Gunman Reported On Texas A&M Campus

[Zephie]

Source: KBTX

Thursday afternoon, Texas A&M activated their Code Maroon notification system alerting students to a gunman spotted on campus.

The A&M campus is not on lock down as of yet, according to spokesman Jason Cook, who says a bus driver spotted an armed individual and reported it to University Police.

A brief description of the armed individual, according to scanner reports:
-white male
-wearing olive or green shirt and shorts
-wearing back pack
-carrying an AK-47

Another report of a gunman was called in from West Campus shortly after the first sighting. Authorities do not have a clear description on that individual.

The following Code Maroon message was sent out at 4 p.m.:

"Code Maroon: Sighting of armed subject at Rudder Tower. SEEK SAFE SHELTER until further notice."

Read more: http://www.kbtx.com/tamu/headlines/Gunman_Reported_On_Texas_AM_Campus_106143448.html

[fascisthunter]

1. another one

another Beck fan? I wouldn't be surprised..

[slackmaster]

2. I got a text message from a relative who says Barbara Bush is on the Texas A&M campus today

I hope nobody gets hurt.

[Ian David]

22. Nah, Barbara's probably a lousy shot. n/t

[slackmaster]

25. But she looks kind of cute on the Quaker Oats boxes

[tularetom]

3. Carrying an AK-47, huh?

Here's something that might help:

[TheWraith]

14. Ha, I thought about that exact same image. nt

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

15. LOL... ain't it the truth.

[onehandle]

24. Guns are an innocent bystander.

They are ever so dreamy.

[slackmaster]

30. “All Clear. Person with replica weapon identified. No danger. Resume normal activity.”

There wasn't even a firearm involved in this "incident".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39898859/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

[iverglas]

38. y'see, slack, if you'd just read the posts on the board

you'd know that I reported this some time before.

Big wave!

[aquart]

43. Say what?

[krispos42]

44. 3rd down on the left is an anti-aircraft gun, don't forget... n/t

[sadbear]

4. I'm stuck at work on the Texas A&M campus right now

Figure this one out: we're not on "lock-down", but no one's allowed to leave the building.

[Zephie]

5. Be careful!

My best friend just left the campus right before it happened. Be safe, our thoughts are with you!

[sadbear]

6. Ehhh, it's much ado about nothing

There was an "incident" at Sam Houston State (about 60 miles down the road) last week involving Nerf guns. We've been waiting for about an hour now, and nothing's happened. I suspect the report was a hoax (or a mistake.)

[mudderfudder77]

10. Bearkats Represent!

[HereSince1628]

8. Well, in the 80's they shagged the students out of Heldenfels for every bomb threat

which typically occurred concurrently with a freshman bio or chemistry exam...

Then they had us bio grad students go through all the cabinets and drawers looking for anything unusual...well, we all paid in-state tuition ($6.00 per credit hour) so we were MUCH cheaper than bomb squads!

Never found a bomb, but that gad-damned cockateel shat on me regularly!

[sadbear]

11. Bomb threats around here are pretty common

I just can't wait for the NRA to show up next week demanding concealed carry on campus.

[HereSince1628]

39. I lived in a duplex out in Boonesville...is Boonesville still there?

Just wondering.

On some occasions the seniors in the corp walked around with swords. I don't remember the details, the Trigon and all that had little to do with me or my interests.

[sadbear]

47. Yeah, it's still there

And the corps do walk around with swords (sheathed) and train and march with rifles (carrying them, not shooting) in the middle of campus all the time.

[LisaL]

12. If I were you I'd lock the door just in case.

[Crowman1979]

7. Another Teabagger gone nuts?

jeeezzz! :eyes:

[sadbear]

9. There is an early voting location just a few yards away from where the gunman was "spotted"

I had planned to go there after I got off work to vote a straight Democratic ticket. (But I'm still stuck at work.)

[marions ghost]

13. that'll lose some votes all right

n/t

[Sancho]

16. Hopefully it's nothing, but there are lots of guns in Texas!

There's no reason for all this violence except the media and extremists stirring folks up!

[One Voice]

17. Update on Twitter:

BreakingNews

Update: Gun 'suspect' is member of Texas A&M Corps of Cadets
(similar to ROTC) who was walking with his rifle - NBC

[slackmaster]

18. I guess it wasn't an AK-47, then

[sadbear]

19. That is the most logical explanation

Members of the Corps carry rifles around campus ALL THE TIME. (And I'm still stuck on campus.)

[crim son]

20. Why is it a "gunman" on campus, and just an American taking advantage of his

right to bear arms almost everywhere else?

[Dash87]

21. If it's on his shoulder, there's really not a problem.

But if somebody is walking around with a gun in their hands, I wouldn't blame people for being freaked out. I think the media also made us more afraid of guns than we should be, though. :)

♥

[iverglas]

26. oh, well, of course

Someone actually planning to actually shoot people would nevercarry their firearm on their shoulder.

I think most people are exactly as "afraid of guns", when they see people carrying them around in public, as they should be: a lot.

As far as cadets carrying firearms around on campus -- damn, that's a brilliant idea. Why, the possibility of a cadet deciding to shoot some people, or hey, maybe of somebody else deciding to promenade around with a firearm and hope to be mistaken for a cadet long enough ... nah, those are foolish ideas, I know.

