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Dallas’ El Centro College—When a Sniper Cancels Finals

The Dallas County Community College District hopes to be open Monday after finals were canceled Friday due to a sniper.

A district official says he’s just glad preparation paid off when the unexpected happened.

“One of the things I’m really proud of is the investment in security and safety: upgrading our police officers and putting in place protocols and practices, expanding the training for our officers,” DCCD chancellor Joe May told the Dallas News. “What we really saw happening is that training kick in when the events began to unfold, because this is obviously something they couldn’t have planned for when they got dressed and went to work last night.”

And you thought it was all just about education.

Sometimes it’s about protecting the people who are seeking it.

In a modern age that resembles more of the wild west with open carry laws and random acts of violence and terror, from K-12 and beyond, security is a bigger issue than ever before.

On Thursday night, there were still five college classes and a number of continuing ed classes still in session when the campus was under siege by Micah Xavier Johnson.

The 25-year-old Johnson is believed to be the lone gunman in the attack that killed 5 police officers in Dallas after a Black Lives Matter/Community Rally finished up adjacent to the campus.

No students or staff members were hurt, according to the district.

El Centro president Jose Adames said the sniper shot out the locked glass doors at El Centro and proceeded to the second floor of Building C, on the west side of the complex, at the corner of Elm and Market streets, according to the Dallas News.  This differed from reports that the shots came from a nearby parking garage.

“We understand that the damage was to our C building there, which we’ve been told perhaps that’s the building where the individual who’s a suspect may have been,” May told the News.

The garage is where police ultimately cornered the suspect who was killed by a bomb-implanted robot.

Emil Guillermo is a veteran journalist and commentator. He blogs at www.aaldef.org/blog.

Click here, Dr. Jose Adames, President of El Centro College,  speaks to Dallas’ News 8.

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