By Chad D. Baus

In the words of Columbus Dispatch reporter Martin Rozenman (mrozenman@dispatch.com), a home invasion "went wrong" the day after Christmas when the intended victim fought back, shooting one of his attackers and inflicting what Columbus Police Sgt. Eric Pilya said were life-threatening wounds.

By Chad D. Baus

Amidst continued reverberations from the worst campus shooting in our nation's history at Virginia Tech in 2007 came news of yet another shooting on a "no-guns" Virginia campus earlier this month.

According to news reports, as 20 year-old James Michael Hamilton stood at the entrance to his math classroom with a long black canvas bag at his side, oblivious classmates filed into a classroom, apparently giving nary a thought to what was in the bag, or why Hamilton had suddenly decided to reappear at the class after having been absent for several weeks.

Although at least one student reportedly questioned Hamilton about what he was doing, ("I'm waiting for her", came the ominous answer), there are no reports of any students deciding not to enter the class, or calling 911 to report his suspicious behavior. Even the teacher apparently passed Hamilton and entered the classroom without pause.

Just as class was about to get underway, Hamilton stood in the doorway, drew a Marlin bolt action hunting rifle chambered in 30.06 from the black canvas bag, and fired a round at his teacher. As he cycled the action, news reports say the teacher instructed students to "run" (it isn't clear where the teacher expected the defenseless students to go, since Hamilton was blocking the door, and dove underneath her desk. He entered the room and, standing just five feet from the teacher, fired again.

Perhaps the only reason "James Michael Hamilton" is not a household name today is because of what happened next...