Massacre: How come none of the men jumped the shooter, let a 76 year-old prof, Holocaust surviver die 4 them?

Question

Students heard shooting then ran away, jumped, or hid. Noone confronted the shooter alone or in a group. The shooter went from room to room.

Fear is normal. Desire to survive is normal. What about thinking of others, community, leadership, courage? Sounds like two of the profs directed their students to jump to safety and died for them. One was 35, one 76.

One foreign graduate of the college, a student of the 76 yr-old prof, said he didn't understand the students abandoning their prof. What would you have done? He lived through the Holocaust only to be killed by a kid with two guns.

Answer 1

Me and my bf were thinking the same thing. I'm not trying to crack on the survivors but i have been in several situations in which I was wondering if I'd make it out alive. Luckily my bf was there every time and managed to reverse the situation. I've seen him talk 2 guys out of shooting him and others, tackle 3 guys with knives and take down countless people reaching into their pants or jackets for a weapon. Of course he has worked in the bar industry for 12 yrs. I'd like to think that I could react the same way he would if he were not there with me but i pray that I am never put into that situation. I don't know how he does it and when asked he just tells people that it's just his reaction (and that people who pull out weapons are cowards and it pisses him off enough to ignore the fear.)

I agree that fear is a normal reaction and then our bodies will go into survival mode and either choose to fight or to flee. I'd say just from my experiences that the less a person has to make the choice, the less able they are to control the fear and be able to make clear and precise decisions. But lets face it, most people in the US, especially youths, never experience this feeling of "am i going to die." So when the time comes they lose control and run for their lives, often forsaking others on the way out.

5 yrs ago I always trusted that this country is safe and that other authority figures such as police officers will keep me safe. This is what my parents taught me becuase this is what they were taught as well. Since I've been on my own, however, I have begun to realise that a persons first (sometimes only) defense is his or her self. I know that I would rather go down fighting than trampling other victims, especially when the threat is another human being. You'd think that more people would be so pissed that someone would do this, take a look at the suffering around them and try to stop it.

We need to stop teaching our children to run away or to co-orperate. It does not work anymore, no one is taking hostages these days!

Answer 2

I just have to tell Gary he has watched one too many war movies.

I agree with you, I was surprised that apparently no one attempted to stop him. It really made me think when I heard the sequence of events. (Which may end up not being accurate)

He went into a classroom, kills a number of students.

Leaves the classroom, but hears students calling for help.

Re-enters the classroom.

Kills all but 4 of the remaining students.

I am not trying to make this less tragic than it is, or blame the victims for their deaths. It does seem strange to me that the killer leaves and re-enters the room, and no one does anything. When that guy comes back into the room, there is no surprise now. You know he has already killed a number of students, what do you think he came back to do? He starts shooting again and somehow not a single person realized they were going to die anyway and decided to take action? It makes what the people on Flight 93 on 9/11 did seem even more heroic.

He had 9mm pistols...not a lot of stopping power there.

Like I said before, to make it clear...this is just something I thought about. It does not make the murders less tragic, and I am not placing blame on the students. I do think ultimately though each of us is responsible for our own safety, and in a situation like that I pray I would have the courage to act.

And I have been shot at. Not by a hand gun in a situation like that, but it was scary none the less. I can only imagine just how terrified and gripped by fear those students were.

Answer 3

It's easy to think that we would all be the heroes in the situation, and I think there are heroes of that day. I heard about the guys that barricaded the door to keep him from getting in. The students that tried to stop the bleeding of other student's wounds.

Most definately the teachers and the R.A. from the dorm room shooting tried to step in. No one expects anything like this to happen, even though it is happening more and more. The initial reaction and what we have been taught is get to safety.

From what I understand of the situation, everything happened so quickly and he was firing off those guns so rapidly, there wasn't even time for those not injured to come together and "jump" him. They wouldn't have had the time to form a plan to defend themselves

I think teaching self defense classes would be a good thing, and should be mandatory in classrooms in middle school, highschool, and college.

Answer 4

Nobody knows how they will behave in the face of aimed gunfire until they are actually intentionally shot at. Most Holocaust survivors have faced something like intentional directed killing malevolence, so the professor at least knew what to try to do. Unfortunately, no experienced Army or Marine infantry trained people were among the targeted victims. Ground troops are taught that the action to take in an ambush is to run at the gunfire, shooting back or throwing things and yelling at the top of your voice. It spoils the shooter's aim, cuts down your time in the field of fire, and, if you reach the shooter unharmed, you can attack and disarm them. It is best to rush the shooter in numbers, so that at least one of the rushers is likely to get through. The only other defense against gunfire is to interpose a bulletproof object between you and the shooter and keep it there. Unfortunately, most college classrooms do not contain any bulletproof objects. Characteristically, when untrained and raw troops face deadly gunfire, they run, making fine targets of themselves, and get killed, or freeze, making fine targets of themselves, and get killed. It is not their fault - not one out of a hundred untrained people reacts correctly in these situations. Perhaps if American boys and girls were a little better educated about violence, and how to deal with it, they would not make such easy victims so much of the time. You will not learn what to do from today's movies and TV shows - ask any US Marine.

Answer 5

It is hard to say what one would do in an incident like this. Remember the majority of these students are very young. Some may be more brave than others. I do understand your thoughts. It's such a shame that the 76 yr. old professor went thru so much in his life, only to be gunned down in a much more peaceful country.

Answer 6

The boy had two guns, I think at least one was an automatic , if someone had jumped him they’d have been blown away. I feel horrible for this professor but at the most he had pretty long life most men only live into what their mid 70’s early 80’s. I’m not saying his life was any less important or that he couldnt have lived another 20 years. But we had people in their late teens and early 20’s die. People who had their whole lives ahead of them. This professor is being dubbed a hero.

Answer 7

Theres really no way to know that someone didnt try to stop him...
Hearing about the 76 year old Holocaust survivor made me sad, but i found what his son said to be interesting. He believes everything happens for a reason, and that maybe his father went through the Holocaust so that he would have the life experiences to have the courage to hold the door shut that day. who knows how many more would have died had he not done that. its a comforting thought.

Answer 8

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Answer 9

they were thinkin it would be suicide. the only reason those guys in the plane jumped the terrorists was they had no other choice and they had an hour to plot it out. this just started happening and the guy was going room to room just mowing through people. those aren't good odds and people wanted to actually live through it rather than be shot long before they even got to the guy. people in the south are pretty proficient with guns, they usually grow up doing a good amount of hunting. the guy seems like he was a pretty good shot so i'd imagine people just wanted to live.

Answer 10

The shooter walked in and started shooting without saying a word. If some guys tried to jump him, they (those guys) probably would be shot before they touched him.

I did read that some people tried to block the door to prevent him from coming in and when that happened, he just fired away.