Shooter on Campus

A Dangerous Threat

Driving in to the office, late as usual, I glanced down at my emails after stopping at a red light.  I spied a note from the principal of our son’s school regarding a lockdown.  What in the world?  Maybe they are doing a drill.

I opened the email and began to read about the school having a lockdown due to the threat that a man who had killed his wife and 2 children was not yet captured and someone thought they might have seen him on the school campus.

My heart froze as I drove on through the green light, and then I instantly thought “Christian will be fine.  They’re just doing this as a precaution.  I’m sure this is all a mistake and they’re being extra careful”.

My memory instantly put up pictures of worried parents outside of schools, wondering if their children were still alive.  Waiting to hear.  My heart was beating faster.

I headed toward my office.  “Don’t panic.  Everyone is ok”, I tried to reassure myself.  I began to pray, “Lord, send your angels to surround them, give the staff wisdom and discernment.  Peace, Lord, peace.”

I hurried in to my office and pulled up the information on the computer.  Surely there’s some mistake.  I reread the notice from the school.

Last night a man in Shingletown killed his wife and 2 kids.  The kids attended Chrysalis School (The school that is on the same lot of land as our son). This morning the man was seen on campus, (in a small green truck) he is considered armed and dangerous and highly volatile… You may pick up your children if you wish.

I Began to Panic

Now I was having to face the fact that the gunman could have been at my son’s school while I was exercising.

Don’t go there mind.  But my mind was going there.  As a matter of fact, I think my mind began to freeze.  I couldn’t think.  I couldn’t get hold of my husband.  What should I do?

I sat there for a few minutes not doing anything.   I was frozen.  I decided to text all my girlfriends and knew they would be praying.  One of the texts from my friend Melody came back “Are we still meeting at noon?”

I wrote back “Yes, I am here.”

Melody is one of the bravest women I know.  Suddenly I could hear her voice “You get your butt up and get over there and get your son!”

Suddenly I jumped into action.  It broke through my paralyzed head.

I was going in to get my son no matter what.

I quickly called the school to find out what the current status was.  I didn’t know if they would answer the phone.  A tense voice on the other end assured me it was fine to come and get him.

I drove the carpool that day, so I needed to get his friend James as well.  Would they release him to me?  I called his mom and got it arranged.  The beauty of a small school.

As I drove I remembered every school shooting I had seen and the aftermath.

Bad thoughts go away!

“Lord”, I silently prayed “Keep him safe.  Keep his heart at peace.  Let him know that you are there.”  

I began to have thoughts that I was not going to let some crazy man after my boy.  No matter what was going on at that school, I was going in and getting him! “Lord give me courage”.

Time for action

I quickly pulled up front of the school and noticed everything looked the same as usual.  Eerie.  I quickly got to the office door, but door was locked.

This is real.  Remain calm, Robbie.  God is with you.  Breathe.  Another mom inside opened the door and I smiled as though life was normal and asked for Christian and his friend James.  They didn’t need a hysterical mom.

They called over the intercom for them to come to the office.  Even though we weren’t in danger, and this was really at this point a drill, the atmosphere was tense, and some of us moms were close to tears.

The job of these women was to protect these children and make sure they were safe.  I was so grateful for their strength and faithfulness.  I grabbed my son and his friend and jumped into the car, all the while making sure I was lighthearted and smiling about the fact they got to get out of school.  They were ecstatic.

As we drove away, they began to describe the drill of the morning.  “Lockdown directions came over the loudspeaker, and everyone thought it was a drill.  Curtains were pulled, doors were locked and we all  moved to the back of the room.”

My stomach churned as I listened to my son tell the story.  Listening to make sure he was ok.  “Then after about 30 minutes we began to realize this was not a drill.  A few of the guys and I decided we were getting mad.  And if a gunman wanted to come into our room, we were going to grab the baseball bat and go after him.  We had 3 big guys and we thought we could take him.  Besides, if I die I’m going to heaven, and that’s better than here, so we were in a good place.”

What a relief

Be still my heart!  What can you say to that?  I want my son to be brave and courageous.  I want him to be filled with faith that heaven is real, and that God is there with him.  I also want him to have wisdom.

But I was so glad that he didn’t have to test his faith in that way.  I want him to know how much I love him, and never forget to tell him.  When I leave him each day, to know “I love you son”.