NEWTOWN CONNECTICUT SHOOTING - A TRAGIC REMINDER ABOUT JUST HOW VULNERABLE WE ARE
SECURITY ISSUES? YOU KNOW HOW EASY IT CAN BE TO BREACH SECURITY! SO HOW SAFE ARE KIDS AT SCHOOL, THE AUDIENCE IN THEATERS, SHOPPERS IN MALLS?
YOU KNOW, I'M NOT SURE I SHOULD BE WRITING ABOUT THIS. IT'S ONE OF THOSE NAGGING REALITIES HOWEVER, THAT DOES NEED TO BE EXPOSED. BUT IT'S ALWAYS A WORRY, FOR WRITERS AND REPORTERS, WHO EXPOSE THE GAPS IN WHAT MOST OF US BELIEVE IS "IRON-CLAD" SECURITY. WHEN PARENTS SENT THEIR BONNY WEE KIDS OFF TO SCHOOL, THIS MORNING, IN NEWTOWN, CONNECTICUT, SECURITY ISSUES PROBABLY WERE OF MINIMAL CONCERN. WHEN WE PONDER, HOW SOMETHING LIKE THIS COULD HAVE HAPPENED…..WE PUT ALL THE BLAME ON THE PERPETRATOR OF THE CRIME……AND VERY LITTLE ON THE FACT, SECURITY HAD TO HAVE BEEN BREACHED, FOR ACCESS TO HAVE BEEN GAINED.
IT JUST DOESN'T SEEM THE TIME TO CRITIQUE THE SECURITY PROTOCOL OF SCHOOLS. THAT'S ALWAYS THE CRUEL RETROSPECTIVE. ON THE OTHER HAND, AND I MEAN THIS, I HAVE NEVER DELIVERED ANYONE IN MY FAMILY, TO A SCHOOL FACILITY, INCLUDING MY WIFE WHO TEACHES HERE IN GRAVENHURST, WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT THEIR SAFETY. NOT GETTING HIT BY A FALLING BEAM, OR FLAKING PLASTER, OR BY A PARTICULARLY FAST MOVING SPIT-BALL. I WORRY ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT, SOMEONE COULD ALSO BREACH SECURITY, AND WALK INTO THE SCHOOL WITH A CONCEALED WEAPON. HOW ABOUT A CLEARLY VISIBLE ASSAULT RIFLE, A BAZOOKA, FLAME THROWER, OR SCUD MISSILE OVER THEIR SHOULDER. I DON'T WANT TO TAKE THE SARCASM TOO FAR, ESPECIALLY AT THIS MOST TRAGIC TIME, BUT WE HAVE SOME SERIOUS SECURITY ISSUES THAT HAVE NEVER BEEN PROPERLY ADDRESSED. EVEN A FEW DAYS FROM NOW, YOU WOULD BE SHOCKED TO FIND OUT JUST HOW FAR YOU COULD GET, INTO A SCHOOL, OR MALL, WITH A VISIBLE WEAPON IN HAND. NOW IMAGINE IF IT WAS CONCEALED.
WHENEVER I ATTEND THE SCHOOL, TO PICK MY WIFE UP, I AM ALWAYS SCANNING THE PROPERTY FOR FOLKS WHO SHOULDN'T BE ON-SITE. A NUMBER OF TIMES, I'VE SUGGESTED SUZANNE LET THE OFFICE KNOW ABOUT SOME OCCURRENCE OUTSIDE…..OF FORMER STUDENTS WITH TRESPASS WARNINGS, CLEARLY BREACHING THE ORDER. I'M OVERLY NERVOUS, AND I'LL TELL YOU WHY.
