Marbles as weapons????

Parent Cafe
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<p>My child is weirded out. She flew home with her team from a competition tonight, and, the process is that a charter bus picks them up at the airport, and drives them back to campus. Sometimes there’s a police escort for the bus, sometimes not. Tonight, not. </p>

<p>So they’re on the bus, coming through one of the more challenging neighborhoods enroute to campus, and, they hear a loud noise, like a gunshot. Except it wasn’t a gunshot, it was - well - a marble, if you can imagine. She told me that someone “shot” a marble at the bus window, which she explained is double-paned, and it destroyed the external pane of glass, and came through the second pane and somehow got sort of stuck in the glass (they could see it and that’s how they knew it was a marble). </p>

<p>The driver got out, checked out the outside of the bus to verify there was no damage anywhere else, got back in the bus and resumed driving. They traveled maybe five ten minutes, when, incredibly, the bus was “shot” again, with another marble, this time taking out both panes of a second window. These are very large windows (tour bus), and, this time, the driver called his dispatcher and asked for police escort/help, and the head coach called 911, but, the option was to pull over and wait for police, and the coach said no way was she going to hold a bus sitting with 30 athletes on board, so, she told the driver to continue to campus. The police then said there was nothing else they could do, as, with the bus continuing its way, there was no “crime scene” and therefore nothing for them to investigate. </p>

<p>He did so, and, incredibly, in another five minutes, the bus was “shot” again, but this time the marble lodged between the two window panes and didn’t completely destroy the glass. </p>

<p>The girls rode the rest of the way to campus on the floor of the bus, and apparently campus police met the bus when it arrived, and, anyway, I’m here for the weekend, so, she drove home from campus and told me all this. </p>

<p>We were going out to dinner tonight because it’s my birthday and we had this planned for a while, and she said she still wanted to go, so, we went, but, she’s soooooo not herself. For example she ran into the house to find me, and I could hear her calling “mommy” (not “mom”) from the driveway in a tone I didn’t like (fear?), and, anyway, she wasn’t comfortable even getting her suitcase etc. out of her car in our driveway, I had to walk outside with her to get it. She wanted me to turn on my car lights so that the driveway was illuminated before she would even do that. Then, she insisted on sitting facing the door of the restaurant, and she was very nervous walking back to my car afterwards - (“do you have the keys out mom?” and “what was that noise” and so on…) anyway, she’s just clearly not herself.</p>

<p>What has her so creeped out is that clearly the bus was being followed. She doesn’t think they were targeting athletes specifically but clearly they were targeting the bus - perhaps because the large windows (she tells me 4 x 6) of a tour bus are interesting targets? Who knows - anyway - who ever heard of using marbles as weapons? And I asked her, how does one “shoot” using marbles anyway? She told me air gun? sling shot? I’ve never heard of such a thing. How does one send a marble through a window from a distance? </p>

<p>Anyway, I hope this passes quickly and she’s less nervous tomorrow…I hope she doesn’t end up afraid for like weeks on end over this.</p>

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<p>LTS~</p>

<p>Oh, sweetie, I’m <em>so</em> sorry for this very frightening experience your D had on the bus!! I can totally understand why she was wigged out by that…many of us are on edge after the events at VT, and I’m sure many people are exhibiting a high level of caution right now. </p>

<p>I have never heard of marbles being utilized as weapons, but I can’t say I’m shocked. There’s always one more generally benign thing that can be misued for bad deeds. <em>sigh</em></p>

<p>I’m sure that your D will recover soon from her fear surrounding this scary experience. Her fear at this point is perfectly normal, but do talk to her and keep an eye to make sure that she begins to put things into perspective soon. {{{{{{{hugs to your precious D and to you too!}}}}}}}</p>

<p>Meanwhile, honey, </p>

<p>HAPPY BIRTHDAY LTS !!!</p>

<p>Hope your day was every bit as special as you are! :slight_smile: :smiley: :slight_smile: :smiley: :)</p>

<p>love, ~berurah</p>

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<p>I agree with Berurah. I think it’s a really normal and healthy reaction. Keep an eye out and try to make sure these new behaviors fade (except for any new changes that actually promote safety, such as getting keys out in the parking lot), and that she’s not continually and uncomfortably anxious. I suspect it will improve, particularly by talking to her other team members about it.</p>

<p>Finally, happy birthday! I hope you had a great one.</p>

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<p>As kids visiting our grandparents in Ohio, we used some pretty heavy duty slingshots and marbles for shooting cans and bottles. And slingshots are illegal in some states, so yes, they can be used in dangerous ways.</p>

<p>Mostly this makes me furious that some j<em>ck</em>ss would target and terrorize a bunch of kids on a bus. Someone definitely could have gotten hurt if it hadn’t been double-paned glass! Unfortunately the world is full of random jerks. Hope your D. feels better after some TLC and a good night’s sleep.</p>

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<p>One night driving home in my safe neighborhood, I heard a “shot” hit my car. I nearly hit the curb as my car swerved from my own jumping, and without skipping a beat I drove to the police department (my dad was a deputy sherrif, so he’s taught me well). I literally parked the car and without even looking at it hightailed it into the pd. An officer followed me out to the parking lot and we found a water balloon popped onto my rear passenger window. I felt sort of foolish at that moment, but I filed a report thinking that if a less experienced driver, or an older person were driving something terrible could have happened. </p>

