Children were inside St. Mary Magdalen in Abbeville, Louisiana, waiting to take their first Holy Communion, the church said.
Churchgoers thwarted a teenager armed with a rifle from entering a Louisiana church full of children Saturday in a service that was being livestreamed, authorities said.
Police were called to St. Mary Magdalen Church in Abbeville, 20 miles south of Lafayette, at 10:35 a.m. when the 16-year-old suspect tried to get in via the back door.
Around 60 children were inside the Catholic church at the time waiting to take their first Holy Communion, the church said.
…
The suspect was arrested and later charged with terrorizing the church and two counts of possession of a firearm by a juvenile. Witnesses told KADN of Lafayette that he was dressed all in black and armed with the rifle.
Well, the obvious solution is to arm children when they’re taking communion. /s
Or, just give Sister Margaret a yardstick and tell her she’s allowed to thwap that kid, just like old times
Given the behavioral research we’ve had in the last half a century, I’m pretty sure that will just make things worse.
The real non-sarcastic solution is, of course, gun control… this is a uniquely American problem.
Doesn’t help mental healthcare is paywalled.
Maybe he was going to save the kids from the priest?
Nahhhh. This is the USA…
I don’t know how parents feel safe living in the USA. Your gun laws are insane.
We don’t.
We’re constantly on edge.
Every single message I get from my kids school during the day, I hope it’s not a dreaded “school shooting” warning.
Even shit like taking my kids to the park, I have to look around to ensure it’s fine. While parents look at me wondering if I’m safe or not.
It’s a shit show.
That’s horrible to hear. We get on edge about the constant military/economic threat of China here in Australia, but that’s much more an existential threat than immediate one. The idea that some random citizen could end 100 peoples lives in minutes is terrifying.
We have people over here that I’m sure would be a school shooter situation if we had guns.
We get on edge about the constant military/economic threat of China
Not everyone in Australia watches Sky News
We have a strong economic dependancy on China for trade, and a military dependency on the USA for defence. What could possibly go wrong? I’m not a sky news watcher, but I’ll admit I have family that are very cautious about geopolitics (also not sky news watchers)
Weird. thought god was like a “big deal” at those places?
Parents? I don’t feel safe living in the United States and I was born here. I used to live in this one shitty suburb that was at the time in the middle of a gang war. They mostly stayed away from us because we were four white guys living in a house but one of our neighbors got his glass back door shot out by a stray bullet by some gangbanger running from a Latin King. I never did find out how that gang war ended but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Kings took over the area.
At first, I didn’t know if the title was saying:
Parishioner (stopped teen) with a rifle from entering church with 60 children inside
or
Parishioners stopped (teen with a rifle) from entering church with 60 children inside
They’re letting him off pretty light for trying to be another piece of shit shooter.
It sounds like they’re taking a mental health care based approach which is probably the most likely to prevent recidivism. People who commit mass shootings aren’t sound of mind (neither are lawmakers that prevent common sense gun control, but that’s a separate consideration).
Ugh… There’s just no way a state like Louisiana has the mental health care apparatus needed for this. Obviously real mental health help is ideal, but I just don’t believe it’ll happen.
You’re right of course. I let my anger get the better of me, and that’s not how you build a society.
Instead, focus that anger towards how they got the gun. I don’t want to assume but oftentimes a parent doesn’t lock up their gun. In cases like that, the parent should be charged.
That’s extremely fair - it’s difficult to remain level headed when people are threatened and, I’d argue, impossible, when it’s people you love or value.
Y’all make me so happy with interactions like this sometimes it almost outweighs how big of a POS the internet can be the rest of the time. Maybe there is hope!
WELL EXCUSE ME WHILE I AGGRESSIVELY DISAGREE FOR NO REASON 😡
Sorry, had to balance the tides.
Not all heroes wear capes.
If this is the case, then I’m so very glad.
I’m absolutely lost at how things can get so bad that a person’s response is such senseless violence.
It breaks my heart and anyone, especially a youth, can get this lost in the Darkness without someone interceding. Perhaps some have tried. Either way… I hope the youth receives the help they need. If justice needs to be found for something in their past, I hope the authorities can find it and help them. I hope the youth may experience freedom of mind, healing, and goodness.
I’m so so grateful that no one was hurt.
Weird, I thought that a kid entering the church with a gun made the church safer, no? Had 20 teens entered with 20 guns it would be 20 times safer, correct? More guns=more safer right? Im so confused.
Apparently that line of thinking upsets the gun nuts.
Give a gun to every protester.
Arm every child.
That’ll keep everyone safe, right? Right?