WHEN I WAS AND EDITOR WITH MUSKOKA PUBLICATIONS, IN BRACEBRIDGE, WE HAD SEVERAL PLANS, WE WERE SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING, ABOUT WALKING INTO A SCHOOL, PAST THE OFFICE, AND WANDERING THROUGH THE HALLS, TO SEE HOW LONG IT WOULD TAKE BEFORE BEING ACCOSTED……BY ANYONE. WE CAME UP WITH THIS, AS A STORY IDEA, AFTER HEARING ABOUT A MULTIPLE INJURY SHOOTING, IN AN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION SOMEWHERE IN THE UNITED STATES. I'M NOT SURE WHERE IT WAS, AND HOW MANY WERE KILLED. IT WASN'T COLUMBINE. WE THOUGHT ABOUT OUR REPORTING TRIPS OVER TO THE LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL, TO TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS OF WINNING SPORTS CLUBS, AWARDS BEING PRESENTED TO ATHLETES, AND FOR MULTI-SCHOOL TOURNAMENTS. EACH OF US HAD TO ADMIT, THAT NEVER ONCE, WERE WE ASKED FOR OUR CREDENTIALS…..OR WHY WE WERE IN THE SCHOOL IN THE FIRST PLACE. NOW IT'S TRUE, MANY ON STAFF DID KNOW WHO WE WERE, BUT WE COULD HAVE SMUGGLED IN A LARGE NUMBER OF WEAPONS, ESPECIALLY HAND GUNS, BECAUSE OUR PROFESSION REQUIRED A BULKY CAMERA BAG. IT BOTHERED US, JUST HOW EASY IT WAS, TO ROUTINELY WALK PAST THE OFFICE, AND EVEN WAVE TO THE SECRETARIES; BEFORE GAINING ENTRY TO THE MIDDLE OF THE SCHOOL COMPLEX. THERE WAS NO SECURITY TO SPEAK OF, AND EVEN IF WE HAD PUT A MISSILE ON A CART, AND BROUGHT IT RIGHT PAST THE OFFICE, WE COULD HAVE GOT CLEARANCE….. IF WE HAD ACTUALLY BEEN ASKED; BY SIMPLY EXPLAINING THAT IT WAS A WAR-TIME RELIC FOR HISTORY CLASS "SHOW AND TELL!" WE KNEW MANY OF THE TEACHERS AT THE SCHOOL, AND WE COULD HAVE DROPPED FIRST NAMES, IN FACT, GETTING ACCESS WHENEVER IT WAS DESIRED. THAT BOTHERED US A LOT. THERE WERE NO CHECKS AND BALANCES HERE. IT WAS THE RESULT OF COMPLACENCY. THE "BAD STUFF NEVER HAPPENS HERE," EXPLANATION.
AS A PARENT - SECURITY WAS JUST AS POOR, DESPITE BAD THINGS HAPPENING ELSEWHERE
What discouraged us from doing the story, was the fact that we could! We knew what the result was going to be, before the intentional breach. What worried us, as it still bothers me, is that we were going to be telling a large group of constituents, via the press, that our local high school was a porous as a sieve. Worse, in fact. We would be scaring the crap out of parents, and while that would have sold papers, and our advertisers would have been delighted with the increased circulation, it could have given someone a really awful idea. What we decided, was to talk with respective principals, to find out what their security protocols were, when people visited the school…..who were otherwise unknown to staff. Actually even known to staff, because in this latest shooting, the perpetrator was the son of a teacher, and would have been known to school employees. We didn't get very far along, with this line of questioning, before we realized there was no sense of urgency, on their part, to correct what was basically nonexistent. This was troubling and we did write some low-key articles about weak security. We just didn't smuggle a toy-gun into the school to prove a point. We didn't want to risk giving someone an idea, how to get press coverage through gun violence.
As a parent, I feared for my boys' safety every single day. As the spouse of a teacher, I feel exactly the same at present. I don't feel there is enough security in our schools. I have walked into the school many times in the past, and have never once been challenged about my business in the building. But I could do it with most schools. So could you. And yes, there will be a heightened sense of security, for the next month, in the public schools, and after that….well, I would expect it would revert to situation-normal. No visible security. Lots of ways inside an average school. I have witnessed an open auditorium door, while a basketball game has been going on, leaving a huge, gaping opportunity for bad people to do horrible things. No one watches the door. I've seen this same security breach hundreds of times, while waiting to pick up family members. Anybody could walk up to the open door, to outside, and let off rounds, and then run into the cover of trees to avoid detection. I have wondered about this for years, and I'm told, when I inquire, that nothing like that happens in Muskoka. It's just what is being said today, about Newtown, Connecticut. A safe and quiet community.
