U.S. In my opinion, such incidents should not be addressed with extreme measures such as allowing students to carry guns on campus, as this fails to address the main problem at hand: What drove the young man to carry out the actions he did? In a lot of cases prevention can be the best solution. There was obviously something wrong within this man's life that led him to commit the act he did, maybe being problems in his life or mental issues that needed to be addressed. The difference between university and school systems is that there isn't as good a system set up to deal with problems facing students. In university most are left to fend for themselves, which can create an environment where someone is left to deal with major issues in their lives with no one to turn to. As a preventative measure, universities could invest more money in the care of their students, where issues facing students can be dealt with before such events as that at UT Austin happen. Trying to solve the issue facing the student before an incident happens, rather than introducing measures that deal with the incident directly, will prevent any need for overly extreme measures being taken such as allowing students to carry guns on campus. Doing so will only create an environment where it is likely shootings will happen on a more regular basis than they do today.
As I read about the kids and that is what he was i wonder why he would do such a thing he had a life ahead of him that many would give anything for. People would look at whay around him but did they really knw him. I wonder did he ever try to ask for help and noone was there. Yes the school did what the are there for an made sure no one eles got hurt but if some one would of meet him in the middle just to ask him how was his day would he of turn around and went home and never done this. Sometime we look at the bigger pctuer when all we needed was the little corner. He was in the wrong and he did take his life but what life did he take what lifw had he made of his selve til that day.
Guns nowadays are fairly easy to obtain. Well if you know the right kind of people of course. There seems to be at least one school related school every year. Why? I don't think anyone has found the answer to that question yet. It may be depression, family issues, the way the economy is. There are many different reasons as to why people behave they do. I don't believe this problem will ever go away. People have been violent and killing others since the beginning of mankind. The only thing that can happen is it will get worse.
For starters there's an error in paragraph two last sentence. "Were been left behind" My first concern is why? It is so hard for me to personally fathom why an individual would engage in such an act like that of nineteen year old Colton Tooley. The intensions behind his acts are what most appeals to me because of the fact that he actually killed no one but himself. What is the point of him making such a skeptical, creating so a fearful environment, only to take your own life in the end. Although my point of view upon the matter may be offense to some, I just don't see the point. If he really had intensions with only killing himself why not just do it in the dormitories. This point of view is what also leads me to believe that the event in itself could have been prevented. The gun fire lasted less than an hour in all before he chickened out and killed himself. His actions were not very strategic and when he obviously had come to the realization of what he was doing turned the gun on himself. All in all it makes me wonder if there were any warning signs, if indeed this horrible act of selfishness could have been prevented!
In my opinion local police lucked out when it comes to this "shooting". Why would a man dress in a ski mask, get ahold of an AK47, only to kill himself. if he wanted to do that why did he conceal his face? why did he go through the trouble of getting an AK47 when all he neede was a pistol, something that i would guess would be more easily accessible than an AK47 and also something that is easier to conceal. The report says that shots were fired somewhere else on campus and that there were reports of a possible second gunman. If this is the case, why did the first gunman kill himself. If two people planned to shoot up the school, it wouldn't make sense that one just offed himself and the other unloaded a number of bullets and then fled. I think there is definitely more to this story than has been revealed.
This kid obviously had some problems in his life. hes going to a school were people have try to not make friends. there is not a whole lot to this article to write about. i think this kid only wanted to prove some sort of point. it doesnt make sense to bring an AK-47 to kill yourself. he brought the gun and the ski mask to kill himself. if he truly wanted to take another persons life he could have. he knew what he was doing and wanted to prove a point. why? no one will ever know.
I honesty don’t know how to respond to this certain blog. Only he knows what was gong through his mind to even think up the thought of “I’m going to go and shoot myself in the library of my school”. Personally, I feel that he only did that so that he’d be remembered as one of the people that go down in history for pulling a gun & firing on the popular campus of The University of Texas at Austin. The only reason I feel for the mask and the choice of gun was to be noticed. Maybe he didn’t want his family to know that it was him running around the campus library acting hostile until after he killed himself. But seriously? A mask was all you could come up with? If anything, I’ll pay more attention to the idiot walking around campus in a ski mask before I pay attention to the next Tom, Dick, or Malcolm that just so happens to walk past me. My parents would’ve in the end been highly upset behind that fact that in the end, not only did I take it upon myself to take my own life that wasn’t mine to take, but I would’ve wasted thousands of dollars going to college to end it on the sixth floor of the library of the university I was currently attending.
This is sad, but such a reality today. It is so hard to see the warning signs in everyday life. We all go about our business and never notice the one's who are disturbed in some way. It is interesting to see the responses from people who are closest to these types of people as they initially say they saw no signs, then once probed deeper, it all comes to light. Our best bet is to try to be compassionate and responsive to all who are around us rather than to live in the bubbles we so easily latch on to. Outside of that, all schools should have a solid set of guidelines and include all students in the preperations of the plans so everyone is ready when something like this happen. In this case, I understand that security had just gone through such training and evidentally it paid off. It is a blessing that ALMOST no one got hurt, but even one life, good or bad is considered a tragedy.
This is the times we live in, not knowing what is going to happen next in todays society. With the pressure we put on ourselves to succeed everyday when one fails and we don't see the warning signs in front of our lives until the person goes "postal" then we should have seen it coming. Funny is that we never see anything until something bad happens, then we should have seen it coming.
On April 26, 2007 there was a shooting at Virginia Tech.... September 28, 2010 there is a shooting at the UT campus. In both shootings, shooters were students on campus, both were intelligent, and both shooters turned their guns on themselves. The only difference is one of them shot and killed innocent people and the other one didn’t shoot anyone. Nobody knows why these students did this and what possessed them to do this. Like the others have stated nobody knows when stuff like this will happen. It's sad that we live in a time where stuff like this seems to be occurring too often. There has been a debate going on whether or not students should be allowed to carry guns on campus. Even though some people feel like we should be allowed to carry guns on campus because we could stop incidents like this from occurring, there are others who believe that incidents like this will occur more often. Even though no one was hurt in this shooting, incidents like this shouldn’t happen. I also believe that if we are more compassionate toward one another and we break out of our bubbles maybe we can prevent incidents like this from occurring in the future.
