00:00:01
Jake Bullington: I've always been a jumpy
person, even before this, where loud noises,
00:00:05
sudden noises, just make me jump out of my
skin, but especially that, where it's deathly
00:00:13
silent and then all of a sudden there's glass
falling next to us. That was a very, very loud noise.
00:00:21
That really just, I think, everyone was too
scared to scream, but it was definitely people
00:00:26
... shifted in their seats quite a bit, as
far as being scared quite a bit. Phoebe Judge: This is Jake Bullington.
00:00:34
Back in 2010, he was an eighth grader at Hastings
Middle School in Hastings, Minnesota.
00:00:40
He was in math class on a Monday morning when
the principal came on the loudspeaker and
00:00:45
announced that the school was going into lockdown. He and his classmates assumed it was a drill.
00:00:52
They had drills all the time. His teacher locked the classroom door, turned
off the lights and told the students to hide
00:00:58
in the corner. Jake Bullington: And that's where I was like,
"Oh, here we go. Another one of these darn state-regulated
lockdown drills."
00:01:07
We would usually giggle and whisper to each
other. And the teacher would be like, "Hey, shut
up."
00:01:12
And then that would be the end of it. It would be 10 minutes would go by. All the principals would walk around and check
all the doors and make
00:01:18
sure they're all locked. And then, that would be the end of it. It would probably take 10, 15 minutes total,
and then we'd go right back to class.
00:01:27
Phoebe Judge: But there was something about
the way that his teacher was acting that made
00:01:31
Jake think something might be really wrong. Jake Bullington: It was almost like, I think
it was like a paralytic kind of fear in her
00:01:37
eyes that just looked like, I knew that this
was not ordinary behavior from a math teacher
00:01:43
to be doing. I thought maybe someone had done something
offensive that had made her angry or something,
00:01:51
but moving with motivation towards the door. Once she turned around from closing the door,
I knew there was a sense of panic that had
00:02:02
set over the classroom. Phoebe Judge: Jake's teacher told the class
that this drill was going to be different
00:02:07
than other drills. She kept calling it an 'enhanced lockdown
drill.' Jake Bullington: She said something along
the lines of, "They're going to start coming
00:02:16
around, banging on the windows and trying
the locks and everything. And they're going to really test the durability
of the doors and the windows."
00:02:24
As to explain why someone might be trying
to break the glass or trying to break in the
00:02:29
door. Because I think she knew, at the time, that
there was someone in the building with a gun.
00:02:35
Phoebe Judge: There was someone in the building
with a gun, a gun that would end up malfunctioning.
00:02:43
This is a look at the minutes and hours inside
a school where someone with a gun was running
00:02:48
loose, and the impact that day continues to
have on a student who had no idea that gun
00:02:54
wouldn't fire. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. Jake Bullington: We were sitting there for
a very long time, but when we started to hear
00:03:09
people running through the hallways and loud
voices and yelling outside in the distance,
00:03:17
I think that's when it became even more real
and very frightening. And we were using textbooks to just hug, I
guess.
00:03:30
And maybe, who knows what that could, it was,
like, to stop a bullet or something.
00:03:36
Even when I was in eighth grade, school shootings
were not something that was unheard of in
00:03:40
America. So I think we had heard about this type of
thing on the news. And were trying to imagine ourselves in this
position.
00:03:47
Phoebe Judge: Where was your teacher sitting
or hiding? Jake Bullington: She was sitting behind all
of us, up in a desk.
00:03:55
She wasn't properly hiding. And I remember, I'd keep looking back at her
like as if she's crazy, because she's not
00:04:02
hiding as much as we are. She was just sitting there, watching. When I knew that there was someone in the
hallway trying to cause me harm, I guess,
00:04:12
is the way I'll put it, was when he used the
butt of his revolver to try to smash the glass
00:04:20
out of the door, to unlock the door from the
inside. That's when — Phoebe Judge: Yeah, take me through that a
little more.
00:04:30
It's quiet for a long time, and then you start
hearing things in the hallway. What kinds of things are you hearing?
00:04:36
Jake Bullington: Like I said, people running
through the hallways, someone angrily yelling,
00:04:43
and then eventually, I heard someone try the
door knob, try to kick the door. And then eventually, someone hitting the glass
really, really hard.
00:04:54
And it never got to the point where glass
was really, really falling, because it was
00:04:58
the security glass where it has those small
metal bars within the glass. But there was definitely some glass dust,
I guess I could say, that fell to the ground
00:05:09
near me because I was in such close proximity. And some of my classmates were in such close
proximity to that door.
00:05:15
Emma Oelkers: You are looking at this door,
and there's glass everywhere. The guy had broken this glass window that's
in the door.
00:05:21
So we're like, "Oh my god, someone's going
to try and get into the room." Phoebe Judge: This is Emma Oelkers.
00:05:31
She was in the classroom with Jake that day. Emma Oelkers: And our teacher held up this
piece of paper on a notebook, whatever, saying
00:05:36
"Maybe they're testing the windows." And then at that point, I think we're like,
"What is she thinking?
00:05:45
That's going to cost the school a lot of money. They're not testing the windows."
