Report: Las Vegas professor shot himself in arm to protest Trump
A longtime College of Southern Nevada sociology professor is facing felony gun charges in connection with an on-campus shooting on the second day of classes.
Mark J. Bird was charged last month with discharging a gun within a prohibited structure, carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and possessing a dangerous weapon on school property, court records show. He was found bleeding from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his arm about 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 28 outside a bathroom in the Charleston campus K building.
Inside the bathroom, campus police found a $100 bill taped to a mirror along with a note that said, “For the janitor,” according to Bird’s arrest report. On the floor of the restroom was a black-and-white, .22-caliber pistol and one spent shell casing.
The sociology professor was hired Aug. 26, 1993, and was an emeritus faculty member at the time of the shooting, college spokesman Richard Lake said. Bird was not scheduled to teach any courses during the fall 2018 semester.
Bird was employed with the college as of Tuesday, although Lake said it was not clear what disciplinary actions, if any, would be taken against him.
A 911 call was made after several CSN employees and at least one student saw Bird stumble out of the bathroom, bleeding, before he collapsed, the report said. None of the witnesses — who later told police they only recalled hearing “a loud noise” — initially knew that Bird was armed and had shot himself, according to the report.
One college employee told police that he held Bird’s hand to calm him down as others tried to stop the bleeding. While waiting for authorities to arrive, Bird said he had shot himself in protest of President Donald Trump, police noted in their report. The report did not elaborate.
A campus-wide alert was sent about 9 a.m. the day of the shooting, deeming the scene safe and alerting students that the firearm had been recovered. Except for a short mention in the lengthy September edition of “The Chronicle,” the college president’s monthly newsletter emailed to staff, the college did not disclose any more details about the shooting.
The brief update was at the bottom of the newsletter and did not name Bird as the suspect. Federico Zaragoza, who in August was named the college’s ninth president, wrote at the end of his newsletter, “I appreciate all of the expressions of concern and interest, and I pledge to keep everyone updated should the situation change.”
On Tuesday, Robert Manis, president of the college’s faculty union, Nevada Faculty Alliance, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he has heard a number of rumors about the shooting in the last two weeks. He expressed concerns about the way the college handled the shooting and about its lack of transparency afterward.
“They never really told the students much about it except that it was resolved on the actual day of the shooting,” he said. “When you don’t give the full details, then rumors go crazy. It’s unfortunate because it made the students and faculty very afraid and allowed rumors to proliferate.”
Lake declined to comment further Tuesday, but he noted that college officials met with faculty and staff immediately after the shooting to provide support and to take suggestions.
Bird’s preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 17 in Las Vegas Justice Court.
An excellent example of Trump Derangement Syndrome, with the added bonus for the hoplophobes of adding another "school shooting" to the 4,000 they've claimed have already happened this week.
quote:
Originally posted by Will938: If you don't become a screen writer for comedy movies, then you're an asshole.
Posts: 17138 | Location: Washington State | Registered: April 04, 2003
Originally posted by DrDan: We need to make this a challenge on YouTube, like the ice bucket challenge, etc. But, we should encourage shots to the temple, not the arm.
Leftism could become a problem that solves itself!
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." -- Justice Janice Rogers Brown
"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth." -rduckwor
Posts: 24752 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: April 03, 2009
Protest? Or a hastily-constructed cover for a negligent discharge?
Kind of a strange "protest" to conduct alone, in the bathroom. Story even says none of the witnesses intially knew he was carrying a gun.
Much more likely that this was a negligent discharge on top of illegally carrying a firearm in a restricted area. How to cover for oneself under such dubious circumstances: blame Trump, of course.
One of the problems with tenure is it's difficult to get rid of professors that go bonkers. Shooting oneself in the arm to protest Donald Trump (or anything else, for that matter) should qualify one as being bonkers, right?
***
"Aut viam inveniam aut faciam (I will either find a way or make one)." -- Hannibal Barca
Posts: 2185 | Location: Georgia | Registered: July 19, 2008
__________________________ "Sooner or later, wherever people go, there's the law. And sooner or later, they find out that God's already been there." -- John Wayne as Chisum
Posts: 638 | Location: Kentucky | Registered: September 20, 2006
Might I suggest a larger round and better aim next time. Other than that, mental illness is indeed the cornerstone of modern liberalism.
----------------------------- Guns are awesome because they shoot solid lead freedom. Every man should have several guns. And several dogs, because a man with a cat is a woman. Kurt Schlichter
Maybe I'm full of it, but I could swear this is just an idiot who "wanted to see what it was like to be shot" and gave the first responders the first explanation he could make up.
Posts: 27306 | Location: Deep in the heart of the brush country, and closing on that #&*%!?! roadrunner. Really. | Registered: February 05, 2008