This was like the Virginia Tech shooting but not as extreme. It was still a horrible thing that happened there. I knew someone that goes to University of Texas and I had texted them to see if they were ok and she had said that she had missed class to study and that they were on lockdown. I think that they did everything right about the shooting. I do not understand why people have to do this. I read that a student was working out and heard the gun shots and ran towards it. I then read that a student was in the library's cafe and wanted to run but didn't know which way to run because he didn’t want to run into the shooter. I would have been like the second guy and try and run away from the shooter. You have to be really crazy to kill yourself. He was a normal student to. He was 19 years old, a math major and was from Austin. First of all how does someone get a hold of an ak-47? After all of these shootings that happened makes me a little scared to walk around an university. It makes me watch everything around me.
As far as the shooting at UTA a good plan is a practiced plan. People need to know what to do in situations like this. I"am sured students have been told what to do in case of a incident like this, how to react and respond to it.What would happen if something like this occured on our campus. Most students here would panic, I can asure you of this. Most students here claim to know what to do,but to me their just kids who even haven't lived life. How many times do you here these students bragging on what they have or would do. If you have to brag about them,then your just covering for their insecurities
I recalled us talking about this particular type of incident in class before. What if a student lose his/her mind and begin shooting individuals on campus and the other students be allowed to have gun on their possession. What kind of Chaos will that create? Well! I think based on the recent incident it time to rethink and revisit that situation again...We might need to start developing bullet proof cubicles and isolated squared spaces in each classroom that the Professor can push a button a protected shielding surround the students and the Professors. Why not, we are playing additional fee for these smart boards. I say why not make them smarter...smile....But truthfully, We know not what a person is thinking or going through but just need to be more alert and cautious of our surrounding and report any unusual behavior to the appropriate individuals. I don't approve of anyone have a weapon on their possession will solve the problem neither only may make matter worst reacting in a panic manner.
My first concern is how did he manage to get an AK-47 into the library to begin with? Is UT's security so lax that they do not have metal detectors in the entry doors? I understand that the detectors located in the entry and exit doors are to find and discourage students from removing books from the library without proper procedure, but in today’s day and age they need to be calibrated to detect large metal objects. Yes, I already see the problem in this with students that carry laptops and other items on their person, but I personally, as a student, would be able to handle a little inconvenience such as searching my bag and such, if it meant being able to assist in maintaining my personal security. Are we coming to an age in our high education schools were we are going to have to have mandatory psyche evaluations? It almost feels like it. I mean seriously people how bad can it truly be? A bad grade, an ended relationship, bad news from home, or bullying, no matter what the reason for emotional turmoil, most "normal" people would not think to obtain a fire arm and begin shooting up the school over these reasons, there had to be some warning signs from him, either presently or in the past, to alert the proper personnel to keep a watch over this young man because he has problems. Or have we turned into a society that would rather look the other direction and not think about the possible outcomes of what can happen if such a person snaps?
OMG: Come on now! Is the University of Texas at Austin ground zero? DeJaVu. What is wrong with these people who want to go shoot up schools? Is there really that much stress in anyone's life that would make them want to kill people at a school? I'm a full-time student and when I'm at school the last thing on my mind is if someone starts shooting and I hear gunfire. I just don't know what I would do, or how I would react to it. And where did a 19 year old get a AK-47 from? Not that ir really matters now. Glad no one was killed this time but him, and he did it to himself. Whatever was going on in his mind, GOOD RIDDENCE!
I find it interesting that this happened in the library of the school. It seems that a lot of school shootings end with the gunman in the library. I do believe that this was a statement that he was making to either himself or someone else because of the lack of casualties. If he was like some of the other school shooters, it would be more about revenge and he would have aimed at all the students that he could. He seemed to want to make something of his suicide. The staff and students did react well to the shooting even if it was a short one. Their reaction and thinking showed how far we have come to preparing for school shootings since 1999. It is unfortunate that we have to get better at finding and reacting to a shooter at our schools but while we do why not perfect it right? I am worried that I have gone to schools since school shootings have become popular for lack of a better word and all have the mentality that it won't happen here so why prepare for it? I do like how Texas Wesleyan does have a plan whether it good or bad. At least it is a plan. I do think that we need more of a warning system than an e-mail, or a website to go to, or a text message because if that situation would happen, all we are going to have time to do is run.
I guess it is true about the saying that history repeats itself. I am glad that this didn't turn into the shooting at UT done by Charles Whittman. This student was only 19 and I just wonder what he was thinkin at the time he decided to bring a gun on campus knowing the possibility of people getting injured. Thankfully nobody was hurt but he did eventually kill himself which is so sad because he was so young and had his whole life ahead of him. I do however think that schools should be more prepared when situations like this arise. They cancelled classes for the day wow!!!! but that is it and with the shooting that took place in the 60's you would think that UT would have an immediately plan of action. I believe that people need to be more aware of their surroundings and more prepared in future situations involving school shootings.
It is so sad to me to see student bring weapons to school. I have always been taught that school is a safe place, but my world has been turned upside down because of all the local school shootings. I know these students have a reason for why they kill others as well as themselves. Their could be many reasons such as bullying or maybe there is a psychological problem that they are dealing with to cause them to do these unethical things. It is strange that he fired shots but only killed himself and no one else was harmed. I am not saying that is a bad thing but it is just strange that he made his suicide public, and yet he harmed no one else. I can not grasp why he would take his own life, and how bad it could have possibly been, but something was hurting this young man I believe. This is something that should be a lesson to other students as well as other faculty members, if you see someone in distress or always in a down mood to ask if they are okay. Speaking to someone who has thoughts of suicide or thoughts of hurting others can be avoided because they feel as someone is paying attention to them and that could be what they really need or want.
When I read this article and saw that Colton Tooley was wearing a ski mask and a suit, it puzzled me for a second. Did Colton wear the ski mask to hide his identity in case he changed his mind and wanted to evade authorities? Did Colton wear a suit so he would look good ona table in the morgue? I don’t think so! I think that Colton was distraught and contemplating suicide and he had also been impressed by the violent movie “Heat”. If you recall there was a robbery scene in this movie where Robert Denero, Val Kilmer and others wore ski masks and suits when robbing a bank. The robbery went bad and a long shoot out to the death with police ensued. The shoot out involved the robbers with full auto AK’s and M-16s against the police with M-16s on the street. I think that Colton didn’t shoot or harm any students because he wanted to have a gun battle with the police. That didn’t happen. He simply ended it by taking his own life and sparing everyone elses. I believe that if Colton wanted to take lives, no amount of preparation by the University could have stopped it. It could have minimized it, but not stopped it. The two police stations that are in close proximity to Texas Wesleyan will be our best deterrent and chance for stopping something like this quickly. Hopefully, our security force would act as an early warning alarm and also contact the police if something like this ever happened at Texas Wesleyan University.
it is very unfortuante that this happens, but there is really no way to advoid the situation but if he really wanted to kill people he would of, its hard to go to a liabry and just miss everybody there(unless he was a bad shot). But i believe it could of been a shout out for attention or something like that. Or simpily the fact that he wanted to die famous, to grab attention or he was simply in to much stress and didnt know what to do but take his own life.
