Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff

Breaking news on Tuesday morning looked bad as a 17-year-old student gunman opened fire on class mates at Great Mills High School in injuring two students, then an armed school resource officer stepped up and shot the assailant who later died at a local hospital.

This outcome is far different from five weeks ago as 14 students and three adults were shot to death on Valentine’s Day at Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, as multiple police officers took cover outside the building, as the gunman dropped his AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and fled the building along with other fleeing students. He was later tracked down, arrested and subsequently charged with 17-counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the 19-year-old shooter.

In the Maryland shooting a 16-year-old girl remains in critical condition while a 14-year-old boy is in good condition, according to police and news reports. The shooter used a handgun, but had the shooting continued it surely would have been much worse.

In a Tuesday news conference, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan praised the officer’s quick action, “While it’s still tragic, he may have saved other people’s lives.” President Donald Trump also praised the officer’s courage.

A ‘school resource officer’ is a nice name for a specially-trained-armed police officer assigned to a problem school to protect students, teachers and staff from outside and inside threats. These officers carefully observe everything going on around them constantly aware that a threat may appear in a moment’s notice without warning. Ideally, they also act as mentors and role models for the student body. Over time they build trust with students and often become involved with discipline, finding drugs or weapons on campus and accepting tips from students about other students. It’s the officer’s responsibility to follow up on these tips, those officers that don’t are violating the very purpose for their presence.

In this day and age every school – public or private – is a problem school, because schools have become targets — right along with shopping malls, theaters, sporting events or anywhere people congregate — for the disgruntled, the forgotten, the unforgiven, the forlorn, the bullied and the mentally ill – young and old – to strike back.

Let’s not forget that Great Mills student walked right into his school carrying a loaded handgun, probably in a back pack, and two students were shot at school, and the young shooter is dead. There were no front entrance metal detectors like at airports, government buildings and court houses. In his words Gov. Hogan stressed the need for greater school security measures and funding them.

“We need more than prayers,” Hogan said.

There sure is a world of difference between the Florida and Maryland high school shootings and one brave officer made that difference. He did what he was trained to do. He could have died trying, but the shooter died instead. The young man’s motive is unknown and this school shooting remains under investigation.

Then, the USA woke up early Wednesday to more breaking news that the Austin, Texas serial bomber had blown himself up in his car as a police SWAT team moved in on him. On March 2 the first bomb went off, then five or six more at random locations around Austin, claiming two lives and injuring many more.

These domestic terrorist bombings paralyzed this state capitol for almost three weeks much like the Washington, DC sniper attacks of October 2002 in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia that claimed 10 lives in three weeks.

The motive of the 23–year-old suspected Austin bomber is unknown as this investigation is far from over. But what is known is that today’s world is becoming more and more violent as gun laws are debated, as mental health issues come to the forefront and the nation further confronts it’s opioid drug overdose problems.

Mainstream media has been all over the Austin bombing, but not so much with the Great Mills High School shooting and the lessons learned that day. Instead, mainstream media’s lead stories for Wednesday morning centered on the Austin bombing, another ‘nor’ easter’ snowstorm and three women claiming to be former girlfriends of President Trump who are throwing around accusations about alleged affairs or sexual misconduct that occurred years ago – a former Playboy playmate, a former porn star and a former reality TV participant in Trump’s TV show “The Apprentice” – gold diggers all.

If it’s an anti-Trump “fake news” story mainstream media is consumed over it. But a high school shooting where a good-guy cop with a gun stopped a bad guy with a gun is just not news worthy.

No candle light vigils were held at Great Mills, no student protest walkouts and no nationally ‘staged’ televised CNN Town Hall meeting like after Parkland. A 16-year-old girl is fighting for her life in a Maryland hospital with her family at bedside and not at the funeral home – so thank you officer for your training, your service and your bravery.

About the Author Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.