| On January 16, 2002, 43-year-old former student Peter Odighizuwa arrived on the campus of the Appalachian School of Law with a handgun. He first discussed his academic problems with a professor, whom he reportedly told to pray for him. He returned to the school around 13:00hrs and proceeded to the offices of Dean Anthony Sutin and Professor Thomas Blackwell, where he opened fire. The county coroner would later determine from powder burns that both victims -- unarmed and therefore with no effective means of defending themselves -- were coldly executed at point blank range. Also killed was an unarmed student, Angela Denise Dales, age 33. Three other unarmed people were wounded.
While Odighizuwa no doubt had aspirations of putting himself high in the school shooters pantheon, he faced a problem that the likes of Harris and Klebold and Cho never had to deal with. As he went about his grim business, he ran up against not one, but two targets students who had what his twisted mind no doubt was sure they couldn't have: matching firepower.
Any dreams of gun-free zone body counts and fame Odighizuwa may have had came to an abrupt and disappointing end.
It was a bad day to be a homicidal maniac... |