I am happy that no one beside the shooter was injured. But I do think this entire incident is sign that all universities around United States need to really examine their procedures for emergencies like this. A bigger campus like UT they were very effective on their response time and getting the word out there. There is no denying that if this incident were to happen at Texas Wesleyan I 100% believe the outcome would have been entirely different. You would think with being surrounded by such crime filled neighborhoods at TWU that our safety would be something of more importance. I feel as if our security “guards” are ineffective when it comes to anything besides parking tickets. Inside buildings we have no security, our professors cannot lock any doors to lock us in a room if there ever was a shooting in the building, and most classrooms do not have any walls to hide out of plain view. I find it sad that I pay to get my education here but I felt safer about any disasters or shootings when I was in high school. I knew exactly what the plan would be in any situation, here at Wesleyan I got nothing. There is no system to contact professors or students during class sessions. E-mail is not effective way of notifying, there is no sure way to know it is received or even read at the time of received. TWU and other universities really should take this as rude awakening and reevaluate how they can make us students not only feel more safe but actually be safe.
After hearing about the shooting at The University of Texas, it had me wondering why people do such things like this. Although people were not injured, aside from the gunman himself, it is crazy to think that there are people that would do such a thing like this. There are many of these incidents occurring in our society that it gets people wondering if they are really in a safe environment. To think about the other students at the school that had to experience that is tragic. When seniors in high school are deciding the school they would like to attend, they aren’t thinking of whether something like this will occur or not. Personally, I believe something like this can occur anywhere we are. A student stated that he saw the gunman walking around gets me wondering if the said something or just went about the rest of his day. The quick action of the police and security was well planned because nobody else was hurt and it seemed as if everything was under control. The school did a well job of sending emails out to the students to warn them about it. Do you think if a shooting at Texas Wesleyan will security will be able to control the situation? No, because although there are plenty of security around, it doesn’t seem as though some of them are fit for a situation like a shooting.
What more could possibly occur like this shooting, at a highly academical, well known campus, let alone so near to home. When this breaking news came out, I froze thinking that it was UTArlington, but then after it revealed it was UTAustin, I thought to myself it didnt matter where or what campus it was, it's at a learning academy. One similar to our very own, where just about anything like this can occur unknowingly. The school officials did act in a very prompt manner to inform the faculty and students about the situation. Unfortunate for the loss in this matter, but glad that no innocent bypasser was injured, let alone killed for such a selflessness act. I hope that all students and school officials enforce the contact level to a high priority to get the word out to students and faculty about situations such as this to prevent any loss on our campus let alone other academic learning facilities all over the globe.
Columbine and Virginia Tech were rude awakenings as to the danger of unstable minds. The latest causality was this student at UT Austin. How sad is it to get to that stage in life and find on hope, happiness, or connectivity. He made a last desperate attempt for attention, in his death, which eluded him in life. The call for action to alert the campus, through the contact system set in place, seemed to work smoothly. However this could have played out much worse. If his intentions were to take other people with him he had the opportunity, and plenty of innocent targets. Mental health seems to be the common factor in these shootings. Some schools are so large it would be easy to find yourself hanging on to a rope with no more knots. Our mentor system of the new students extends a positive connect, and our student advocates is another touch to better assist with the students with a connection to a friend. How well would our own campus alert system work? Have we ever had a drill, for anything? We are situated in an area surrounded by the Latin King gangs and something could play out where we are caught in the middle. How much crime goes on which is unreported here on our own campus? It is really up to each person to aware of their surroundings and stay alert, on and off campus.
Something is up with this. In the interviews done with students and bystanders they said he was firing up in the air, not at others. I find something odd about all this. You make it to college and are doing great, no one seems to notice anything is wrong, even though he wasnt a loner, he spoke and saw his family regularly, had many friends. I guess it just goes to show that there aren't always outward signs before something happens. thankful no one else was injured, only himself, which is how he planned it, i guess. kudos to the UT security force for enacting the alert system and getting the word out to stay inside and not try and interact with him. I guess we did learn something from the tradgic outcomes of Columbine and Virginia tech, I am glad to see that something good can come out of such a bad situation.
Another criminal that goes by the name Colton. That's quite the coincidence, I think. There are so many stories out there on these kids opening fire on innocent students. Some weapons can be concealed, while others stick out like a sore thumb. An AK-47 is one of those weapons. Many people should have noticed that. It's good that there was an alert system that went off to bring this attention to the students on campus. Usually, by the time students are alerted of someone on campus with a weapon, that criminal is in a classroom killing his classmates and professor. Thank goodness no one was injured. I wonder why these criminals end up killing themselves after they kill their fellow students. In this scenario, why did he kill himself when he didn't kill anyone? It's a bit odd...
We aren't guaranteed safety anywhere. I think it's extremely fortunate that UT has such a system to notify students and staff and I'm sure that helped things. Well and the fact the shooter had many opportunities to kill and didn't. I wish I felt confident that our emergency alerts worked like that but I don't. That said it's not just college campuses that should step up responses. Anywhere you go you run the risk of some crazy shooting you just to shoot you. The experts give us tips to look for but from the sounds of it this kid didn't fit that profile. I really would like to see people with CHLs be allowed to carry on campuses. Right now we're just helpless if something happens.
I was at home when this breaking news happened. The first thing I heard the reporter say was "we are not sure if this is terrorist related". Seriously? Were they getting that many calls asking if that was the case? Are we that afraid that terrorists will start randomly shooting at schools or is the media trying to make the story more interesting than their competing station?
I have to commend the UT police for their fast response. Thank goodness nobody else was hurt. Yes, the shooter is dead, but that seems to be the plan he wanted to do.
when I seen it on tv I wanted to call you to let you know what was going on, this was very sad, I think that all schools should have some type of safty awarness in affect so if something of this nature happan. I am so gald to be a small campus, when I think of all school shootings that have taken place, we are blessed. I think that the kid took the easy way out by killing himself, and I still don't understand why,
Sorrow is the word that comes to mind when I read this. Sorrow of all the could have happen. It is great that respnse was so prompt and that action was taken. Individuals who are troubled are capable ofHorrid things. This should be a reason that we can not forget what has happened in the past. Even though this was not a Columbine or Virginia Tech, it could have been. It is scary to think that this could happen anywhere. This is why I feel we should have off duty police officers work on our campus oppressed to security guards. Measures should be taken, no matter the cost to ensure the safety of the students. There have been multiple car break-ins and thank goodness only items have been taken and not anything more precious. Universities around should learn from the tragedy at UT and by learning I mean to be prepared for the worst case scenario.
