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In praise of … heroic bystanders In praise of … heroic bystanders
(25 days later)
The police should offer Antoinette Tuff a job as a negotiator. The 46-year-old Georgia woman managed to thwart another school shooting in America last week with mere words. Tuff, a clerk at the elementary school near Atlanta, saw the gunman enter the building with an AK-47. She called emergency services and began talking to him, urging him to put his gun down. She told him about her own woes, including a husband who walked out on her, encouraging him to remember that there's always another choice, even in desperate situations. Whatever she said, worked. No one was hurt, and when the police arrived, the gunman surrendered. It's reminiscent of how three women who witnessed the brutal slaying of a soldier in Woolwich engaged the attackers in conversation to attempt to prevent death. As hard as the job of armed police is in such situations, these women merit the highest praise for their bravery and have much to teach us.The police should offer Antoinette Tuff a job as a negotiator. The 46-year-old Georgia woman managed to thwart another school shooting in America last week with mere words. Tuff, a clerk at the elementary school near Atlanta, saw the gunman enter the building with an AK-47. She called emergency services and began talking to him, urging him to put his gun down. She told him about her own woes, including a husband who walked out on her, encouraging him to remember that there's always another choice, even in desperate situations. Whatever she said, worked. No one was hurt, and when the police arrived, the gunman surrendered. It's reminiscent of how three women who witnessed the brutal slaying of a soldier in Woolwich engaged the attackers in conversation to attempt to prevent death. As hard as the job of armed police is in such situations, these women merit the highest praise for their bravery and have much to teach us.
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