Armed man arrested at Burlington school.

            September 15th, 2009 was a very frightening and eye opening day for the students and staff of a Burlington public school. The Halton Board of Education was forced to close down Brant Hills Public school, that has students ranging from kindegarten to the 8th grade, after a mysterious man with an loaded shot-gun was found lurking around the school at 2 A.M. The man was arrested shortly after he exited the school out of the main entrance just after 2:30 A.M. The police immediately took the man into custody and proceeded into the school to conduct a thorough search of the building and its surrounding areas. They are still in the process of searching through the school in an attempt to find anything dangerous or helpful for the investigation process. The police were first notified of the situation when they recieved a notice from the school security company that the alarm for the school has been set. There was also a lone security guard who discovered a broken window, which was the point of entrance for the strange man, and he saw a man with what looked like a weapon  running throuhg the schools hallways. Chief police man was quoted in saying "he did a good job, confirming that no one else was in the buliding", in regards to the security guard. The man was caught after a short foot race that took place after the police confronted him and he failed to reply. He luckily didn't fire a shot from his loaded shotgun, and no one was hurt. The police believe he was scouring the school for things such as laptops, computers, and any other valubales. They have not yet released the identity of this man due to several legal reasons. This day will be rembered every day by the students and staff of this school, and they will remember this world isn' at safe as they once thought.

               I feel that this story is important to this class and my age group for a number of reasons. The first being that most students think of a school as a safe haven, but we all need to realize that in our society today their is danger eveywhere and we must be aware. We students need to realize that not everyone in the world thinks like us. Some people might stoop down to a level as low and shooting an innocent student so they can steal a computer. I also feel that this article is important because it stesses the importance for added security around schools, not only in this area but everywhere in the country. When you think about the facts the #1 source of child obductions and child abuse related crimes, happen within 200 meters of their school. With the modern age emerging in the school systems there will be more valuable things located in a school, such as computers and smartboards, making it a more worthwhile target for thieves. The final reason I believe this article is important is because it also shows the flaws in the ownership of a firearm situation. Men like this should never be able to own a gun, and this situation should be taken into consideration. Overall, i think this was a very eye-opening article and shows us how dangerous a serine place like a school could be.

            Dylan Hussey