Hostage Situation

[PigSooie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/hostage_shooting

 

BINGHAMTON, N.Y.

[stagerug]

Update CNN: 12 killed 20-40 hostages. DEWD!

[Gobias Industries]

Very, very, very bad news. What kind of loony would do this?

[deepseacatfish]

That's truly unfortunate. My thoughts go out to those involved and their families.

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

I lived in Binghamton for four years while I was getting my PhD. My apartment was within walking distance of the Civic Association. I'm an hour away now and still have friends in the area. I'm horrified by this--senseless acts of violence like this always bother me, but this one is especially sickening for me. The high school is around the corner and across the street from this, and they're in lockdown and wouldn't let students leave at normal dismissal time.

[jff]

Why is it that this stuff always happens in April? Columbine, Waco, Oklahoma City, Virginia Tech.

[mountain bed]

Why is it that this stuff always happens in April? Columbine, Waco, Oklahoma City, Virginia Tech.

I hadn't thought of that. Wow.

 

I heard the Mayor and Chief of Police on the tube tonight. Evidently Binghamton is a very diverse little town - they said in a town of 45K there's 32 different languages spoken at the high school. And the fact that this happened in a building where people take their exams to become American citizens makes it even more sad.

[Analogman]

Why is it that this stuff always happens in April? Columbine, Waco, Oklahoma City, Virginia Tech.

 

I think this is part of it:

 

Due to the ambiguity in the written record of their planning, many theories still exist about the choice of date. One theory states that the original date chosen was April 19 because it was a date on which Robyn Anderson, one of the people who purchased the guns and a close friend of Klebold, would not be present. However, due to delays in the making of the propane bombs, the date was moved to April 20. Some analysts noted that the date of the shooting coincided with Adolf Hitler's birthday and was one day after the anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing and the immolation of the Branch Davidians in Waco, further strengthening the theory that the original intended date was set for April 19, as both shooters mentioned in videos that they had hoped to outdo both these events. It is also believed that the shootings were perhaps plotted for these days because of their proximity to the end of the year activities.

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

I heard the Mayor and Chief of Police on the tube tonight. Evidently Binghamton is a very diverse little town - they said in a town of 45K there's 32 different languages spoken at the high school. And the fact that this happened in a building where people take their exams to become American citizens makes it even more sad.

 

The university has a very large international student population, both among undergrads and grad students. There's always been (or at least was in the years I was there) a bit of tension between the university and the city, largely because of how the stupid, drunk undergrads act, and I always got the feeling that while Binghamton was diverse, it wasn't always tolerant, if that makes any sense. I hope that this horrible act brings the community together instead of dividing them even more.

 

Thankfully, all my friends still in the area are okay, but a few of them know people who were working there yesterday, including the heroic secretary who pretended to be dead, then hid under her desk and spoke with police for 90 minutes despite the fact that she'd been shot in the abdomen.

 

Police arrived in under three minutes but stayed outside for several hours. I know they don't want to storm in before they know what they're getting themselves into, but it seems like their being overcautious may have cost some people their lives. We'll never know for sure.

 

Things like this always rattle me, but the fact that this happened at a place I used to walk and drive past on a regular basis seems to make this one even worse.

[jff]

I hadn't thought of that. Wow.

 

My birthday is on the 18th and these awful events tend to happen within a day or two of that date. I've heard the hitler's birthday theory before, as Analogman proposed. Maybe there's something to that.