Wednesday’s mass shooting in San Bernardino unfolded over several hours as the nation stayed glued to their televisions. The unease at not knowing what’s taking place is difficult to endure even from the safety of home, but of course, no one can accurately imagine what it’s like to be in close proximity to active shooters with a mission. The terror of some of the Inland Regional Center complex workers, who witnessed bodies on the ground, cannot be (to borrow a word from President Obama) paralleled.
Though two of the shooters are now dead, they were very much in action when the above video was recorded. As gunfire rang out in multiple complex buildings, hundreds of people hoped to move out of harm’s way. The surroundings in this clip are almost unbearable when one considers the children and developmentally disabled patients visible in the footage. One man stood out as a hero in this video, and he is believed to have been a police officer (though he may have been part of campus security). As the officer led people towards the outdoors, he promised, “I’ll take a bullet before you do, that’s for damn sure.” He then urged people, “Just be cool, okay?”
At least there is a small comfort in knowing that true heroism still exists in a nation that experiences mass shootings on an almost daily basis.
(Via KPCC on Facebook)