[Merchant Marine]

28. Its hard to shoot somebody with a welded drill rifle...

n/y

[iverglas]

29. indeed

And yet the post I was referring to said:


Update: Gun 'suspect' is member of Texas A&M Corps of Cadets
(similar to ROTC) who was walking with his rifle - NBC


with no mention at all of any welded drill rifle ...



Do see my post 27, posted before this one of yours.


Oh, and one more thought -- exactly how easy is it for a bus driver to tell that the thing being carried by someone in his line of vision is a welded drill rifle?

I greatly appreciate your expertise in this matter.

[AtheistCrusader]

36. I'm curious why he thought a P-14, Garand or similar pattern rifle was an 'ak-47'

[iverglas]

37. actually, he didn't

As I have read it, he reported someone with a firearm. Someone else said it looked like an AK-47. And it got reported ...

Still can't tell how any one of them would have been able to tell it was inoperable.

[AtheistCrusader]

40. Drill 'weapons' usually don't have a bolt. It's a piece of metal and a piece of wood

in the general shape of a rifle. I suppose from a long distance you wouldn't be able to tell.

If it was an actual Parade/Drill de-milled weapon, then you won't be able to tell unless you see it up very close.
Curious what it actually was, total dummy or de-milled real thing.

[iverglas]

41. no word so far ;) -- here we are

Was just about to edit the other to say: g'day g'day.

edit

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/10/gunman-reported-at-texas-am-ahead-of-visit-by-elder-bush-to-dedicate-library/1

Update at 7:07 p.m. ET: The university says the campus is "back to normal" and explains what happened:

At approximately 3:30 p.m. today (Thursday), the Texas A&M University Police Department received a report that an individual who appeared to be carrying a rifle was spotted in Rudder Tower. A Code Maroon alert message was promptly distributed campus wide, and police and other university personnel conducted an extensive search.

Now, university officials believe the basis for the report was an individual who had in his possession a 'dummy' rifle — a replica. The individual then walked through Rudder Tower in route to the West Campus, where his car was parked, and he then drove home.

Dummy weapons of the type believed to be at the center of the investigation are hard rubber replicas of rifles. No actual weapon has been found.

Update at 6:51 p.m. ET: Texas A&M has declared "all clear," saying the alleged gunman was carrying a plastic rubber replica of a weapon and was "no danger." The person was not identified, but NBC News reports that he was a memeber of the school's Corps of Cadets, similar to the ROTC.

Can't think of what else could have been done here. A bus driver who saw someone carrying a thing that looked like a firearm should report this. A university and police who receive a report of someone carrying something that looks like a firearm on campus should take appropriate action ...

There were no hysterics, and no reason to fault anyone in the incident, I'd think. Except an idiot promenading around in a public place carrying a thing that an ordinary person would take for a firearm from a distance.

[AtheistCrusader]

42. Hah, I just realized who I was talking to.

Welcome back.

(in my defense, the initial article wasn't clear who reported the weapon type)

[iverglas]

45. see my edit above

You're as bad as me. The law, and I, pay no heed to persons. ;)

Not blaming you for not having the later-reported details. Just that it seems the bus driver wasn't an idiot! Nor was anyone, necessarily. Oh, except the guy promenading around in public with something that looked like a firearm to an ordinary person at a distance ...

[slackmaster]

31. I believe there is no law prohibiting someone from carrying a rifle there

As long as he or she doesn't enter a building with it.

[ProudDad]

34. You may wish or believe

but you're wrong...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4592150#4592356

It's Illegal...

[ProudDad]

33. Maybe because possesion of guns on a University

is illegal in Texas...

and against Texas A&M's school rules?

Hmmm??? :eyes:


http://rules-saps.tamu.edu/PDFs/34.06.02.M1.pdf

[slackmaster]

48. Thanks for the information. I stand corrected.

It's a good thing nobody actually had a firearm.

[proteus_lives]

46. Lame.

Work on better canards.

[onehandle]

23. .

[iverglas]

27. Suspected A&M gunman actually someone with replica

just not much in the way of brains.

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/suspected-a-m-gunman-actually-someone-with-replica-1003605.html
Updated: 5:52 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010

[ProudDad]

35. In Texas they call it "shit fer brains" (n/t)

[ProudDad]

32. Gunman on Texas college campus?

Isn't that an integral part of the curriculum in Texas?

They learn it in gradeschool:

--------------------------------------------

The New Textbooks of Texas
Emily P. Kingsley and Sharon Lerner c. 2010
Tune: Yellow Rose of Texas

(In the) new textbooks of Texas,
here's what you're gonna see;
A brand new take on science, and a change in history.
(We'll play) down the lib'ral sixties, play up the Moral Right.
We'll praise our Founding Fathers,
who were Christian, male and white.

Except for Thomas Jefferson, who once was hailed as great.
He's dropped 'cause he be - li_eved
that church is sep'rate from state.
We'll have some brand new heroes,
Joe McCarthy and his ilk - -
Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly,
but we'll leave out Harvey Milk.

There ain't no global warming, in Alaska it's still cold,
(And we're) saying that our planet's
only thousands of years old.
(There'll be) no more talk of Darwin, only Adam and his Eve,
(And you) won't find same sex marriage
between Adam and his Steve.

(We won't) talk a-bout abortion,
we won't mention Jews or gays.
No La - tinos, women's movement, and no Muslim holidays.
(Lib'ral) scientists can all complain,
we're deaf to their attacks,
('cause the) new textbooks of Texas
will have ev'rything......but facts !