school violence – Michmutters
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North Carolina sheriff stocking schools with AR-15 rifles

MARSHALL, N.C. — When schools in one North Carolina county reopen later this month, new security measures will include stocking AR-15 rifles for school resource officers to use in the event of an active shooter.

Spurred by the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead in May, school officials and Madison County Sheriff Buddy Harwood have placed one of the semiautomatic rifles in each of the county’s six schools. Each of the guns will be locked inside a safe, Harwood said.

The North Carolina school district and sheriff’s office are collaborating to enhance security after the Uvalde shooting revealed systemic failures and “egregiously poor decision-making,” resulting in more than an hour of chaos before the gunman was finally confronted and killed by law enforcement, according to to a report written by an investigative committee of the Texas House of Representatives.

“Those officers were in that building for so long, and that suspect was able to infiltrate that building and injure and kill so many kids,” Harwood told the Asheville Citizen Times. “I just want to make sure my deputies are prepared in the event that happens.”

The idea of ​​having AR-15s in schools does not sit well with Dorothy Espelage, a UNC Chapel Hill professor in the School of Education who has conducted decades of study and research on school safety and student well-being.

“What’s going to happen is we’re going to have accidents with these guns,” Espelage told WLOS-TV. Just the presence of an SRO increases violence in the schools. There’s more arrests of kids. Why is it that they have to have these AR-15s? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Madison County Schools Superintendent Will Hoffman said school administrators have been meeting regularly with local law enforcement officials, including Harwood, to discuss the updated safety measures.

Harwood said the county’s school resource officers have been training with instructors from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

Harwood said the safes where the AR-15s will be kept will also hold ammunition and breaching tools for barricaded doors.

“We’ll have those tools to be able to breach that door if needed. I do not want to have to run back out to the car to grab an AR, because that’s time wasted. Hopefully we’ll never need it, but I want my guys to be as prepared as prepared can be,” he said.

Schools are scheduled to reopen Aug. 22, according to the Madison County Schools website.

While the optics of school resource officers potentially handling AR-15s in schools may be discomforting to some, Harwood said he believes it is a necessary response.

“I hate that we’ve come to a place in our nation where I’ve got to put a safe in our schools, and lock that safe up for my deputies to be able to acquire an AR-15. But, we can shut it off and say it won’t happen in Madison County, but we never know,” Harwood said.

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Parkland shooting trial: Jurors to visit Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School today



CNN

Jurors from the sentencing portion of the trial for the gunman who killed 17 people are expected to visit the scene of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School’s 1200 building in Parkland, Florida, on Thursday.

The building on the school’s campus has remained sealed since the February 2018 shooting to preserve it for the trial. A new building that opened in 2020 has taken on the role of the structure, which officials have said will be torn down.

The visit is meant to help jurors analyze the evidence presented in the trial so far, Judge Elizabeth Scherer explained.

The judge instructed jurors Wednesday to “avoid touching, manipulating or moving anything.” She also told them to explore the scene on their own and at their own pace, moving as a group from floor to floor.

“Nothing will be explained or pointed out to you,” the judge’s instructions said. Jurors have also been told to avoid speaking to anyone until the viewing is complete.

Jurors will not be allowed to have a smart phone, smart watch or any type of camera, during the jury view. In court, attorneys encouraged the judge to ask jurors to wear closed-toe shoes because they could encounter glass on the floor.

The current phase of the trial is to determine gunman Nikolas Cruz’s sentence: Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, while Cruz’s defense attorneys are asking the jury for a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. To recommend a death sentence, jurors must be unanimous. If they do so, the judge could choose to follow the recommendation or sentence Cruz to life instead.

Cruz is not expected to be at the crime scene.

Following the visit, some impact statements are expected in court, the judge said.

Wednesday was the third day of victim impact testimony in the trial of Cruz, who pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder for the shooting.

Much of the testimony in the Broward County court – particularly from the parents of the 14 students killed – has focused on all the things the victims and their families will never get to do and the irreparable damage to their everyday lives.

“Our family is broken. There is this constant emptiness,” said Max Schachter, the father of 14-year-old Alex, who loved chocolate chip cookies, playing the trombone and video games.

“I feel I can’t truly be happy if I smile,” Schachter said Wednesday. “I know that behind that smile is the sharp realization that part of me will always be sad and miserable because Alex isn’t here.”

The loss of her daughter Meadow Pollack, 18, has “destroyed” Shara Kaplan’s life, she told the jury Tuesday, “and my capability of ever living a productive existence.” To articulate how her daughter’s death de ella impacted her de ella, she said, she would have to rip out her heart de ella and show them how it had shattered into a million pieces.

And the Hoyer family will never be the same. “We were a family unit of five always trying to fit into a world set up for even numbers,” said Tom Hoyer, whose 15-year-old son Luke – the youngest of three – was killed. “Two-, four-, six-seat tables in a restaurant. Two-, four-, six-ticket packages to events. Things like that.”

