Oh, my. My sympathies go out to the victims and their families.

What is wrong with people? Are people getting more violent or is it we just have more people or?

It's another white male with a gun. I see the majority losing its grip on power and they're mad. The tea party denounced the "cult of multiculturalism" and the Superbowl ads were full of misogyny. I see homegrown terrorists among us.

This is getting too common, and not just here of course.

... his ex-boss called into WNOX this morning. Apparently, he got laid off/fired and took his gun to kill his ex-boss last year. He was stopped and questioned by police. He told them straight up he was going to shoot his ex-boss.

He was later asked what he would have done if the guy's family had been there. He allegedly replied that he would have shot them all.

I can't understand how this guy was allowed to teach and retain any ability to own a gun. The system is seriously broken if a guy so clearly out of control is left to repeat the action.

I don't understand it. This guy was old enough for there to have been Jesus in his classroom back in the days when he was a student. And since the absence of Jesus in the classroom is the cause of all this violence, then how could this have happened?

A terrible shooting.......a disturbed shooter family's that are worried about wounded loved ones.

So instead of words of support or grieving together we are subjected to 2 rants so far......Its the angry white men that caused it......and jesus didn't keep it from happening.

I for one am getting so sick of both sides i cant stand it. pro gun or anti gun , right wing or progressive,black or white

Tolerance? basically a crap concept when the two opposite factions square off.

How about the common sense party?

I believe it's legitimate to ask how this guy got a job teaching at an elementary school. What kind of background checks do teachers undergo?

This appears to be a situation involving a disgruntled, unbalanced employee and could have happened anywhere (and maybe almost did) not just a school. But schools are not just anywhere.

And for the record, Stacey Campfield is the first elected official to politicize the tragedy, barely more than an hour after it happened while one victim was in the hospital fighting for her life.

(link...)

The superintendent did confirm yesterday that the guy's contract wasn't going to be renewed. But I'm with Randy: How did he ever get hired?

Her condition has been upgraded from critical to good. There was some fear of paralysis, but I understand she has been able to move her limbs on command.
I think her outlook is good, as far as her physical status is concerned. I worry about her emotional well-being, though. I don't know that I could walk back into that office if I were in her position.

I learned this afternoon that my friend's grandson was a student in the shooter's classroom. My friend had picked up the grandson at school, and had received a call from the kid's mother about the shooting and that it was "Mr. Foster" who had been the shooter. The grandmother, mother and father all sat him down and told him together. He was upset that Ms. Brace and Ms. Luna were hurt, and confused that Mr. Foster had a gun at school because you're not supposed to have guns at school.

He's a kid who doesn't show his emotions very much, and isn't one to say he doesn't like someone but had expressed some frustration throughout the year with his teacher. Needless to say, my friend is upset. As she said, as far as she knows Mr. Foster is the only person she has ever shook hands with who has then used that hand to shoot someone who wasn't armed. Now multiple that by however many kids are in that fourth grade class. Then multiple it by how many kids are in Inskip School.
Then look at every elementary school in the county.

Lots of prayers needed right now. Lots of thoughtful conversations with lots of kids.

How did this happen?

That's a good question.

With McIntyre being hired, I think many of us hoped we could cut out the wasteful bureaucracy in the central office and actually see things get done.

Instead we have Roy Mullins working part-time considering a run for a school board seat and an Office of Accountability to add to the layers of bureaucracy in Andrew Johnson.

I wonder exactly what Mr. Mullins does, and exactly how many more retired school department executives are working part time for Knox County schools?

And as far as having an Office of Accountability goes, that should be the superintendent's office. Period.

Seems like McIntyre has just kept a lot of holdovers from Lindsey's tenure, apparently in order to not rock the boat and ensure his position.

To paraphrase a speaker talking about the failures of US intelligence agencies, it seems like Knox County's central office is more concered with job security than with school security.

More info emerges:

Officials: Knox school shooting suspect cleared all background checks

Former boss: Knox school shooting suspect threatened to kill him

Email to Knox County Schools warned about shooting suspect's behavior

Accused school shooter's brother speaks out

School shooting suspect's personnel file shows meetings about complaints

Teacher who allegedly shot principals called a 'time bomb'

It's probably worth noting that the school board hasn't set the best example lately:

Phillips’ case: School board member guilty of lesser charge

No, he resigned last month.

Maybe preventing people who have been institutionalized from owning guns?

Was Foster previously institutionalized? I thought we were told only that Anderson County law enforcement took him to some local mental hospital there for a 90-minute evaluation, but that his evaluators gave him a green light? Did I miss something?

Foster used .38-caliber in shootings, bought at gun show two weeks ago

If they have records it means it must have been purchased from a legit dealer, which means there was an "instant" background check, which is basically a check of the NCIC and TBI databases for name and SSN and signing a form that says you're not crazy. If he got it from an individual in a "private sale" there's no check at all.

This is probably not the time to discuss if things should have been done differently. But at some point there should be some thought as to why places like Post Offices and schools are having such extreme violent behavior with employees. Since the 1960's all kinds of new ways of dealing with employees have been implemented in not only government but private business. The common denominator is lack of people skills and reliance on HR manuals that give a one size fits all methodology.

This is simply a terrible tragedy. My heart and prayers go out to the families of Ms. Luna and Ms. Brace. There are no words to describe how truly horrible this is. My own thoughts about trying to place blame (which is likely inappropriate at this time), would be along the lines of Tamara and R.Neal.

WATE: Officials at UT Medical Center have upgraded Inskip Elementary School Principal Elisa Luna's condition from serious to stable.

WATE: Inskip principal can't move legs; will be transferred to Atlanta hospital

Why doesn't the school district have worker's compensation for certified employees? This would be a very good time for the KNS to do a story explaining this to the public.