OK, I wasn’t going to post anything at all about the Virginia Tech shooting mess, since the people involved in that have enough to worry about already, thank you very much.
Then I saw on today’s news that there was a school lockdown in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, while police searched for a homicide suspect. Then in a completely unrelated story, some schools in Mecklenburg County were locked down until the gunman shot himself. And in yet another story, some Cabarrus County schools were locked down while police searched for a man who was charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
I’m suspecting that the two North Carolina stories are possibly related, since the affected areas are so near each other. Still, could somebody tell me what, exactly, makes people with guns head in the direction of the nearest school? Even if they don’t enter, they still seem to be drawn to schools of all descriptions much as a moth is drawn to a bug zapper. Maybe there’s something of the Virginia Tech incident that’s stuck in the crazed gunmen’s brains?
UPDATE: WCNC has an update on the Mecklenburg County story.
Maybe because it’s a semi public place that they know is open and fairly easily accessible. Where else could they go? Maybe a grocery store? Homes are locked. Places of employment are scattered but there are school in every neighborhood.