Police are calling it a miracle that no one was hurt, after a gunman opened fire yesterday inside a Decatur, GA elementary school.
The suspected shooter, 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill, faces charges including aggravated assault on a police officer, terroristic threats and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, after barricading himself in the school’s front office with employees before eventually surrendering to police.
According to police, Hill was armed with an AK-47 and various other weapons as he entered the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy near downtown Atlanta. He had also parked his car directly in front of the school, which police believed to be loaded with explosives.
Teachers and administrators guided students outside to safety, where they remained while investigators searched the school for additional threats. SWAT teams cut a hole in a fence by the school and evacuated students through the yard of a neighboring home, where school buses were waiting.
Nervous parents were happily reunited with their children, with many saying the ordeal immediately reminded them of the deadly Sandy Hook school shooting late last year.
Indeed it is a "miracle" that no one was hurt or killed.
When I heard about this story yesterday I thought to myself, they will probably find that the suspect has a troubling history (because sadly, that tends to be the case in America, more often than not).
It appears I was right. As per NBC News:
"A sheriff's official in Henry County, Ga., south of Atlanta, said Hill was charged there in March with making terroristic threats — a felony in Georgia. The details of that case couldn't immediately be determined, but court records show that he was sentenced to three years' probation and anger counseling."