But the Hoyers are no longer a family of five, and “never again will the world feel right, now that we’re a family of four,” Hoyer said.

“When Luke died something went missing in me,” he said. “And I’ll never, never get over that feeling.”

To make their sentencing decision, jurors will hear prosecutors and defense attorneys argue aggravating factors and mitigating circumstances – reasons Cruz should or should not be executed.

The victim impact statements add another layer, giving the families and friends of the victims their own day in court, though the judge told the jury the statements are not meant to be weighed as aggravating factors.

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Sandy Hook dad says Alex Jones made his life a ‘living hell’

AUSTIN, Texas– The father of a 6-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting testified Tuesday that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones made his life a “living hell” by pushing claims that the murders were a hoax.

In more than an hour of emotional testimony during which he often fought back tears, Neil Heslin said he has endured online abuse, anonymous phone calls and harassment on the street.

“What was said about me and Sandy Hook itself resonates around the world,” Heslin said. “As time went on, I truly realized how dangerous it was. … My life has been threatened. I fear for my life, I fear for my safety.”

Heslin said his home and car have been shot at, and his attorneys said Monday that the family had an “encounter” in Austin since the trial started and have been in isolation under security.

Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, have sued Jones and his media company Free Speech Systems over the harassment and threats they and other parents say they have endured for years because of Jones and his Infowars website. Jones claimed the 2012 attack that killed 20 first-graders and six staffers at the Connecticut school was a hoax or faked.

Heslin and Lewis are seeking at least $150 million in the case.

“Today is very important to me and it’s been a long time coming… to face Alex Jones for what he said and did to me. To restore the honor and legacy of my son,” Heslin said.

Heslin also said that while he doesn’t know if the Sandy Hook hoax theory originated with Jones, it was Jones who “lit the match and started the fire” with an online platform and broadcast that reached millions worldwide.

Heslin told the jury about holding his son with a bullet hole through his head, even describing the extent of the damage to his son’s body. A key segment of the case is a 2017 Infowars broadcast that said Heslin holding his son didn’t happen.

An apology from Jones wouldn’t be good enough at this point, he said.

“Alex started this fight,” Heslin said, “and I’ll finish this fight.”

Jones wasn’t in court during Heslin’s testimony, to move the father called “cowardly.” Jones has skipped much of the testimony during the two-week trial and had a cadre of bodyguards in the courtroom when he did attend. Tuesday was the last scheduled day for testimony and Jones was expected to take the stand as the only witness in his defense of him.

Scarlett Lewis was also called to the stand Tuesday.

Heslin and Lewis suffer from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder that comes from constant trauma, similar to that endured by soldiers in war zones or child abuse victims, a forensic psychologist who studied their cases and met with them testified Monday.

Jones has portrayed the lawsuit against him as an attack on his First Amendment rights.

At stake in the trial is how much Jones will pay. The parents have asked the jury to award $150 million in compensation for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The jury will then consider whether Jones and his company will pay punitive damages.

The trial is just one of several Jones faces.

Courts in Texas and Connecticut have already found Jones liable for defamation for his portrayal of the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax involving actors aimed at increasing gun control. In both states, judges issued default judgments against Jones without trials because he failed to respond to court orders and turn over documents.

Jones has already tried to protect Free Speech Systems financially. The company filed for federal bankruptcy protection last week. Sandy Hook families have separately sued Jones over his financial claims from him, arguing that the company is trying to protect millions owned by Jones and his family from him through shell entities.

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University instructor charged in shooting death of student

CARROLTON, Ga. — A university instructor in Georgia has been charged with killing an 18-year-old student who was fatally shot while sitting in a car.

The Carrollton Police Department said in a news release that Richard Sigman, 47, is charged with murder and aggravated assault for the shooting death of Anna Jones, 18. Police said they believe Jones was killed when Sigman shot into a parked car following an argument with a man at a pizza restaurant. The shooting happened shortly after midnight Saturday.

Police said a man told security that Sigman had threatened to shoot him during an argument, and security then asked Sigman to leave. Investigators believe when Sigman left, he walked to the parking deck and started shooting into a parked vehicle, hitting Jones. Friends drove Jones to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, police said.

It is not immediately clear if Sigman has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

The University of West Georgia told news outlets in a statement that Sigman’s employment has been terminated. A current course catalog listed Sigman as a lecturer in business administration.

The university said Jones was a student at the university.

“On behalf of the university, we wish to convey our deepest condolences to Anna’s family and many friends. We know this news is difficult to process and affects many members of our university community. We ask that you keep Anna’s family, friends, and all who have been touched by this tragedy in your thoughts during this tremendously difficult time,” University of West Georgia President Dr. Brendan Kelly said in the statement.

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