This was a tragedy, however I turn from what happened there to think of what would have happened if this had happened on our campus? All schools should attempt to keep their students safe and UT did an amazing job in the middle of a crisis of doing just that. Could we here at Wesleyan do that? Our security couldn't even respond to a fire alarm in Elizabeth within fifteen minutes. How safe is our campus? Maybe we should learn something as university from this tragedy, before (if ever) it were to happen here.
With UT's history of a prior and devastating capus shooting in the 60s, UT obviously has safeguard themselves with having and implementing effective safety measures in order to protect the students and staff from any further victimization. I am glad that UT has the taken the precautions to protect its students. For the shooter it is another example of an individual who is obviously lacking what he needs in his life. Its sad to me that people have to act out in such a way to express the rage that they obviously feel inside. However, I feel that victimizing others is not a forum for self expression or anger.
I agree with Melissa on the subject of our safety here at Texas Wesleyan. I thought this year would be different (considering they hired a new security company), but no it hasn't, if anything I think it is a bit worse. Considering the surroundings and neighborhood of the TWU campus, security is even more of a cruel part in the safety of students, professors, and faculty. The recent emergency plan that they have in effect may help, but if it is not known to the students, then the plan is not a plan at all. There is no way to predict what may happen, but knowledge of what to do in the case that it does, makes it that much more organized and may save lives. This story also goes to show that a school shooting can happen anywhere, at least this time it didn't take the lives of others, instead just the person to himself.
Reading further into this issue I discovered that casualties were avoided due to the fast response by the UT administration in notifying its students that a gunman was on the campus and that they should stay inside the buildings they were in. What is on my mind after reading this story is what our response at Texas Wesleyan would be if this were to happen in our library. UT students were sent instant text messages and were notified about the cancelation of class on thei cell phones, our school can barely get e-mail to work consistently. How many times have we shown up to class to find out it was canceled by a rudementry note on the door? I strongly believe that Texas Wesleyan is not ready to deal with a shooter situation. I believe current policy is to evacuate all buildings and head toward the parking lot... alot of good that will do us.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the proper planning and ability to act quickly was paramount in the outcome of this event. I also believe that the shooter who had a freaking AK-47 did not have it in him to hurt others. If he really wanted to he could have mowed down that entire library, no matter how quickly they ran. TxWes does have it's issues, one of them being students don't check their txwes email regularly.... There is an emergency warning system WEMS currently in place and it has worked in the past to notify me of events. You have to register for it at http://www.txwes.edu/security/RegisterProc.htm
ReplyDeleteI think that in this day in time that you are never in a 100% safe environment. Where there is people, criminals and violence is not far from it. We as people have to learn to be more observant as to what is going on in our surroundings. We will not be able to see every violent act that will occur in the future but we shall try to prepare for it and try to avoid its negative outcome. We have to be more alert. I am not sure how they spread the word around to let the students know about the gunmen but as this occurred on campus I think there should be certain things will be done to inform the students of such things that may occur. There should be some kind of signal that is done to inform the students because emailing cannot be checked right then. There are some who do not know how to check their email at all.
ReplyDeleteConsidering how certain people can just obtain guns shootings like this don’t exactly surprise me. Troubled people have easy access to guns in certain areas, even without a license. They can steal one from anywhere. This is why certain safety percausions must be taken to, maybe not completely stop acts such as this odd shooting, but at least lower then greatly. Setting that aside, a shooter with just one weapon without a bomb that didn’t hurt anyone but himself was obviously not determined to kill anyone., maybe one last attempt of attention or to make people understand him. I want to know when the police are going to find out more details about the possible second shooter or Colton’s helper in the shootings. I always wondered if things like this ever made people hesitant to enroll in a college. Then again, colleges might take extra safety measures to prevent incidents like this happening again so students are more eager to go there. Since there have been more serious shootings than that why don’t all universities prevent events like this from happening? Why do they have to wait until it is their turn like UTA? Another thing, what was Colton like? Would people have expected him to do something like this?
ReplyDeleteIt horrible to think what happen at the University of Texas . They did a great job of evacuating and letting everyone know that there was a shooter on the loose. The main reason why nobody got hurt or killed was because everybody was alerted in time. Colleges and high schools should look at what the University of Texas did and their procedures to prevent tragedy in an event like that. Texas Wesleyan I hope is prepared for a situation like the one the happened at UT. Because its true are email doesn’t work half the time and messages aren’t sent in a timely matter. So I believe txwes might not be ready for an attack like that. I think something should be done with law enforcement in order to get schools prepared for shooting. Maybe training seminars on how to evacuate and how to avoid situations like that. Tragedies like that can be avoided as demonstrated by the University of Texas . With proper notice and proper plans situations and tragedies can avoided. I think seminar on how to avoid being abused how to deal with society situation should be held because obviously something was wrong with this nineteen year old to do something like that.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteShot Fired on UT Campus
ReplyDeleteIn 1966 Charles Wittman shot and killed 16 people and wounded 32 from the tower on the University of Texas campus. Within the last 3 years, there have been a couple of “scares” on college campuses’ concerning shootings. The most recent, other than this week at University of Texas was Virginia Tech. After Virginia Tech, Texas Wesleyan recognized that there was a need for a warning system and devised an emergency plan which includes emails and a text message warning that can be sent to students as well as their parents. It is the students responsibility to sign up for the alerts and then to read warnings if they should occur. When a gunman is on campus, you cannot broadcast a warning over a loud speaker, so notification has to be done in a calm manner.
As a parent of a student attending college, it made my heart “ache” when I heard the news of a shooting on campus. My first thought was of a terrorist attack, and then I was afraid for other students on the UT campus because I remember the tower shooting. I could understand the fear of parents hearing the news, not knowing what was happening and if their child was in danger.
I was relieved when it was discovered it was only one student and not a terrorist act, or someone up in the tower shooting people again. But it saddens me to think that getting a gun and killing yourself was the only answer that the young man could come up with to solve his problem.
