http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/08/22/antoinette-tuff-stops-school-massacre/
It was a day that could have been explosive, a story that could have resonated with shades of Sandy Hook and Columbine, flashed with familiar images of grieving parents, terrified children and ever-more repetitive volleys of “when will the carnage stop?”
Instead, it became a story of heroism, quick thinking, and what turned out to be the best possible weapon against a mentally-ill man armed with an AK-47 and 500 rounds of ammunition: a compassionate, very brave, and unarmed woman named Antoinette Tuff.Tuesday, August 20th unfolded like any other day in Lithonia, GA: a warm, summer afternoon, early in the new school year at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy, where elementary-age children sat at their desks and parents bustled in and around the school office taking care of last minute details.It was behind one of those parents that 20-year-old Michael Hill is presumed to have slipped in, taking advantage of the buzzed-open security door to enter the school and begin what will likely be his last day of freedom for a very long time. But whatever Hill might have had in mind, what he couldn’t have anticipated was school clerk, Antoinette Tuff. And while she surely couldn’t have expected the scenario in which she found herself, her response to Hill’s clear and active threat no doubt saved the lives of a great many people.‘He had a look on him that he was willing to kill – matter of fact he said it. He said that he didn’t have any reason to live and that he knew he was going to die today,’ Ms. Tuff told WSB-TV.
this is an example that all volatile situations do not require deadly force or the maiming of another or the potential of a stray bullet killing kids.
'I knew that if he got out that door he was gonna kill everybody.'Which is when Tuff started what would ultimately be 24 minutes of brilliant, beyond-the-book hostage negotiations that would not only prove effective, but could stand in stunning comparison to anything a trained law enforcement officer might have done in the same circumstance. From the ABC News interview with Diane SawyerIt turns out Michael Brandon Hill has a long history of mental illness, described by those who know him with the familiar characteristics of school shooters: seemingly no friends, insular, troubled; taciturn. His brother, Timothy Hill, from whom he is estranged, confirmed his brother's fragile and very disturbed state of mind. From The Daily Mail:'I honestly can tell you he has got a long history of medical disorders, including bipolar, and that could make you snap on a dime. My mom's almost looked like a drugstore at one point. There was so many different medications he was on.'[Timothy] Hill, 22, said he is not close to his brother and last saw him in January 2011. He did not reveal exactly what his mental health issue is but said he was taking drugs for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder since he was six-years-old."I had a feeling he was going to eventually, one day, do something stupid, but not of this magnitude,' he said, adding that he once threatened to kill him.
i don't know of a ":best way" to deal with a situation like this they are all different but alike, different as to the individual experience leading up to the incident, the same in as much as execution, you find a way in you either kill those in your way or seek a shooting gallery then you do or in this case by the Grace of God there is intervention that cools out the the abhorrent tendency to kill. think what could have happened had she been armed and attempted to confront him there are many outcomes but all would not lead to the peaceful non violent ending as a kind word.
i hate to say this but it seems that schools have become en vogue for those of mental challenges along with other heavily occupied areas, intent mass murder. those who have knowledge of dysfunctional people should speak up i know some don't want to put a spotlight unnecessarily, but better safe than sorry, those who are recluses i just don't know.
