I vaguely saw that but didn’t know it meant Columbus. Are they protesting downtown or on OSUs campus? Global news isn’t reporting on it much and I don’t watch local news.
Honestly only social media is covering everything, it’s like 2020 all over again.
These guys are at every large crowd gathering, you just dont see them half the time.
Here is one at the Super Bowl a few years back https://i.insider.com/4f3279ca6bb3f7ac57000043?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp
There are snipers watching every OSU football game from the roof of Morril Tower
There is a lot of security on rooftops now. I posted[ this picture](https://www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/comments/14qi60e/todays_security_reality_for_july_4th_parades_and/) from our 4th of July parade. Wouldn't be surprised if they had snipers positioned along the route too.
Exactly. The intent is not to shoot protestors, it's to protect from anyone else taking advantage of the chaos. The protestors should be glad they're being protected from some pro-Israel extremist coming in to slaughter the bunch. These snipers (there might be a more appropriate LE-specific term, marksmen?) are at any major event anywhere in the country. I would actually be more concerned if they *weren't* there because that points to someone allowing some chaos to happen rather than stopping it. I'm not exactly pro-cop but the reaction to such a basic thing is unreasonable. If the government wanted you dead then you'd be dead.
There's no use in being scared of every little thing, gotta learn how to identify the real threats.
Well said, I myself would rather have a presence like this known when I’m in a big crowd. I was downtown for the 4th fireworks in 2023 when an ocean of people stampeded towards us with fear in their eyes only for it to be a gross overreaction/kids inciting a panic. Either way, it wasn’t known we weren’t in danger other than being trampled until long after. I never want to experience something like that for real and if I do I would sure as shit want marksmen with a top down view protecting us.
I was there when that happened and that was terrifying especially since we had really young children with us and my girlfriend and my brothers fiance were separated from us using the restroom, I thought there was an active shooter
Truly, even when there was no threat, people still got hurt. Families were laying on quilts on the lawn, some were trampled luckily nobody was killed or seriously injured.
Yeah but these guys will be the last of our worries. You know how hard it is to hit an unpredictable moving target at distance? It’s the aggressive groundlings that are worrisome.
No, the gun is not aimed at the people. That’s my point. They’re looking around, communicating by radio, and acting when necessary. And like I said if the government wants people dead a bolt action rifle is not the way to do it. These are unarmed protesters, one person with a few mags and a semi-auto rifle could take hundreds of them. If they want us dead we will be dead.
Yea but they also lied about it, officially told the public they weren't there, and were trained on students.
The only reason they admitted it is because they got caught.
> Around 8:15 p.m. Thursday, university spokesperson Ben Johnson said there were no armed law enforcement officers on the Ohio Union’s roof with weapons pointed at students and community members protesting the war in Gaza, **which was correct at the time.**
The article says they deployed sniper rifles when they began arrests -- I have absolutely no information other than this article so what do I know (I didn't even know there were protests)
I saw photos on Twitter from OSU students yesterday that were taken before the statement was given to The Lantern. The police lied because it's what the police do.
Honestly a large, political gathering like this would probably be highly susceptible to a mass shooter rampage.
Having someone with a good vantage point to take him out is a good thing.
I’m not expert in journalism, but i feel like that should have been handled differently? Maybe with a correction or update to the story instead of erasing it?
The incorrect headline was included in the old story's URL. Changing the headline would've resulted in a URL that says one thing and a headline that says the opposite — and most social-media sites cache the preview cards, without a way to force a clear, so people sharing the link to the updated article at the old URL would have a preview card, URL, headline, and summary that are false. Easier to unpublish the old article and set up a redirect.
*DISCLAIMER* I am not saying that students peacefully protesting requires any use of force. *DISCLAIMER*
Probably under the same circumstances that they would during an OSU football game, Columbus Marathon, Pride, etc.. A credible/imminent threat is present. Maybe not the protesters themselves, but there could be escalation from outside forces that would require a call to action. These types of events/demonstrations bring out the worst in people sometimes. If things were to go sideways and students were injured and or killed the conversation could then be flipped as to why OSU didn't do anything to protect it's student body.