Our class just finished a study of theories that try to explain the criminal behavior, including psychology, sociology and behavioral theories, but none explain suicide. I have lost a family member to suicide and it is devastating to the family. Not only because of the loss of a loved one, but for all the unanswered questions and the guilt has it left on the surviving family. I hope the media leaves the family alone and lets them mourn the loss of their son.
Knowing one of my best friends attends The University of Texas and spends most of his time in the library sent chills down my back when I heard this breaking news. Luckily, he was in a different building at the time and was safe. The immediate response to the situation was perfect. The school immediately sent out text messages and had the school locked down. Once confirmed that there was only one shooter SWAT was addressed to start evacuating and escorting students out of buildings. This situation does bring up several questions regarding TX Wesleyan's security plan. Wesleyan does use WEMS for immediate alerts and I suggest everyone sign up. It's so sad to see how one person's pain can escalate to hurting so many other innocent people.
ReplyDeleteShootings on or in school campuses are always tragic no matter what the outcome. Through out history there have always been martyrs for all sorts of reasons, wether in the work place, public facilities, or schools. The problem here lies in the individual, their family, peers, and friends. It can be all to easy to point fingers at the martyr in each individual case, especially if other innocent people lay waste to their actions. But, these individuals who commit these types of acts are actually lashing out for attention from some type of emotional trauma in their lives and dont know how to handle themselves in any other fashion. It's hard to imagine how someone could do such a tragic thing to themselves or others but how can society be so quick to point fingers when they cant recognize the early attempts of out cry's in the particular individual. I think it's SAD that we as a society fail to recognize troubled signs in our friends, peers, co-workers, etc. it just goes to show how selfish we tend to be and have become.
ReplyDeleteThis is just another incident which brings up the current debate on allowing CHL holders to carry weapons on campus. On our campus, I don't believe our security staff even carry weapons so... would end like sitting ducks waiting on Ft Worth PD to show up? I believe Deavon is correct in his assessment of the Wesleyan administration ineptness. Unfornately, our school has a long way to go catching up with technology.
ReplyDeleteThe questions are many - does an individual bear some responsiblity and right to protect themselves? If a person has completed the all the background check and the course requirements and met all the requirements of a Texas CHL shouldn't the student or professor be allowed to carry on campus?
The people who commit such acts are narcistic, and usually show signs of going off the deep end - but the problem is they cannot be arrested or committed to a psychiatric institution until after the fact.
God had control over this!. AK-47? imagine that. How many life could had been taken in matter of seconds.
ReplyDeleteI heard on the news that people have suggested that weapons be carried on campus. I think this wouldnt help at all. I rather say it would just make things more complicated. Police wouldnt be able to tell who the "bad guy" is if everyone is carring a gun. This student, according to everyone he knew was a great person, he just happend to snapp one day and took a gun to school. Wouldnt it be easier to have more school shootings if students could carry a gun!?
I really hope this never really happens.
After hearing about the UT shooting on the news it made me really appreciate our school's efforts to protect us by hiring a new security staff and with the WEMS emergency notification system. Even though events like this are unpredictable and can happen at any time, knowing our school has a plan for a situation like this is more comforting than nothing.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with barbiediaz_89 in respect to the fact that allowing college kids to carry guns on campus would be a DISASTER. How much sense would it make to allow an overworked, stressed, sleep deprived college student to carry a gun around campus? It wouldn't make any sense.
It's crazy how fifteen twenty years ago you would have thought that being at school is one of the safest places to be and that actually the idea of someone coming in and killing people would just never cross your mind. Now it's totally different schools have been the leading place for shooters and world wide masacres. Even young kids like the Columbine incedent how two young boys went in shooting kids and then turned around and killed themselves. I can't imagine having the guts to actually take someone's life and just not even think that I am taking someones daughter or son or sister or brother away from somebody. At least with this shooting the students where safe and there was warnings and proper evacuations of the buildings. I agree that I don't think that he really had it in him to kill others and he realized it once he started firing off the gun. I believe he heard cries and screams and saw the fear of everyone around him and he then realized he couldn't do it. When things like this happen it leaves you asking the question WHY?
ReplyDeleteThis represents another freak incident which brings into question the security around college campuses within the U.S. In my opinion, such incidents should not be addressed with extreme measures such as allowing students to carry guns on campus, as this fails to address the main problem at hand: What drove the young man to carry out the actions he did? In a lot of cases prevention can be the best solution. There was obviously something wrong within this man's life that led him to commit the act he did, maybe being problems in his life or mental issues that needed to be addressed. The difference between university and school systems is that there isn't as good a system set up to deal with problems facing students. In university most are left to fend for themselves, which can create an environment where someone is left to deal with major issues in their lives with no one to turn to. As a preventative measure, universities could invest more money in the care of their students, where issues facing students can be dealt with before such events as that at UT Austin happen. Trying to solve the issue facing the student before an incident happens, rather than introducing measures that deal with the incident directly, will prevent any need for overly extreme measures being taken such as allowing students to carry guns on campus. Doing so will only create an environment where it is likely shootings will happen on a more regular basis than they do today.
ReplyDeleteAs I read about the kids and that is what he was i wonder why he would do such a thing he had a life ahead of him that many would give anything for. People would look at whay around him but did they really knw him. I wonder did he ever try to ask for help and noone was there. Yes the school did what the are there for an made sure no one eles got hurt but if some one would of meet him in the middle just to ask him how was his day would he of turn around and went home and never done this. Sometime we look at the bigger pctuer when all we needed was the little corner. He was in the wrong and he did take his life but what life did he take what lifw had he made of his selve til that day.
ReplyDeleteGuns nowadays are fairly easy to obtain. Well if you know the right kind of people of course. There seems to be at least one school related school every year. Why? I don't think anyone has found the answer to that question yet. It may be depression, family issues, the way the economy is. There are many different reasons as to why people behave they do. I don't believe this problem will ever go away. People have been violent and killing others since the beginning of mankind. The only thing that can happen is it will get worse.
ReplyDeleteFor starters there's an error in paragraph two last sentence. "Were been left behind"
ReplyDeleteMy first concern is why? It is so hard for me to personally fathom why an individual would engage in such an act like that of nineteen year old Colton Tooley. The intensions behind his acts are what most appeals to me because of the fact that he actually killed no one but himself. What is the point of him making such a skeptical, creating so a fearful environment, only to take your own life in the end. Although my point of view upon the matter may be offense to some, I just don't see the point. If he really had intensions with only killing himself why not just do it in the dormitories. This point of view is what also leads me to believe that the event in itself could have been prevented. The gun fire lasted less than an hour in all before he chickened out and killed himself. His actions were not very strategic and when he obviously had come to the realization of what he was doing turned the gun on himself. All in all it makes me wonder if there were any warning signs, if indeed this horrible act of selfishness could have been prevented!