Maybe we should have gone through with our attempt to smuggle fake weapons into one of the public schools. Possibly, getting a photograph of a fake machine-gun, snuck into the physical education change rooms, undetected, might have stirred administration enough, to implement something other than "nothing" at their entrances. The problem is always the same. It can't happen to my kid, in his or her very safe school. Yet the parents who believe this, don't have a shred of evidence, the school could stop a similar intrusion by a gunman on a mission. How many secretaries, who are the first line of defense, have the kind of in-depth training, on how to detect an armed intruder. To my knowledge, there are very few metal detectors at school entrances, at least in Muskoka. Outside of having communication protocols, in case of emergencies, it's often the case, someone who doesn't want to be detected, will sneak past places of high visibility…..eg., simply walking through an open auditorium door, connected to the outside. While I don't mean to suggest that parents should try to sneak fake weapons into the school, to prove a point, it is their right to question security protocols in place. If they're not satisfied, they should complain. As you can imagine, there will be a very aggressive inquiry into the latest school shooting, and we should learn from this tragedy…….that we probably have many of the same shortfalls in security. Do we have people in our region, capable of inflicting a similar horror. As it stunned the citizens of Newtown, to find out they had someone that evil, imbedded in their community……we should simply expect we are just as vulnerable as they were…..to bad things happening to good people.
A Personal Connection to a Shooting and Suicide
I had a close personal friend who attempted to kill his wife. Thinking he had ended her life, the man left the building, stood in the parking lot for a few moments, and then turned the gun on himself. I have had to live with the knowledge, that I missed important signs, in those weeks leading up to the shooting. I had known the young man for about five years, from our involvement with local recreational football and hockey. He spent time in our house, and if I had asked him to overhaul the engine of my car, he would have set aside time to do the work…..and apologized that it would take as long as a week to complete. He was a kind individual ninety percent of the time. There was an occasion, in football, when he got in between me and a player from an opposing team. It was just minor pushing and shoving. Nothing to worry about. My friend barged into the middle, and was prepared to take on this guy, who was about a foot taller, and at least seventy-pounds heavier. The refs stepped in, and we pulled our mate away from the adversary. The player actually shook my hand after the game, but he told me that he hadn't finished with my defender just yet. I suggested that he just let the matter go, as it would end badly for him. I don't really know what made me say that in retrospect; I must have suspected he could hurt someone under the right conditions. Maybe I feared a terrible fight might ensue. As it turned out, I was right to feel this way. My perception had been correct. He was a small and slight man, but he had a huge temper that you couldn't ignore. I'd actually watched him get more aggressive over the years of recreational sports, and there had been other instances, where our own players had to pull him out of fights with much bigger and better players. I started to think there was something going on with him, in his personal life, contributing to his budding rage. We actually worried, from the bench, about anyone hitting him, fearing his retaliation. I hate myself for admitting this, because I'm well aware something could have been done before it ended with tragic consequence. Of course there were signs. Lots of them. I don't remember how I felt exactly, after hearing the news of the shooting, other than clearly realizing I didn't react as I should have……and it nearly cost two lives.
One day, he told me about the wild rage he'd experienced the afternoon before, when the hood of his car accidentally fell on his arm, while working on the engine. It actually locked down, with his arm still inside. He couldn't release it, the way he was encumbered. So he calmly informed me, that he beat the car for a half hour, with a hammer, before someone came along, and opened the hood to free him. I asked him then, what good it did to cause damage to his car. He just smiled, and shrugged his shoulders. It was out of anger. Frustration. I found out he had been prescribed medication to deal with a newly diagnosed mental disorder, a few weeks before he killed himself. I know for a fact, he wasn't taking them in the last few days leading up to the tragic event. He told me he wasn't going to worry about taking them, because he didn't like the side affects. He didn't explain further.