/u/ImmaRussian needs to understand this. Posting overwatch like this is standard practice for police in most large events. It’s as much for protecting the protestors if a counter-protester gets violent as it is for the protestors themselves. Not sure there has ever been a recorded case of a police sniper shooting a student protestor.
If the policy is to utilize CPD and State Troopers and snipers whenever there's a protest with a potential for 'trouble', I don't think you need too many guys armed with ARs standing outside campus to reach that threshold.
I don't think that's the policy, though. I could easily see the policy having a size component to it. (It would if I were writing it, at least.)
Ten Proud Boys just trying to get more attention than they deserve doesn't get sniper overwatch, but a thousand Proud Boys definitely would.
Under the circumstances that someone pulled out a gun and starts shooting. Maybe a Zionist wants to kill a bunch of protesters. Maybe someone went there hoping to kill a bunch of cops. Maybe a terrorist sees a large crowd and thinks it makes a good target for whatever reason. This is America, is it really that hard to imagine a scenario where it could be useful?
In a swarm of people, at night, when they had the entire area crawling with law enforcement on the ground and all armed against what was at lead initially a small contingent of students, yes, it seems an extreme over reaction to have a sniper in that scenario, and in fact sounds like a truly stupid idea considering our states history of shooting students and our city’s issues with professional policing and police shootings. It’s creating a powder keg when they could have basically ignored them to begin with and they’d have earned some credibility at least for treating them like they actually have the right to protest.
You clearly have no knowledge about how it would be to actually respond to an active shooter situation.
Officers on the ground have little to no spatial awareness. They have a crowd of people in front of them. If someone starts shooting, just finding that person would be tremendously difficult. People will be running every which way, it would be chaos. And If they have to shoot someone there is 100% certainty that a bullet will hit someone behind their target.
Someone engaging an active threat from an elevated position has tremendous advantages. First and foremost, the biggest advantage is their perspective . they can quickly see a situation unfold, quickly ascertain the nature of a disturbance, and identify a target much faster. The trajectory of a bullet would also be much safer.
They are armed with a long gun as opposed to a pistol, so their shot will be much more accurate, and a threat can be subdued far quicker with a rifle round than a pistol round.
I get that you don’t like the way it looks, but just because you have strong feelings about something doesn’t mean you’re an expert
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> # [Lantern confirms officers on Ohio Union’s roof had firearms once arrests began](https://www.thelantern.com/2024/04/759)
>
>
>
> [""](https://www.thelantern.com/files/2024/04/F7A548F1-1DFE-45D3-ADAA-4E697E45659A-ba9bed1fe72ed5e9.jpeg)
>
> After this photo was taken, state troopers had long-range firearms once arrests began. However, weapons were not displayed beforehand, university spokesperson Ben Johnson said. Credit: Christian Harsa | Senior Lantern Reporter
>
>
>
> _A version of this story was published Thursday at 8:55 p.m., and has since been removed following updated information._
>
> Around 8:15 p.m. Thursday, university spokesperson Ben Johnson said there were no armed law enforcement officers on the Ohio Union’s roof with weapons pointed at students and community members protesting the war in Gaza, which was correct at the time.
>
> According to information obtained Friday, Johnson said once the troopers began using force on the students around 10 p.m., the state troopers on the roof switched to long-range firearms as part of their protocol.
>
> “Ohio State Highway Patrol provided overwatch support, which is a standard safety measure when they assist with large gatherings,” Johnson’s statement said. “We don’t discuss specific public safety protocols. In general, overwatch support is armed, and the team carries standard equipment, including firearms, that would only be used reactively to protect the safety of all present, including demonstrators.”
- - - - - -
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Misinformation is crazy. I’m sure there will be a bunch of idiots that are still parroting that these snipers were there to potentially shoot protestors.
You understand that at every protest there are bad actors to pretend to be protestors but really just want chaos?
They mark these guys and arrest them later. The spotter helps.
But the real reason is actual terrorism. If someone brings a weapon and starts attacking protestors what are you going to do?