In my opinion local police lucked out when it comes to this "shooting". Why would a man dress in a ski mask, get ahold of an AK47, only to kill himself. if he wanted to do that why did he conceal his face? why did he go through the trouble of getting an AK47 when all he neede was a pistol, something that i would guess would be more easily accessible than an AK47 and also something that is easier to conceal. The report says that shots were fired somewhere else on campus and that there were reports of a possible second gunman. If this is the case, why did the first gunman kill himself. If two people planned to shoot up the school, it wouldn't make sense that one just offed himself and the other unloaded a number of bullets and then fled. I think there is definitely more to this story than has been revealed.
ReplyDeleteThis kid obviously had some problems in his life. hes going to a school were people have try to not make friends. there is not a whole lot to this article to write about. i think this kid only wanted to prove some sort of point. it doesnt make sense to bring an AK-47 to kill yourself. he brought the gun and the ski mask to kill himself. if he truly wanted to take another persons life he could have. he knew what he was doing and wanted to prove a point. why? no one will ever know.
ReplyDeleteI honesty don’t know how to respond to this certain blog. Only he knows what was gong through his mind to even think up the thought of “I’m going to go and shoot myself in the library of my school”. Personally, I feel that he only did that so that he’d be remembered as one of the people that go down in history for pulling a gun & firing on the popular campus of The University of Texas at Austin.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason I feel for the mask and the choice of gun was to be noticed. Maybe he didn’t want his family to know that it was him running around the campus library acting hostile until after he killed himself. But seriously? A mask was all you could come up with? If anything, I’ll pay more attention to the idiot walking around campus in a ski mask before I pay attention to the next Tom, Dick, or Malcolm that just so happens to walk past me.
My parents would’ve in the end been highly upset behind that fact that in the end, not only did I take it upon myself to take my own life that wasn’t mine to take, but I would’ve wasted thousands of dollars going to college to end it on the sixth floor of the library of the university I was currently attending.
This is sad, but such a reality today. It is so hard to see the warning signs in everyday life. We all go about our business and never notice the one's who are disturbed in some way. It is interesting to see the responses from people who are closest to these types of people as they initially say they saw no signs, then once probed deeper, it all comes to light. Our best bet is to try to be compassionate and responsive to all who are around us rather than to live in the bubbles we so easily latch on to. Outside of that, all schools should have a solid set of guidelines and include all students in the preperations of the plans so everyone is ready when something like this happen. In this case, I understand that security had just gone through such training and evidentally it paid off. It is a blessing that ALMOST no one got hurt, but even one life, good or bad is considered a tragedy.
ReplyDeleteThis is the times we live in, not knowing what is going to happen next in todays society. With the pressure we put on ourselves to succeed everyday when one fails and we don't see the warning signs in front of our lives until the person goes "postal" then we should have seen it coming. Funny is that we never see anything until something bad happens, then we should have seen it coming.
ReplyDeleteOn April 26, 2007 there was a shooting at Virginia Tech.... September 28, 2010 there is a shooting at the UT campus. In both shootings, shooters were students on campus, both were intelligent, and both shooters turned their guns on themselves. The only difference is one of them shot and killed innocent people and the other one didn’t shoot anyone. Nobody knows why these students did this and what possessed them to do this. Like the others have stated nobody knows when stuff like this will happen. It's sad that we live in a time where stuff like this seems to be occurring too often. There has been a debate going on whether or not students should be allowed to carry guns on campus. Even though some people feel like we should be allowed to carry guns on campus because we could stop incidents like this from occurring, there are others who believe that incidents like this will occur more often. Even though no one was hurt in this shooting, incidents like this shouldn’t happen. I also believe that if we are more compassionate toward one another and we break out of our bubbles maybe we can prevent incidents like this from occurring in the future.
ReplyDeleteThis was like the Virginia Tech shooting but not as extreme. It was still a horrible thing that happened there. I knew someone that goes to University of Texas and I had texted them to see if they were ok and she had said that she had missed class to study and that they were on lockdown. I think that they did everything right about the shooting. I do not understand why people have to do this. I read that a student was working out and heard the gun shots and ran towards it. I then read that a student was in the library's cafe and wanted to run but didn't know which way to run because he didn’t want to run into the shooter. I would have been like the second guy and try and run away from the shooter. You have to be really crazy to kill yourself. He was a normal student to. He was 19 years old, a math major and was from Austin. First of all how does someone get a hold of an ak-47? After all of these shootings that happened makes me a little scared to walk around an university. It makes me watch everything around me.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the shooting at UTA a good plan is a practiced plan. People need to know what to do in situations like this. I"am sured students have been told what to do in case of a incident like this, how to react and respond to it.What would happen if something like this occured on our campus. Most students here would panic, I can asure you of this. Most students here claim to know what to do,but to me their just kids who even haven't lived life. How many times do you here these students bragging on what they have or would do. If you have to brag about them,then your just covering for their insecurities
ReplyDeleteI recalled us talking about this particular type of incident in class before. What if a student lose his/her mind and begin shooting individuals on campus and the other students be allowed to have gun on their possession. What kind of Chaos will that create? Well! I think based on the recent incident it time to rethink and revisit that situation again...We might need to start developing bullet proof cubicles and isolated squared spaces in each classroom that the Professor can push a button a protected shielding surround the students and the Professors. Why not, we are playing additional fee for these smart boards. I say why not make them smarter...smile....But truthfully, We know not what a person is thinking or going through but just need to be more alert and cautious of our surrounding and report any unusual behavior to the appropriate individuals. I don't approve of anyone have a weapon on their possession will solve the problem neither only may make matter worst reacting in a panic manner.
ReplyDeleteMy first concern is how did he manage to get an AK-47 into the library to begin with? Is UT's security so lax that they do not have metal detectors in the entry doors? I understand that the detectors located in the entry and exit doors are to find and discourage students from removing books from the library without proper procedure, but in today’s day and age they need to be calibrated to detect large metal objects. Yes, I already see the problem in this with students that carry laptops and other items on their person, but I personally, as a student, would be able to handle a little inconvenience such as searching my bag and such, if it meant being able to assist in maintaining my personal security. Are we coming to an age in our high education schools were we are going to have to have mandatory psyche evaluations? It almost feels like it. I mean seriously people how bad can it truly be? A bad grade, an ended relationship, bad news from home, or bullying, no matter what the reason for emotional turmoil, most "normal" people would not think to obtain a fire arm and begin shooting up the school over these reasons, there had to be some warning signs from him, either presently or in the past, to alert the proper personnel to keep a watch over this young man because he has problems. Or have we turned into a society that would rather look the other direction and not think about the possible outcomes of what can happen if such a person snaps?
