WI Student takes class hostage, kills self

Armed Wis. Student Frees Hostages, Shoots Self
I think this will be an interesting case-study once all the details come out. Really begs the question of hostage-taker or active killer, a question that often brings about charged debate in the classes. Sounds like kid fired some rounds initially, then held the class hostage for 5 hours, released some hostages, then fired more rounds (don’t know at what) and shot himself, and that made Officers enter the classroom. Apparently he shot nobody else.
In the aftermath, this is easily termed a hostage event. But if you had been one of the first officers on-scene with limited intel at the time, what would you have determined the motives were, and when would you have taken the fight to the bad-guy. This event seems a lot like a reply of Platte Canyon HS in Bailey CO. This kid had 5 hours to decide to kill classmates or not after he killed the projector. If the report is true that he fired 4 other rounds before shooting himself and police entered, that could have been at least 4 more casualties, with police on the other side of a door.
Whether the information on yesterday’s event is accurate or not, the situation is a tactical dilemma. Whenever I ask any LE officer around the country, “Why does someone show up with a gun?” the answer is they are there to kill. Should our tactics be accordingly aggressive, or do we wait for the shooting to start to get aggressive? This question is a LE supervisor’s nightmare I guess because the aforementioned answer I always get from the rank and file rarely seems to fit the historical, and yesterday’s, LE response. We have to pick a poison: Do something and bad things may happen or Wait and bad things may happen. The “may happen” part is the same. It’s the do something or waiting part that differs. I say we, LE and civilians, be doers of something when lives are on the line. How about you?
Nobody said the job was easy.
Be safe and vigilant my friends.