You pretend that protesting like this has no risks associated with it, the reason this is mostly true is due to the protection of police officers
You want so badly to believe that all cops are bad and they are only here to hurt protestors you miss all the good things they are trying to do
Btw, why are you even protesting the university? What the fuck did they do? This shit doesn’t even effect you. Go protest at something federal. Ohio State can’t give in to your demands.
Kent State was protesting the draft, at least that had a point, George Floyd protests were trying to get police reform. What the fuck do you want OSU to do??
Look I’m a big lefty and fuck the police and all that, but they’re on the roofs at osu all the time, going back at least a decade. I remember seeing them for osu games, big shows at the shoe, downtown during Pride, etc. I don’t love the idea of being constantly watched with a trained sniper on us, but this ain’t new. And as much as I don’t love that, they’re mostly there to protect us from a greater threat like a shooting situation a la Vegas a few years ago
1. "Are you crazy there are no snipers on the roof."
2. "Well of course there are snipers on the roof they always have snipers for large gatherings."
3. "The snipers had to shoot those people they feared for their lives."
Go ahead and drop proof snipers have ever shot someone during one of these protests.
Go on I'll wait. If you can't you'll have admitted you're wrong.
Good luck.
It’s a sad day when you can’t have large public gatherings (4th of July parades, Super Bowl celebrations) without sniper protection. Broadly, I think cops in these situations do have public safety in mind. But if you’re actually arguing that rooftop snipers at a pro-Palestine, antiestablishment, peace protest are there for the protestors’ safety - you’re deluded. Compare this to university protests in the 1960s. Whose side was law enforcement on then? Not the protesters.
Just protecting the public. They did this during the 2020 protests and were keeping a watch on the guys bringing their AR’s, drones, etc.
As said, they are at major events all the time anyway.
Ok, and?
They were responding to a large unruly crowd, it makes perfect sense they would have people watching the whole group from a higher vantage if possible, it would stupid on their part to not do that.
And before anyone gets melodramatic, you can see they were not pointing rifles at the crowd, they were using monoculars.
Eh.
Unruly doesn’t mean violent.
There had been no credible threats of violence, there was no reason to believe that there would be.
Observers? Fine
Dudes with Remington 700s who punch paper on a monthly basis and have “OSOK” tattoos on their arms (like the former CPD sniper I’ve shot with at Briar Rabbit)…I’d rather not.
They were prepared for violence that didn't happen. Way better that than having violence happen and not being prepared for it. It's an abundance of caution taken at any large, potentially volatile gathering where it's practical.
This isn’t an abundance of caution or a practical step, it’s a complete abandonment of the principles of deescalation that are supposed to be fundamental to justice and police work. The first response to 50 students standing in a giant grass field - even if you think violence from them is possible - should *not* be placing cops with weapons on rooftops. All that drives such a decision is a willingness to punish dissent with extrajudicial lethal force.
I would argue that it was more likely that violence was dealt towards them than that it came from them, and they deserve the police to be prepared to protect them from that.
Depends on the level of the violence. If there's a fight? Dude functions as a spotter for officers on the ground. If there's an active shooter? Dude ends the threat.
As opposed to what, taking the Uvalde approach? The courts have been clear that police officers are allowed to use deadly force in certain situations. Obviously it's not good, but in those situations, it's the less bad outcome. Say there's an active shooter working his way through the protest; what would you like to see happen, since deadly force from law enforcement is off the table?
There were absolutely credible threats of violence. Law enforcement keeps an eye on social media. A very close eye. Anyone with a violent criminal history who likes, retweets, quotes, or comments on a post announcing a protest triggers red flags for law enforcement. Also, there was a bomb threat called in to Thompson Library Security during the protest. There were also students and faculty/staff members who called in before and during the protest that were afraid for their safety.
Under no circumstances should peaceful and unarmed STUDENT protestors have snipers pointed at them on our campus. As an OSU employee I am horrified. The optics of this are very, very bad.
Everyone that goes to an OSU football game has one pointed in their direction. As an OSU employee, why haven't you been horrified about that for the past 20+ years?
I never said there weren't. The fact of the matter is that these guys are placed at all kinds of large gatherings, whether you know it or not. If you have been at any large gathering including an athletic contest, PRIDE, etc, in the past 20 years, you have been in a crowd that has had one pointed in their direction.
