http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ventura6-2008sep06,0,7310134.sto...
From the Los Angeles Times
Ventura College ends campus lockdown after gun scare
Students and employees were kept in classrooms until a suspect, 16, was taken into custody after he reportedly showed off a firearm and bullets in the cafeteria.
By Catherine Saillant
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 6, 2008
Ventura College was locked down briefly this morning after a teenage boy apparently showed off a firearm and a cache of bullets in the college cafeteria.
The 16-year-old suspect was apprehended by police around 10:30 a.m., about an hour after he left the 13,500-student campus, said Ventura Police Sgt. Jack Richards. A handgun was found, officials said.
Authorities did not release the suspect's name because of his age. He is a student in the local public school district, Richards said.
College officials closed the campus as a precautionary measure, said college spokeswoman Alison Moore. A continuation school on the campus also was locked down, as well as a nearby high school and middle school in the Ventura Unified School District, Richards said.
At least two Ventura College students reported seeing the young man with the firearm and a magazine in the cafeteria, Moore said. He did not make any threatening statements, she said: "He was just showing it off is my understanding."
A student witness said the suspect took off on a bicycle.
Students and employees at the college were notified of the situation and were asked to remain in their classrooms until 1 p.m., Moore said. After the suspect was in custody, the lockdown was lifted, she said.
The community college campus in the city's suburban east end has had few brushes with violence. The last was a gang-related stabbing in the campus library in 2005, Moore said.
But a spate of gun violence on school campuses in recent years has prompted authorities to move quickly to lockdown whenever a threat emerges, Richards said.
"It's a lot of precautionary stuff," he said.
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All I can say is that I'm glad they were able to "catch" him before something awful could have happened. I really hope you and the school can resolve everything and nothing happens.
"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook
Who knows what the consequences will be from this incident. I knew the guy and i still cant believe how stupid he was to bring such a thing on campus and THEN show it off (i was sitting behind him when he was showing it).
this is where Australia gets a respectful mention for not having as many of these problems. except for once at my school, where a kid threatened another with a knife...
But there’s no sense crying over every mistake,
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
that kinda sucks, glad it is over
Zoop
kinda. the repercussions is much tighter security and random searches. so if one carries a multi tool (gerber/leatherman) or even a art Xacto knife they might get in trouble. this trouble might lead to a federal felonly and time served in a federal pen.
at my old school, an allen key.
Paranoid school administration... Reminds me of nail clippers @ airport security.
But yeah, a gun is serious... glad no one got hurt.
back in 2003 i got in trouble for carrying a set of jewlers screwdrivers even though i was working on campus in computer repair and was using them quite often.
I pretty much always have my screwdriver in my pocket, and I often get to use it, tightening tables, helping our IT guy.
And as for other dangerous things, surely USB keys are also dangerous? (Common) infections really annoy our IT guy, he almost wishes USB disks were banned. I don't blame him!
I am a Christian and a developer and moderator here.
“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” – Proverbs 15:1
Glad I was homeschooled and then went to a college.
In the news I see so many things happening that I don't agree with. Through my middle school years, I carried a knife. I've always carried one, and consider it a crime for anyone to ask me to leave it at home (except the court house, which I understand, but still don't like).
Currently, I've got my Kershaw that I carry as my big knife for bigger tasks. I carry a smaller Swiss Army Knife as "backup" of for other tasks.
I also carry a screwdriver and a cut off knife handle. I'd use the old knife handle first. I read online once, "The best way to get out of a knife fight without injury is to run like hell" I believe it.
I carry my knife not as a weapon. Its last purpose is a weapon. It is a tool. To help me, to help others. Guns are tools as well. To protect yourself, to protect your family, friends, neighbors, to fend for yourself.
It used to be as a boy scout, you were expected to carry your scout knife. It was a badge of honor. It showed that your parents knew you and trusted you to carry a knife. For its use as a tool.
Society today sees to many things as weapons. And fails to spot some obvious ones. I can use the cable on a mouse as a garrote to kill some one. So now, you can't have mice.
As I write this, I sit at my college. The NIU incident wouldn't have happened if the teacher had had a gun. Or if students had concealed carry licenses.
The possibility of it happening here at this college would be minimal.
So many things can be used as a weapon. A gun is tool just like anything else. A knife is a tool like anything else. My father taught me to think of it as a tool first, and never of it as a weapon.
What has happened is that parents have failed in teaching of their children. Training a child that a knife is a tool is something the school system cannot do The way to reduce crime may be allow concealed carry, but first and foremost it is parents being parents.
This may seem like a rant, and perhaps it is, but what is presented is true. We see the failings of our glorious revolution towards "freedom" daily.
@Moderators-if you feel any of this is in bad taste, feel free to delete it. Please just leave me a .tell or something to let me know- I'll ask why later.
Too many lonely hearts in the real world
Too many bridges you can burn
Too many tables you can't turn
Don't wanna live my life in the real world