So How Are These Victim Disarmament Zones Working Out?

From KTVU.com:

SWAT Team Searches For CC College Shooter

RICHMOND, Calif. -- Officers from five police agencies searched Thursday for a gunman who shot a Contra Costa College student police cadet three times at close range...

...The victim was a student and campus police cadet. He was not a sworn officer and was not armed, but he was wearing a uniform, Gagan said.

Richmond police Detective Sgt. Mitch Peixoto said the victim had been driving a campus police golf cart when he came upon a man involved in a car theft. When the cadet pulled up alongside the man, police said the gunman shot him three times at close range.

Take one enthusiastic kid; give him a uniform, a golf cart and a pep talk before sending him out into the dark to face the goblins alone. He did not stand a chance. Do I think college police cadets should be carrying a sidearm? If they are going to be on patrol alone, attempting to stop thieves and other goblins, then yes they should be allowed a sidearm. To tell you the truth though, I really do not think a cadet should be on patrol alone in the first place.

The Contra Costa Times seems to have a more in depth report on this incident:

The uniformed aide saw a man shortly before 1 p.m. who resembled someone sought in connection with a stolen car recovered earlier by the Contra Costa Community College District police, police said.

As the suspicious man ran, the 19-year-old aide radioed for a district police officer. The aide, driving a motorized cart, chased the man off the San Pablo campus's northern border on to Shane Drive, where his quarry turned and fired several rounds from a handgun.

"As the aide approached the individual, the individual shot him at point-blank range," Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan said. "Then he fled into the neighborhood."

This report also details the police response:

Meanwhile, about 50 police officers from five local agencies, including a SWAT team, three police dog handlers and several helicopters, combed through Richmond's Hilltop/Fairmede neighborhood looking for the shooter.

And that of students:

"This is pretty intense," said student Mary Gonzalez, glancing uneasily at a helicopter hovering above campus. "I heard that whoever was shot was hurt, and some guy with a gun could be running around here."

She wondered out loud if the gunman was hiding among a pack of students walking down the hill.

The student and faculty of the college and of a nearby elementary school were told to "shelter in place".

This is the perfect example of why 'gun free school zones' is such a bad idea. A goblin is on the loose, and all we can tell our kids is "shelter in place"? Yes there was a large police response, but if that goblin was amongst the college students, I would hope that the students would be allowed the means to protect themselves. To force them, at the point of a gun, to be disarmed is immoral and unjust.

Thanks to Tony3dogs for the heads up on this story.