Local Illinois news outlet Sauk Valley Media reported on Wednesday that a school shooting was successfully prevented by an armed resource officer:
“A 19-year-old former Dixon High student is in custody with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the shoulder after bringing a gun to the school this morning.
The man shot at school resource officer Mark Dallas, who returned fire around 8 a.m., Sheriff John Simonton said.”
The shooting took place in the Dixon High School gym, where graduating seniors were assembled to practice for their graduation ceremony.
BREAKING: School shooting at Dixon High School. School resource officer confronted a high-school aged gunman. That teen fired, and the resource officer fired back and hit the gunman. The resource officer was not hit. All Dixon schools now on lock down.
— Courtney Gousman (@cgousman) May 16, 2018
It seems unlikely that this story will receive widespread national media coverage, but for those who support developing genuine and effective school safety policies, as opposed to wild calls to ban all guns everywhere, it’s just another (this time, thankfully, fortunate) piece of evidence.
But it would be a shame if Officer Dallas does not get more recognition for his actions than the officer who failed the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, FL. (Bad news on that front.)