ReplyDeleteOMG: Come on now! Is the University of Texas at Austin ground zero? DeJaVu. What is wrong with these people who want to go shoot up schools? Is there really that much stress in anyone's life that would make them want to kill people at a school? I'm a full-time student and when I'm at school the last thing on my mind is if someone starts shooting and I hear gunfire. I just don't know what I would do, or how I would react to it. And where did a 19 year old get a AK-47 from? Not that ir really matters now. Glad no one was killed this time but him, and he did it to himself. Whatever was going on in his mind, GOOD RIDDENCE!
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that this happened in the library of the school. It seems that a lot of school shootings end with the gunman in the library. I do believe that this was a statement that he was making to either himself or someone else because of the lack of casualties. If he was like some of the other school shooters, it would be more about revenge and he would have aimed at all the students that he could. He seemed to want to make something of his suicide. The staff and students did react well to the shooting even if it was a short one. Their reaction and thinking showed how far we have come to preparing for school shootings since 1999. It is unfortunate that we have to get better at finding and reacting to a shooter at our schools but while we do why not perfect it right? I am worried that I have gone to schools since school shootings have become popular for lack of a better word and all have the mentality that it won't happen here so why prepare for it? I do like how Texas Wesleyan does have a plan whether it good or bad. At least it is a plan. I do think that we need more of a warning system than an e-mail, or a website to go to, or a text message because if that situation would happen, all we are going to have time to do is run.
ReplyDeleteI guess it is true about the saying that history repeats itself. I am glad that this didn't turn into the shooting at UT done by Charles Whittman. This student was only 19 and I just wonder what he was thinkin at the time he decided to bring a gun on campus knowing the possibility of people getting injured. Thankfully nobody was hurt but he did eventually kill himself which is so sad because he was so young and had his whole life ahead of him. I do however think that schools should be more prepared when situations like this arise. They cancelled classes for the day wow!!!! but that is it and with the shooting that took place in the 60's you would think that UT would have an immediately plan of action. I believe that people need to be more aware of their surroundings and more prepared in future situations involving school shootings.
ReplyDeleteIt is so sad to me to see student bring weapons to school. I have always been taught that school is a safe place, but my world has been turned upside down because of all the local school shootings. I know these students have a reason for why they kill others as well as themselves. Their could be many reasons such as bullying or maybe there is a psychological problem that they are dealing with to cause them to do these unethical things. It is strange that he fired shots but only killed himself and no one else was harmed. I am not saying that is a bad thing but it is just strange that he made his suicide public, and yet he harmed no one else. I can not grasp why he would take his own life, and how bad it could have possibly been, but something was hurting this young man I believe. This is something that should be a lesson to other students as well as other faculty members, if you see someone in distress or always in a down mood to ask if they are okay. Speaking to someone who has thoughts of suicide or thoughts of hurting others can be avoided because they feel as someone is paying attention to them and that could be what they really need or want.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this article and saw that Colton Tooley was wearing a ski mask and a suit, it puzzled me for a second. Did Colton wear the ski mask to hide his identity in case he changed his mind and wanted to evade authorities? Did Colton wear a suit so he would look good ona table in the morgue? I don’t think so! I think that Colton was distraught and contemplating suicide and he had also been impressed by the violent movie “Heat”. If you recall there was a robbery scene in this movie where Robert Denero, Val Kilmer and others wore ski masks and suits when robbing a bank. The robbery went bad and a long shoot out to the death with police ensued. The shoot out involved the robbers with full auto AK’s and M-16s against the police with M-16s on the street. I think that Colton didn’t shoot or harm any students because he wanted to have a gun battle with the police. That didn’t happen. He simply ended it by taking his own life and sparing everyone elses. I believe that if Colton wanted to take lives, no amount of preparation by the University could have stopped it. It could have minimized it, but not stopped it. The two police stations that are in close proximity to Texas Wesleyan will be our best deterrent and chance for stopping something like this quickly. Hopefully, our security force would act as an early warning alarm and also contact the police if something like this ever happened at Texas Wesleyan University.
ReplyDeleteit is very unfortuante that this happens, but there is really no way to advoid the situation but if he really wanted to kill people he would of, its hard to go to a liabry and just miss everybody there(unless he was a bad shot). But i believe it could of been a shout out for attention or something like that. Or simpily the fact that he wanted to die famous, to grab attention or he was simply in to much stress and didnt know what to do but take his own life.
ReplyDeleteI am happy that no one beside the shooter was injured. But I do think this entire incident is sign that all universities around United States need to really examine their procedures for emergencies like this. A bigger campus like UT they were very effective on their response time and getting the word out there. There is no denying that if this incident were to happen at Texas Wesleyan I 100% believe the outcome would have been entirely different. You would think with being surrounded by such crime filled neighborhoods at TWU that our safety would be something of more importance. I feel as if our security “guards” are ineffective when it comes to anything besides parking tickets. Inside buildings we have no security, our professors cannot lock any doors to lock us in a room if there ever was a shooting in the building, and most classrooms do not have any walls to hide out of plain view. I find it sad that I pay to get my education here but I felt safer about any disasters or shootings when I was in high school. I knew exactly what the plan would be in any situation, here at Wesleyan I got nothing. There is no system to contact professors or students during class sessions. E-mail is not effective way of notifying, there is no sure way to know it is received or even read at the time of received. TWU and other universities really should take this as rude awakening and reevaluate how they can make us students not only feel more safe but actually be safe.
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing about the shooting at The University of Texas, it had me wondering why people do such things like this. Although people were not injured, aside from the gunman himself, it is crazy to think that there are people that would do such a thing like this. There are many of these incidents occurring in our society that it gets people wondering if they are really in a safe environment. To think about the other students at the school that had to experience that is tragic. When seniors in high school are deciding the school they would like to attend, they aren’t thinking of whether something like this will occur or not. Personally, I believe something like this can occur anywhere we are. A student stated that he saw the gunman walking around gets me wondering if the said something or just went about the rest of his day. The quick action of the police and security was well planned because nobody else was hurt and it seemed as if everything was under control. The school did a well job of sending emails out to the students to warn them about it. Do you think if a shooting at Texas Wesleyan will security will be able to control the situation? No, because although there are plenty of security around, it doesn’t seem as though some of them are fit for a situation like a shooting.