00:05:50
Jake Bullington: She said that a few times. "Don't worry, they're just testing it.
00:05:56
This is OK. I knew about this ahead of time," kind of
things, where it's like, I knew that was crap,
00:06:03
but I think I believed it at the time because
I wanted to believe that I was safer than
00:06:11
I was. Mark Zuzek: My name is Mark Zuzek. I'm in my 18th year as principal. I started here in 1998.
00:06:32
I grew up one block away from the campus that
I'm principal at, so this community means
00:06:43
a lot to me. Phoebe Judge: Here's what Principal Zuzek
learned. Around 10 a.m., a student walked into a science
class and pulled out a loaded .22-caliber
00:06:53
handgun. He told everyone to get on the ground. His science teacher said, "Let's stay calm.
00:07:00
What can I do? And how can I help you?" And that worked. The student left the classroom, and the science
teacher initiated the school's lockdown procedure.
00:07:09
Mark Zuzek: We called 9-1-1. And on this really nice day in April, we locked
the building down, and we were looking for
00:07:21
the student. Phoebe Judge: The student walked through the
hallways trying to get into other classrooms,
00:07:26
breaking windows in the process. But most of the doors were already locked. At one point, he encountered school staff
in the hallway, pointed his gun at them and
00:07:36
said, "Bang." One staff member told police that he'd heard
a click and believed that the student had
00:07:43
pulled the gun's trigger, but no bullets came
out. Mark Zuzek: Ultimately, the police did encounter
the youngster — encountered him really,
00:07:55
as he was running out of the building. He knew that the police were en route, and
he exited the building.
00:08:03
And he was taken into custody, largely without
incident. As he left the building, there was a squad
car sitting right there.
00:08:12
There were police waiting for him to leave
the building through any opening. And he was taken into custody.
00:08:20
Phoebe Judge: The student was 14 years old,
an eighth grader. Emma says she sort of knew who he was, and
Jake didn't know him at all.
00:08:28
Principal Zuzek didn't want to discuss anything
specific about him, but newspapers reported
00:08:33
that he was relatively new to the school and
had told police he'd felt bullied. The next step was to check inside every single
classroom and make sure there were no other
00:08:43
suspects or weapons. Mark Zuzek: And one of the most interesting
moments of the day was when I was with an
00:08:52
officer and we entered a room, and we made
sure that everybody in the room was OK and
00:08:58
that everybody was safe. And this kiddo from the back said, "Hey dad." And it was the police officer's son.
00:09:10
And the emergency responders responded with
such grace and dignity and professionalism.
00:09:20
But to remember that they, too, have children
in these schools was just remarkable to me.
00:09:27
Phoebe Judge: Finally, after hours in lockdown,
the middle school students were let out of
00:09:32
their classrooms. No one had been hurt. Mark Zuzek: In the immediate aftermath, meaning
that day, as odd as it seems, you also have
00:09:42
to think about really pragmatic things. For instance, at the time, we had 1,350 kids,
and they hadn't eaten lunch yet.
00:09:54
And they've been locked down, and now it's
12:40, 12:45. And how is it that we're going to get all
of those kids through the cafeteria and get
00:10:04
them fed? Emma Oelkers: I remember the door opening. And then we got released to go down to lunch.
00:10:12
Phoebe Judge: I mean, who would want to eat? Emma Oelkers: Right. And that's the thing.
00:10:18
I remember going into the lunch room, and
everyone's just sitting there. People aren't really eating.
00:10:24
Some people are, depending on what classroom
you were in, and you look over and there are
00:10:29
some people who are hysterically sobbing. There are some people who are just going about
their day.
00:10:35
Phoebe Judge: Terrified parents were showing
up and taking their kids home immediately.
00:10:40
Jake says he distinctly remembers texting
his mom on his flip phone — text messages
00:10:44
cost 15 cents each — and that she came to
get him. After every student had gone home safely,
Principal Zuzek and his staff got together
00:10:53
and made a plan. Mark Zuzek: We had a staff meeting where we
went through the incident and what we knew
00:10:59
of our continued care plan that would start
right away that next morning. Then we really relied
heavily on parents to let us know if their
00:11:09
kiddo was still struggling. We talked about how natural it is that kids
will regress.
00:11:17
For instance, there are kids that, because
of this trauma, did not feel comfortable sleeping
00:11:23
alone. And so, they wanted a parent to sleep in their
room or they wanted to sleep on the floor
00:11:27
in their parents' room. There were kids that it would be three weeks
later and somebody would drop a plate, and
00:11:35
they would hear that crash on the floor, and
it would be a trigger for the kiddo.
00:11:39
And so, keeping our ear to the ground and
really trusting the judgment of parents and
00:11:44
helping kids during the day to deal with whatever's
on their mind, it was really the good work
00:11:53
that our staff continued to do. Phoebe Judge: In spite of that, one of the
most disconcerting things about the story
00:12:00
is that both Jake and Emma say that almost
immediately, their classmates just stopped
00:12:06
talking about it. Emma Oelkers: No one talked about it. It wasn't something that people talked about.
