The third day of the siege would prove to be the “final act.” The hostages, those who could sleep, had slept and woken still hungry and thirsty. Due to the heat and dehydration, reportedly some of the hostages – the younger children – weren’t waking up at all.
As a gesture of good faith… a sign of their willingness to work with negotiators and to indicate that they actually cared about the welfare of “the people,” the hostage takers gave permission for the bodies outside the school to be removed. Due to their previous actions and statements, this permission had to be taken as a potential trap to get more responders exposed where they could be killed as well. It was well into the afternoon – reportedly after 1300 hours local time – before four paramedics were permitted to approach the school to begin removing the bodies.
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The remainder of this article is part of the book "Active Killers and the Crimes They Perpetrated," available in print or ebook via Amazon.
Joshua Borelli
Joshua Borelli has been studying active shooter and mass attack events over the course of the past several years, commensurate with receiving training on response and recovery to natural disasters and civil disturbances. Joshua started to outline this series of articles in an attempt to identify commonalities and logistical needs patterns for response.