<p>I remember doing stupid things as a kid, but never something as dangerous as throwing water balloons at passing cars in the dark, throwing rocks, or shooting marbles at them. People have really lost their minds.</p>

<p>Even after getting home safely I was shaken for a few days. It’s normal, I think. It is a shock to the system, and nerves are frayed. It’s good you were home and that she could get to you quickly.</p>

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<p>Sorry your D. had such a bad experience. It’s hard to be the victim of something like that and not have an inkling as to why. I think it’s much easier to accept things that are rational than not, even if the rational thing is objectively worse.</p>

<p>Is there any history of the neighbors complaining about tour busses coming through their area? (Sometimes busses damage older streets and even home foundations). That might shed some light on motive for the attack. Although what happened isn’t acceptable for any reason, knowing the answer to the question could shed some light on whether it’s a one-time deal or if there’s ongoing risk to be managed.</p>

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<p>Air guns can be built to shoot marbles. Also, paintball guns can shoot marbles. Stupid kids…</p>

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<p>Almost certainly a slingshot. Some models are incredibly high powered and can be pretty accurate in the hands of an experienced user. Of course, hitting the broad side of a bus might not be that challenging. I am very surprised the bus driver stopped and got out of the bus after the first hit. I am also very disappointed at the police nonresponse.</p>

<p>(weenie, paintball guns can shoot marbles? I guess that would be a possibility. I guess it also doesn’t really matter - either way it’s a very dangerous projectile)</p>

<p>well, here you go. This little news item from IL, but similar things I’m sure exist nationwide:

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<p>This morning she seems much, much better (but of course it’s daylight now, the sun is shining). I’m scheduled to get on a plane tomorrow and have meetings and stuff all week elsewhere, at first, I was thinking, I can reschedule my entire trip if need be, but then realized, nope, she’s an adult and she’ll exchange support with her teammates and peers. Last night she was very frightened but unless she exhibits some extraordinary inability (very doubtful) to cope I am going to fly out as scheduled.</p>

<p>She did want to talk about it though - but I think this was prompted by an email she received from the head coach saying that the president of the university called her this morning, and reassured her and asked her to communicate to the athletes that the campus police and the city police are “working together to resolve what happened”. D said that’s an improvement from last night, when the city police said “if you don’t stop the bus, pull over and wait for us to get there, there’s nothing we can do because there’s no crime scene if you keep driving”, and the campus police said “this didn’t happen on campus therefore there is nothing we can do”. </p>

<p>Honestly, I do not see how civil authorities can do anything anyway - it would have to be just simply impossible to find whoever did this, let alone gather proof. And D says “who in their right mind is going to pull over and wait for police when they’re being “shot at”?” - obviously, any rational person is going to get out of dodge as quickly as possible, especially when it happens three times in 15 minutes and it’s clear the target vehicle is being followed. </p>

<p>I had no idea marbles could/would be used this way - very odd. Conyat, I don’t know about the neighbors. There is a section of town coming out of the airport that is referred to as “little Havana”, but, I cannot imagine why anyone would object to this bus - this is a heavily congested area because of the proximity of the airport and so it’s hard to imagine that a bus attract much attention. I just don’t know. Weird…</p>

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<p>Berurah thanks for the bright, happy colors :slight_smile: - I wish I could say it was fun though. We are both so busy, we had planned this evening for weeks, and, just couldn’t really enjoy it because she was so nervous and uncomfortable and just, well, “weirded out”. Plus I was thinking I cannot get a plane and leave her all alone and frightened, so I was running through my mind the work involved in rescheduling an entire week’s worth of meetings and other commitments and moving my flights etc. </p>

<p>But at least we did get out and have some time to talk, so, I’m grateful for that and that it was not a lot worse. </p>

<p>I do give credit to the head coach though - she was apparently very calm, level headed, reassuring, not at all excited or stressed, although D said she did get very, very frustrated and annoyed with the 911 dispatcher and the lack of police response. D said the head coach “does not have stress reactions - to anything, ever”. I guess that’s a good thing…</p>

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<p>NJres, how horrible, what possible pleasure do people get from doing that? </p>

<p>Do we now have to see about making marbles a controlled commodity? Bizarre…</p>

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<p>NJers: My son’s friends who play a lot of paintball (son says “it’s stupid”) claim you can, but that it wrecks the guns.</p>

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<p>I think almost anything can be used as a projectile if it will fit in the barrel of a weapon, although round things work better. When my brother came home from boot camp, he made a tennis ball cannon that could shoot all the way across the bayou. (Part of their training is making impromptu weapons).</p>

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<p>At DD’s school, they are not allowed to bring anything sharp. DD got caught with a safety pin. Automatic Saturday detention and 5 demerits.</p>

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<p>In this case, probably so. When I was in high school, the band bus got pelted by rocks one time after a tense game. The band director made us all crouch down like your D’s team and police cars came to escort us out of the stadium grounds.</p>

<p>But the director stayed sitting up, one arm non-chalantly over the top of the seat, casually looking out the window like always…or so it seemed. I remember thinking at the time that he was foolhardy, but now I understand what he was doing.</p>

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<p>I thought this was going to be a thread about a kid bringing marbles to school and getting detention because they COULD be used as a weapon. This is much creepier!</p>