00:12:10
Jake Bullington: Yeah. I think a big part of that was that was something
that our class, as that grade decided, kind
00:12:21
of an unspoken rule of thumb, is to just not
bring that up. I don't think I ever heard someone talk about
it, of all of high school.
00:12:30
Phoebe Judge: That's totally surreal. I mean, that it would happen and then be this
understood pact between eighth graders that
00:12:43
they were just going to move on. Jake Bullington: Yeah. I mean, thinking back on it now, it struck
me, too, how quickly classes resumed and how
00:12:52
quickly everyone just agreed that that was,
"Well, that was crazy. All right, now what's next chapter in math?"
00:13:00
So I think a lot of it was just willfully
ignoring the fact that that had just happened
00:13:05
to us and a lot of repressed emotions and
repressed memories. Phoebe Judge: I wonder if it feels like you
couldn't talk about it or make a big deal
00:13:15
about it ... because no one got hurt, I mean,
no one got shot. And so, it's like, ‘What's the big deal?
00:13:24
We were all OK.’ Jake Bullington: Right. Phoebe Judge: And that means that you can't...
00:13:27
‘Man up. It's not that big of a deal.’ Jake Bullington: Right. I think definitely the man up thing was very
present and exactly that, everyone was fine.
00:13:36
So there was no motivation to talk about anything
because of the fact that no one had been injured.
00:13:46
It was just kind of, ‘All right, well, it's
fine. Let's move on.’ Phoebe Judge: We wondered what Principal Zuzek
thought about this, about what Jake and Emma
00:13:59
said. It's not a criticism in any way, or even a
conversation about the type of counseling
00:14:06
that was available for the kids. I guess, it's rather just a question about
the fact that for these children, for these
00:14:14
students, who had grown up knowing about Columbine,
that they felt like they didn't have
00:14:21
a right to talk about their trauma. Right? Because 'no one got shot at our school.'
00:14:27
I'm just thinking about that a little bit,
not that the resources weren't there, but
00:14:32
even if the resources were there, 'Hey, keep
your mouth shut. Everyone's seemingly OK.'
00:14:37
Mark Zuzek: Yeah. I could imagine that that might've been the
case. I think one of the important messages at that
time, and I deeply feel this now, everybody
00:14:53
has a right to their own feelings. And I think it's important that we not judge
other people's feelings.
00:15:04
What I would be curious about is, how could
we help kids to not judge their own feelings
00:15:12
if they themselves were feeling that they
shouldn't still be, let's say that it's three
00:15:21
months from now, 'Well, I still shouldn't
be struggling with this. I should have moved on.
00:15:27
I should be OK with this by now.' Those are hard feelings to deal with because
frankly, I don't even know how we would know
00:15:39
that kids were feeling that way. Phoebe Judge: The student told police that
he'd taken the gun from his house, where it
00:15:58
was in a locked cabinet. He found the key. Police eventually recovered three bullets
from the school.
00:16:05
The bullets were .22-caliber bullets, but
they were long bullets, the kind you'd use
00:16:10
in a rifle, and didn't fit properly in the
gun. He was charged with five felonies: three counts
of assault, one count of terroristic threats
00:16:20
and one count of criminal damage to property. Mark Zuzek: It must be apparent to everybody
that you can't bring a gun to school and brandish
00:16:31
that weapon and threaten other people. And because the perpetrator in this case was
a juvenile, the child had consequences legally.
00:16:46
And we still have the responsibility to care
for and educate and care about the child.
00:16:53
Phoebe Judge: He was tried as a juvenile and
placed in a long-term program at a juvenile
00:16:58
detention center. Jake Bullington is 20 now and a sophomore
at Drake University in Iowa.
00:17:05
In December, he wrote an essay called, "Yeah,
I'm Afraid of Guns." Jake Bullington: You know, the second semester
here, a new semester just started here at
00:17:13
Drake, and I've walked into new classrooms. And I was reflecting on this, just how easy
it would be for someone, just like what happened
00:17:25
in eighth grade, to happen again right here
in my school. And so, I think it's struck a certain level
of paranoia.
00:17:31
I mean, it's not always on the mind, but it
definitely has its moments where it's just
00:17:36
like, 'Wow, this could really happen. And every single one of us in this classroom
could die.'
00:17:40
It's just a little inkling in my mind that
just keeps coming back when I walk into a
00:17:45
classroom, just even for a split second. I think that's a huge impact that I don't
think me or any of my classmates really deserve.
00:17:56
[Melancholic, shimmery music.] Phoebe Judge: Criminal is produced by Lauren
Spohrer and me.
00:18:15
Audio mix by Rob Byers. Special thanks to Alice Wilder, Chelsea Korynta
and Russ Henry.
00:18:21
Julienne Alexander makes original illustrations
for each episode of Criminal. You can see them at thisiscriminal.com, where
we also have a link to Jake's essay.
00:18:31
\
Criminal is recorded in the studios of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. We're a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX,
a collective of the 13 best podcasts around.
00:18:43
Radiotopia from PRX is supported by the Knight
Foundation and MailChimp, celebrating creativity,
00:18:49
chaos, and teamwork. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. Jingle: Radiotopia. From PRX.