January 16, 2002

8:17 AM

2 students shot in MLK Jr. HS yesterday."A gunman sneaked into Martin Luther King Jr. HS yesterday through a side door - evading 14 safety agents, two cops and metal-detectors - and shot and seriously wounded two boys headed to class, officials said. "

"The fact that the shooting occurred on King’s birthday was a "cruel irony," said [Manhattan Board of Education member Irving ] Hamer. King and the school stand for non-violence, he said, and "instead, we get a shooting."
posted by bkdelong (13 comments total)

Hmm.. MLK jr. HS shooting on MLK jr's birthday and we get a James Earl Ray plaque the next day, where are you Oliver Stone???
posted by tiaka at 8:29 AM on January 16, 2002

...evading 14 safety agents, two cops and metal-detectors

In a high school? Is that normal in NYC?
posted by brettski at 8:53 AM on January 16, 2002

If anyone has ever seen the Chris Rock special Bigger and Blacker Rock talks about how whenever something is named after MLK, bad stuff always goes down there. Looks like thats true for this high school.

What I want to know is does the shooter fit the traditional school shooter profile, which is a white kid with brown hair? Or was it a black kid?
posted by Keen at 8:55 AM on January 16, 2002

In Manhattan? But that can't be! Guns are practically banned in Manhattan! Not only that, but the school had a zero-tolerance gun policy! And metal detectors! I thought all these things made us *safe*?

</sarcasm>
posted by jammer at 9:06 AM on January 16, 2002

If other kids had had guns, they might have been able to stop the shooter. I propose that high-schoolers should be able to legally purchase handguns.
posted by panopticon at 9:10 AM on January 16, 2002

If you get off on sarcasm and bad logic should that be called "fallacio"?
posted by srboisvert at 9:26 AM on January 16, 2002

...evading 14 safety agents, two cops and metal-detectors

In a high school? Is that normal in NYC?

Absolutely normal.

It's a sign that NYC is settling in after the attacks and getting back to business as usual.
posted by mikhail at 9:31 AM on January 16, 2002

Proof no matter how many gun laws, saftey precautions, metal detectors, and armed rent-a-cops are in place, crimes are going to take place regardless of what the location is. So why not arm the students to the teeth and let them duel? Maybe flood the schools with guns and weapons and have everyone walking around in kevlar and bullet proof vests, with teachers in front of the classes teaching behind bullet proof glass?
posted by brent at 9:50 AM on January 16, 2002

"A gunman sneaked into Martin Luther King Jr. HS yesterday through a side door - evading 14 safety agents, two cops, an army betalion, a multi-point laser detection system, a pressure-sensitive trap door, a sub-particle force field, heat and biological sensors, a group of ninjas, and metal-detectors - and shot and seriously wounded two boys headed to class, officials said. "

Highschool sure is changing.
posted by Modem Ovary at 9:59 AM on January 16, 2002

It's a sign that NYC is settling in after the attacks and getting back to business as usual.

The vast majority of school shootings have been in rural/suburban areas.
posted by malphigian at 10:20 AM on January 16, 2002

brent - or just make this a reality...
posted by cashmein at 10:25 AM on January 16, 2002

The vast majority of school shootings have been in rural/suburban areas.

malphigian, the sarcasm in my previous comment not-withstanding, why do you think there are guards, policemen, and metal detectors in NYC schools in the first place?
posted by mikhail at 12:18 PM on January 16, 2002

This was the first shooting inside a NYC school in eight years -- which happens to be when metal detectors were installed.
posted by Slagman at 2:16 PM on January 16, 2002