“God blocked the bullet” says Florida School Superintendent – Examiner.com
Panama City Florida school board meetings are usually pretty routine affairs but that wasn’t the case Tuesday night when Clay A. Duke, a 56-year old ex-con who had been diagnosed in prison with “adult-onset bipolar condition,” confronted boardmembers with a loaded gun. Bay City Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt tried to talk him into putting the gun down.
It didn’t work. Duke pointed the gun at Husfelt and fired from no more than 15 feet away.
“I was very confident that I was going to get shot,” Husfelt said today on ABC’s “Good Morning America. “I wasn’t pulling for it, but I was ready if that was going to happen.”
“I knew where I would go if I were to pass away,” the school superintendent added. “I was very prepared for that.”
The bullet missed and Husfelt dove under the table. Duke, who appeared to be quite calm, fired another round, this time into the floor.
At this point, security guard Mike Jones entered the room and fired once, striking Duke in the leg. The gunman staggered then fired three more shots at other board members before falling to the ground. Though the range was even shorter than it had been when the pistol was aimed at Husfelt, no one was struck by a bullet. On the ground now, Duke turned the 9 mm handgun on himself. This time he didn’t miss. He died.
“He was pointing right at me,” Husfelt recalled on CBS’ “The Early Show.” “God blocked the bullet. I really believe that.” -From AOL News
Duke was reportedly upset about a tax increase and claimed his wife was fired by the school district, although police haven’t commented on a motive.
“I think it’s just safe to say at this point that obviously Mr. Duke had some mental health issues,” Panama City Deputy Police Chief Robert Colbert said at a news conference.
The entire incident was captured on a live feed camera in the meeting room. A CNN video release of it can be found in the left column of this article. Other reports on the gunfight can be found here and here.
It is impossible to know what was going on in the shooter’s mind; whether he was actually trying to hit anyone else or was just looking for a “suicide by cop” (a term used when a suicidal individual deliberately acts in a threatening way with the goal of provoking a lethal response from police). It’s the claim that “God blocked the bullet” that interests me. We hear that claim of divine protection from survivors of a lot of disasters. The only problem is that we never hear from those who don’t survive, however good and devout or deserving they may have been in life. It’s a conundrum that people, at least those who actually think about such claims, have been aware of for a long time.
Jennifer Michael Hecht, a poet and historian whose work often appears in The New Yorker, The New Republic, etc. , describes one of these early skeptics:
The poet Diagoras of Melos was perhaps the most famous atheist of the fifth century. Although he did not write about atheism, anecdotes about his unbelief suggest he was self-confident, almost teasing, and very public. He revealed the secret rituals of the Eleusinian mystery religion to everyone and “thus made them ordinary,” that is, he purposefully demystified a cherished secret rite, apparently to provoke his contemporaries into thought. In another famous story, a friend pointed out an expensive display of votive gifts and said, “You think the gods have no care for man? Why, you can see from all these votive pictures here how many people have escaped the fury of storms at sea by praying to the gods who have brought them safe to harbor.” To which Diagoras replied, “Yes, indeed, but where are the pictures of all those who suffered shipwreck and perished in the waves?” A good question. Diagoras was indicted for profaning the mysteries, but escaped. A search was out for him throughout the Athenian empire, which indicated that the charges were serious, but he was not found.
Perhaps the Gods were protecting him too?
Via: “God blocked the bullet” says Florida School Superintendant – Los Angeles atheism | Examiner.com.