ReplyDeleteWhat more could possibly occur like this shooting, at a highly academical, well known campus, let alone so near to home. When this breaking news came out, I froze thinking that it was UTArlington, but then after it revealed it was UTAustin, I thought to myself it didnt matter where or what campus it was, it's at a learning academy. One similar to our very own, where just about anything like this can occur unknowingly. The school officials did act in a very prompt manner to inform the faculty and students about the situation. Unfortunate for the loss in this matter, but glad that no innocent bypasser was injured, let alone killed for such a selflessness act. I hope that all students and school officials enforce the contact level to a high priority to get the word out to students and faculty about situations such as this to prevent any loss on our campus let alone other academic learning facilities all over the globe.
ReplyDeleteColumbine and Virginia Tech were rude awakenings as to the danger of unstable minds. The latest causality was this student at UT Austin. How sad is it to get to that stage in life and find on hope, happiness, or connectivity. He made a last desperate attempt for attention, in his death, which eluded him in life.
ReplyDeleteThe call for action to alert the campus, through the contact system set in place, seemed to work smoothly. However this could have played out much worse. If his intentions were to take other people with him he had the opportunity, and plenty of innocent targets.
Mental health seems to be the common factor in these shootings. Some schools are so large it would be easy to find yourself hanging on to a rope with no more knots. Our mentor system of the new students extends a positive connect, and our student advocates is another touch to better assist with the students with a connection to a friend.
How well would our own campus alert system work? Have we ever had a drill, for anything? We are situated in an area surrounded by the Latin King gangs and something could play out where we are caught in the middle. How much crime goes on which is unreported here on our own campus? It is really up to each person to aware of their surroundings and stay alert, on and off campus.
Something is up with this. In the interviews done with students and bystanders they said he was firing up in the air, not at others. I find something odd about all this. You make it to college and are doing great, no one seems to notice anything is wrong, even though he wasnt a loner, he spoke and saw his family regularly, had many friends. I guess it just goes to show that there aren't always outward signs before something happens. thankful no one else was injured, only himself, which is how he planned it, i guess.
ReplyDeletekudos to the UT security force for enacting the alert system and getting the word out to stay inside and not try and interact with him. I guess we did learn something from the tradgic outcomes of Columbine and Virginia tech, I am glad to see that something good can come out of such a bad situation.
Another criminal that goes by the name Colton. That's quite the coincidence, I think. There are so many stories out there on these kids opening fire on innocent students. Some weapons can be concealed, while others stick out like a sore thumb. An AK-47 is one of those weapons. Many people should have noticed that. It's good that there was an alert system that went off to bring this attention to the students on campus. Usually, by the time students are alerted of someone on campus with a weapon, that criminal is in a classroom killing his classmates and professor. Thank goodness no one was injured. I wonder why these criminals end up killing themselves after they kill their fellow students. In this scenario, why did he kill himself when he didn't kill anyone? It's a bit odd...
ReplyDeleteWe aren't guaranteed safety anywhere. I think it's extremely fortunate that UT has such a system to notify students and staff and I'm sure that helped things. Well and the fact the shooter had many opportunities to kill and didn't. I wish I felt confident that our emergency alerts worked like that but I don't. That said it's not just college campuses that should step up responses. Anywhere you go you run the risk of some crazy shooting you just to shoot you. The experts give us tips to look for but from the sounds of it this kid didn't fit that profile. I really would like to see people with CHLs be allowed to carry on campuses. Right now we're just helpless if something happens.
ReplyDeleteI was at home when this breaking news happened. The first thing I heard the reporter say was "we are not sure if this is terrorist related". Seriously? Were they getting that many calls asking if that was the case? Are we that afraid that terrorists will start randomly shooting at schools or is the media trying to make the story more interesting than their competing station?
ReplyDeleteI have to commend the UT police for their fast response. Thank goodness nobody else was hurt. Yes, the shooter is dead, but that seems to be the plan he wanted to do.
when I seen it on tv I wanted to call you to let you know what was going on, this was very sad, I think that all schools should have some type of safty awarness in affect so if something of this nature happan. I am so gald to be a small campus, when I think of all school shootings that have taken place, we are blessed. I think that the kid took the easy way out by killing himself, and I still don't understand why,
ReplyDeleteSorrow is the word that comes to mind when I read this. Sorrow of all the could have happen. It is great that respnse was so prompt and that action was taken. Individuals who are troubled are capable ofHorrid things. This should be a reason that we can not forget what has happened in the past. Even though this was not a Columbine or Virginia Tech, it could have been. It is scary to think that this could happen anywhere. This is why I feel we should have off duty police officers work on our campus oppressed to security guards. Measures should be taken, no matter the cost to ensure the safety of the students. There have been multiple car break-ins and thank goodness only items have been taken and not anything more precious. Universities around should learn from the tragedy at UT and by learning I mean to be prepared for the worst case scenario.
ReplyDeleteThis was a tragedy, however I turn from what happened there to think of what would have happened if this had happened on our campus? All schools should attempt to keep their students safe and UT did an amazing job in the middle of a crisis of doing just that. Could we here at Wesleyan do that? Our security couldn't even respond to a fire alarm in Elizabeth within fifteen minutes. How safe is our campus? Maybe we should learn something as university from this tragedy, before (if ever) it were to happen here.
ReplyDeleteWith UT's history of a prior and devastating capus shooting in the 60s, UT obviously has safeguard themselves with having and implementing effective safety measures in order to protect the students and staff from any further victimization. I am glad that UT has the taken the precautions to protect its students. For the shooter it is another example of an individual who is obviously lacking what he needs in his life. Its sad to me that people have to act out in such a way to express the rage that they obviously feel inside. However, I feel that victimizing others is not a forum for self expression or anger.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Melissa on the subject of our safety here at Texas Wesleyan. I thought this year would be different (considering they hired a new security company), but no it hasn't, if anything I think it is a bit worse. Considering the surroundings and neighborhood of the TWU campus, security is even more of a cruel part in the safety of students, professors, and faculty. The recent emergency plan that they have in effect may help, but if it is not known to the students, then the plan is not a plan at all. There is no way to predict what may happen, but knowledge of what to do in the case that it does, makes it that much more organized and may save lives. This story also goes to show that a school shooting can happen anywhere, at least this time it didn't take the lives of others, instead just the person to himself.
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