He would come into our little antique shop to chat, and we'd been doing the same thing for two years or more. We usually talked hockey. A few days before that fatal event, he came in, as I know it now, for a final visit. He was sad. Clearly depressed. His wife had moved out, and he wasn't dealing with it well. He would have angry retorts, even at me, trying to give him reason to move on with his life. He'd swing this way and that, and would well-up with tears one moment, and then be laughing the next. He had a look on his face I will never forget. It should have worried me enough, to pick up the phone, and call his wife. I realized, sitting at that desk, watching my old friend fidget and pace in front, that he was clearly unstable at that specific time. I knew he had guns at home, and I had little doubt that he could get angry enough to shoot someone. It's a tough thing when it's someone you know. Someone I used to have a beer with…..travel to out of town hockey games with……talk to in my home for hours on end. We all are faced with these moral conundrums. If I had phoned his wife, what would I have said? What if she had said to him, that "Ted" had called to warn her, that he was intending to cause her physical harm. You have to think of all the possibilities. Destroying a friendship on a hunch. Maybe I was over-reacting. In time, he'd get over it, and we'd play hockey again that coming season.
When he said goodbye to me that day, he called me his "old friend." He had never called me this before. He called me "Teeder." It was what my old friend Ken Silcox used to call me, and my buddy had just followed with the same. He never called my anything but Teeder. I expected it. It's not what he called me that day. When he looked back at me, before rounding the corner to the steps, I knew something was way off kilter. I have blamed myself ever since. I did have the power that day, to have found out more…..asked more questions. I knew full well he had violent tendencies, guns, and was not on his medication at the time. I knew, from my reporting assignments, covering the OPP crime beat, and court cases, just how prevalent domestic violence was, even in our quiet community. I just didn't know what to do. How many friends, colleagues and family have uttered the same painful confessionals…….."I should have done something." I'm sure in this most recent shooting incident, we will find out that people, close to the family, anticipated trouble was brewing……and didn't act on their suspicions.
I can remember sitting in our antique shop, having lunch with Suzanne, listening to the local radio station. There was a news bulletin about a local shooting, involving a suicide. I knew the location, and without hearing any names, knew who both the victim and the suspect were going to be. Suzanne turned to me, and asked, "Tell me it's not him!" I had no other reaction, other than to nod, that it was exactly who she had alluded to, that moment. When we drove home, we passed by the area of the shooting, and I saw his car, and the body beneath a tarp. I could not stop. I could not face the officer, who I knew from my reporting days, to ask him if it was my friend laying out in that barren driveway. I feared he might ask me, what had led up to the shooting. I couldn't put the words together, at that moment, to describe my buddy's last moments…..because the attending officer would have seen, by my facial expression, that visible acknowledgement of failure……of someone who had just let down a friend in need; and by nothing shy of cowardice, allowed the near fatal shooting of his spouse. I was so relieved that she had survived the attack. As a knee-jerk reaction I got mad at him, and muttered about him being a monster for doing such a thing. A few days earlier, he had gripped my hand in friendship, but not as a monster in waiting.
How do these terrible acts unfold? Much the same as with my mate. We just don't want to think it can happen close to us…..in our little town…..at the hand of someone we know well enough to call a friend. But it happens this way a lot. Yet, in postmortems, we have to admit we saw the signs. That's the most painful reality. We could have intervened, and saved lives…..but we didn't.
It's a terrible thing to be retrospective about events like this. I feel terribly sorry for the folks in Newtown, Connecticut. Their retrospective is going to reveal some disturbing truths, about people they thought they knew. But didn't really……
Thanks so much for joining today's blog. I'm sorry I couldn't rustle up something bustling with good cheer. It's the reporter in me, I suppose, demanding a focus on the news of the day…….as terrible as it is!
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