Tragedy Averted at Ohio School

Incident:
A story on the show All Things Considered on National Public Radio (NPR) caught my attention recently. It was an interview with Jeff Lyons, an assistant principal at a high school in Willoughby, Ohio who did the unthinkable -- he went toward the sound of gunshots when a student started firing a gun in his school. And by all accounts, what he did next helped stop a much larger tragedy. By talking with the boy, and sharing some of his own life challenges, he was able to convince the boy to surrender his weapon.

Analysis:
The assistant principal, Jeff Lyons, and the school principal, Paul Lombardo, took a few key steps that were critical to resolving this situation - where a student was already firing a weapon in school - without anyone getting hurt. First, Lyons said that he and Lombardo recognized that the boy was likely very troubled, and said that their 'gut' told him that the boy didn't want to hurt anyone else but probably wanted to hurt or kill himself. So they started to engage the boy in conversation. They heard from the boy that he thought life was going to be terrible for him from this point forward. The next important step Lyons and Lombardo took was to tell the boy that they cared about him and wanted to help him. Finally, when the boy put the gun to his own head, Lyons told the boy a story from his own life about a close friend who committed suicide shortly after high school, and what a tragedy that was for everyone. The boy listened, and then eventually surrendered his the gun to Lyons and Lombardo, who then walked the boy out to the police.

The efforts that Assistant Principal Lyons and Principal Lombardo took to engage this boy, and of try to establish a collaborative or cooperative relationship with him, demonstrate the power of engagement to prevent harm. Rather than confrontation, they chose cooperation - which resulted in everyone staying safe and the boy geting help. Although these men used this technique in a crisis situation, it is no less powerful in interacting with someone who has threatened or shown other concerning behavior in school, on campus, or in the workplace. Often, just having someone listen to them can defuse a potentially-violent individual.

Click here to listen to a recording of the story on NPR, or click here to read a brief description and order a transcript.