Compassion and Empathy Thwart School Shooter

August 20, 2013, school clerk Antoinette Tuff was at her job at a Suburban Atlanta elementary school of 800 students. She was only temporarily filling in at the front office, when an agitated 20 year old man carrying an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition came in threatening to open fire. Now you may not remember this story because it only made news for about a day or two. There were no deaths, there was no community in mourning, no reporters camping out for the funerals a week later, and there was no shooter turning the gun on himself or a good guy with a gun finishing the suspect off. There was, however, Antoinette Tuff, the 46 year old school clerk there , using calm words, empathy and compassion --- while most of the time, having an open line to the 911 operator…and truly being in the line of fire. In part, what Antoinette Tuff employed was a kind of nonviolent communication that we’ve covered before on PEACE TALKS RADIO. We go back into our archive to re-visit one of those conversations with NVC expert Jorge Rubio.