Troy Schools, Mayor Respond to Newtown School Shooting
“Any time you hear that innocent people died, it tears at you," Troy Mayor Dane Slater said. "How do you respond to something like this?”
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In the wake of today's tragic shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, CT – which has left nearly 30 people dead, including 20 young children – the Troy School District and Mayor Dane Slater are offering their thoughts and condolences to the victims' families and loved ones.
“Any time you hear that innocent people died, it tears at you," Troy Mayor Dane Slater said. "How do you respond to something like this?”
Details are still emerging about the incident, which many are calling the worst school shooting in U.S. history. According to Newtown Patch, the male gunman, a New Jersey resident in his 20s, "deliberately went to Sandy Hook Elementary School with the intention of killing his mother, who was a kindergarten teacher at the school."
He opened fire inside the school, killing 20 children and 6 adults, including his mother and the school's principal. The gunman was killed, though police are not yet saying how he died.
Troy School District Superintendent Barbara Fowler sent the following message to parents Friday afternoon:
Dear Families,
The tragic news out of Connecticut today reminds us how precious life is and how we must do everything we can to ensure the safety of all of our children every day.
This afternoon we alerted our buildings to be extra vigilant regarding visitors in our schools to ensure the safety of all of our students and staff. Please know that we regularly review our security and safety measures and that every District building has a crisis plan in place. In light of this occurrence, all plans will be reviewed immediately to assess situations of this nature. The Troy School District works cooperatively with our local police and fire departments in the development of these crisis plans. Please be assured that the safety of our children and staff is a priority.
Please join us as we put the families impacted by today's tragedy in our thoughts and prayers.
Sincerely,
Barbara Fowler
Superintendent
“It’s devastating, whenever you hear something like this, when innocent people die for no reason – especially children," Slater said. "What’s this world coming to?”
In a press conference Friday afternoon, a visibly affected President Barack Obama wiped away tears as he addressed the media, saying: "Our hearts are broken for the parents and the survivors, as well. ... There are no words that will ease their pain."
For more coverage of the shooting, visit Newtown Patch.
Lamberts Online
6:08 pm on Friday, December 14, 2012
Lord have mercy!
cookiepro2
9:34 pm on Saturday, December 15, 2012
Horrible. Anyone who has had a child, or loved a child feels deep pain. I vividly remember my children as kindergarteners, funny, innocent, full of life and energy, and eager to be all grown up and in school. I weep for the parents.
canseeallsides
9:34 pm on Saturday, December 15, 2012
Tragedy. Obama was right, no words can ease the pain. No one is responsible except the coward that did this. And here it comes...Questions... If the teachers/parents were trained and armed responsibly, would it deter these brazen cowardice occurrences? Or should we put up more gun free zones to welcome the maniacs? We need to talk about this any chance we get. Criticize my point of view all you want but please add your points of view too.
Tricia Drew
9:34 pm on Saturday, December 15, 2012
Goes to show... No matter how big or small the town, how high or low the crime.. It can happen ANYWHERE!
We MUST secure our schools better!!!!
My heart is so heavy!! God bless those children, the staff and their families!!
Few words.... Many tears...
ann galen
9:34 pm on Saturday, December 15, 2012
Israel used to have problems with school shootings, so in the 1970's, Israel did something about it. Israel ended its school shootings. We could do the same if we wanted to.
cookiepro2
10:33 pm on Saturday, December 15, 2012
OK, I'll respond to the teaser. What did they do?
canseeallsides
10:06 pm on Sunday, December 16, 2012
http://www.haciendapub.com/articles/public-health-and-gun-control-no-deterrent-crime
John David
10:06 pm on Sunday, December 16, 2012
cookiepro2,
First, this is an incredibly tragic event, and nothing we can do will change that. I hope people on Patch will not resort to a debate on guns. Our concern should be with the victims, their families, and what we can try to do to reduce violence.
