Dr. Nancy Blackwelder There are two kinds of Administrators. Those who have had a crisis.... And those who will.

“A School Day Horror”

 By Dr. Nancy Blackwelder

 ABOUT THE BOOK

            On Thursday, February 11, 1988, during the lunchtime chaos at a suburban high school in Florida, Assistant Principal Nancy Blackwelder was shot, point blank, by an enraged student wielding a stolen 38-caliber police revolver.  It started with a tip that a student had brought a gun to school; it ended in a bloody shoot out in front of two thousand horrified witnesses.

Jason McCoy, the boy believed to be carrying the gun, had tried to run away from another administrator who had tackled the student and was trying to hold him on the ground.  Nancy spied the scuffle and ran to her partner's assistance.  She tossed her two-way radio aside, grabbed the boy around the waist and tried to diffuse the escalating situation:

"Stop Jason.  Stop fighting me honey.  Calm down.  Don’t fight it."

But as she held on and prayed for more help, she felt someone else violently yank her hair and her shoulder and hit her on the head.  She thought,

"Who in the world would have the nerve to do that?", as she saw another student run off and disappear into the throng.

Within moments her longtime friend and partner, Dick Allen, rushed to the scene and she heard someone scream,  "Go for it, Dick!"

She started to turn, but froze in place with the cracking sound of gunfire as she thought, “Who's got a gun?  We're holding Jason right here.”

Then a second shot rang out which sent students screaming, tipping over lunch tables for cover and crawling on their hands and knees to escape the line of fire.

As Nancy thanked God that the students were getting out of the way she cried, "Who's shooting?"  That's when the bullet hit her.

Stunned by the pain searing throughout her stomach, thigh and hip, she released her grip on Jason McCoy, but seconds later, when she turned to face her assailant, Nancy Blackwelder stared into the barrel of a gun.  She knew that the screaming boy with the ugly contorted face was going to shoot her again and if he did that she would surely die.  As she searched for cover, she began to drag her injured body across the lunchroom floor in a slow-motion nightmare of shock and disbelief.

That's when she saw the convulsing form on the floor in the distance.  The closer she got, the sicker she felt.  First, she gasped at the huge puddle of blood.  Next, she noticed the gaping bullet hole in the middle of his forehead.  She closed her eyes tightly for a second hoping the image would disappear, but when she opened them again it was still there.  She cursed the vision, then reached out to the quivering mass that once was her friend, Dick Allen.

This was the beginning of sixteen months of havoc and hell for Nancy Blackwelder, a 35-year-old educator from Pinellas County, Florida.  The death of a friend and gun shot holes in her body were vivid reminders of the start of a dark decade for herself and her family.

To order a copy of this book at $19.95, plus $5.00 S&H call Dr. Blackwelder at 727-251-0181.

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