As far as Israel goes, the media has been touting Israel and Switzerland as countries which have large private gun ownership and low gun violence. However, this is apparently not true. Both countries have strict rules over gun ownership. In addition, both countries, which have mandatory military service, used to permit military to take weapons home, but both now have restrictions on that, particularly Israel which has stopped letting soldiers take guns home in order to reduce suicide, which has been effective.
I've pasted links to a synopsis of a study published in 2012 about gun ownership in Israel and Switzerland, as well as an interview with the author of the study.
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/journal/v33/n1/full/jphp201156a.html
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/journal/v33/n1/fig_tab/jphp201156t1.html
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/journal/v33/n1/fig_tab/jphp201156ft.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/mythbusting-israel-and-switzerland-are-not-gun-toting-utopias/
canseeallsides
10:06 pm on Sunday, December 16, 2012
Journal/Website: The New American
Date: Monday, November 22, 1999
If the intent is to prevent mass shootings and other deadly acts, then gun control laws need to be eased not strengthened.
During the early 1970s, the PLO waged a nefarious war of terrorism against Israel that included attacking schoolchildren on playgrounds. A rampage of terrorist attacks culminated in the Maalot massacre, in which Arab terrorists, who had taken about 100 schoolchildren hostage, responded to an assault by Israeli rescue forces by blowing up explosives and firing upon their hapless victims, killing 25 people and wounding 66 others.
Following this hideous massacre, the Israeli government changed its stringent gun control policies (which it had inherited from the British Mandate) and issued personal arms and concealed carry permits to law-abiding, ordinary Israelis in the settlements.
Writing in the June 13, 1998 Wyoming Star Tribune, Charles Curley observed:
"[After the Maalot incident] teachers and kindergarten nurses now started to carry guns. Schools were protected by parents (and often grandparents) guarding them in voluntary shifts. No school group went on a hike or a trip without armed guards. The police involved the citizens in a voluntary civil guard project Mishmar Esrachi that even had its own sniper teams. The army taught firearm safety and shooting techniques."
canseeallsides
10:06 pm on Sunday, December 16, 2012
This new policy had the intended effect. The PLO's premeditated school shootings had become so costly and ineffectual that this terror tactic was abandoned by the early 1980s. This episode illustrates a lesson relevant to our own recent rash of school shootings. Namely: Allowing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons can reduce terrorist attacks and save lives.
cookiepro2
7:28 am on Monday, December 17, 2012
John David,
I've thought about it and agree with you, I don't want to debate on gun violence here on Patch, already did that with the Bhm case this past summer. It seems inappropriate with the magnitude of this tragedy. I'm avoiding reading about the victims...just seeing the banner headline that one of victims "liked to color" is enough to tear me up, and I am haunted thinking about what their last moments were like. I'm angry and not resigned that "there are 28 bright new stars in the sky now".
cookiepro2
11:07 pm on Saturday, December 15, 2012
canseeallsides, I'm very depressed and despairing about any solutions to this national problem. It is very definitely obviously not going to be through taking away people's guns or legislative enacted gun control...it seems our lawmakers in Lansing are more concerned with legislating the disposal of aborted fetal remains than the safety of our babies already here.
Teachers in schools are there to teach not to handle crazed maniacs. My gut and first reaction is a trained and armed guard at every elementary and middle school, and make it visible, as a deterrent. The high schools already have hall monitors who provide discipline in the hallways...I think they may be deterrent enough en masse for a sole maniac, plus I can see high schoolers, aware of Columbine, deciding to take down a sole attacker with some chance of success. But 5-years, no.
One other thing, I think we as a society have to be more vigilant of the profile of these mass murderers: young males, socially isolated, troubled, and especially if they are amassing guns or have easy access to them. Can we report it to the authorities without someone complaining that we are being on the way to a police state?
Other thoughts....electronic chips in guns that would make them inoperative in schools or if pointed at a child.
firelight
9:45 pm on Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Can't bear to look at the faces of the victims as they are being shown on TV. It's just too hard right now. When I steal a peak and see those smiling eyes and the sweetness....it's just too much and have to look away. How, in the world, are the survivor's coping?