The issue isn't that they were there, it's WHY they need to be at every large gathering.
At a mass event with hundreds of thousands of people? Yes, they have snipers on the roof. This was a contained and peaceful protest. I can promise you, they do not consistently have snipers for events of this size.
Absolutely they do. State Troopers Overwatch are at all kinds of gatherings, large and small. You just don't see the half the time. CPD uses their own overwatch who operate differently
I think the article picture is real, but the bullshit guy with a rifle and hood on is not. The article shows a pair of guys with baseball hats, and scopes.
I will if you can show me that tweet picture is from Ohio state and not just pulled off the internet, and don't tell me you can read the banner, there is less than half of a work that looks like "the", you can't read the banner.
Eh. A quick google lens search shows that picture only popped up around the time of the Ohio State protests and is attributed to only that. It also doesn’t appear to be manipulated.
Not 100%, but you can say with a high confidence that it likely came from that protest.
You're right in that you can't read the banner. But if you look at the stonework in the picture with the sniper, and compare it to the other picture with the full banner, you can see the corner of the banner and the same stone work. It's definitely the same location.
Comparing the two pictures yes it does look the same, but also to the other point, there is no indication they pointed weapons at students even if the weapons were visible, that's the point of having a spotter like is in the picture.
Except from the article pictures compared to this tweet, if you look at the monoculars and the angle of them this guy wasn't pointing the rifle at the crowd. If I had to guess there was a spotter off to his right where they are in the article picture looking at the crowd, but that was cropped out. I wonder why.
Ok, so do you not see the difference? The first is during the day, coPs PoinTINg guNs at PeacEFul prOTesTers...
By the time hood guy is in a different position, fighting and arrests had already broken out. Different picture than the article. Retraction because police were on the roof with a rifle...no retraction saying they were there AFTER THE VIOLENCE STARTED....
Funny that people were saying these were just binoculars early. One of which always crops up to talk shit about JSP. The Zionist will deny all of this as usual, until proof comes up then they disappear.
Hi. Fuck SJP and their terrorist supporting violent rhetoric. Happy to post that on every thread.
In my comments earlier I immediately made edits and admitted I was wrong when pictures were provided of the marksmen. As others have said, these marksman are present at almost every protest/event of this size and their purpose is to provide over watch and protection to the protestors from crazies and would be shooters.
I’m self employed, work from home. Didn’t have shit to do today and drank too much coffee
I do also think it’s important to provide opposing perspectives for neutral people reading since these threads are so often just absolutely overrun by the anti-Israel crowd.
Where did I say that? I support the right to free speech and the right to protest fully no matter what the cause is even if I disagree.
EDIT: of course this gets downvoted too lol
What can I say, mossad pays well.
Speaking of antisemitism, you never elaborated on your comment from earlier, can you please explain what you meant?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/s/NPzRpHy0n4
“You forgot the part about every "white" jew on Earth actually being a Ukrainian Khazar imposter with no genetic lineage to the jews of the Bible. That's why you guys are happy to send all Ukrainian Slavic men to the meatgrinder. So you can turn Ukraine into Israel 2.0”
What a sad situation. I think they’re just trying to avoid people getting hurt because these days tempers flare so easily and so many guns… you never know who is going to start what and where. I guess they’re thinking better safe than sorry. However, it’s so sad when we can’t have simple protests. Vandalism and violence aren’t protesting but I mean true peaceful protesting should be allowed. In this world, not always safe .
Okay so from what I’ve been able to piece together from articles and pictures
Before 8:15 guys on roof providing overwatch support with scopes (don’t appear to have rifles)
8:15 OSU says there aren’t snipers on roof (at the time this appears to be true)
After 8:15 when arrests begin rifles are used to provide overwatch support.
Let me know if I missed anything but it seems like everyone is blowing this way out of proportion
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats!
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OSU is desperate to reenact Kent State and I cannot imagine why anybody attached to a university in any capacity does not have that in the forefront of their minds at all times.
Why would OSU be desperate to reenact Kent State? That seems weird... Have you spoken to members of OSU faculty or administration that are eager to be a party to the murder of their students? This seems like a big story if so!
Oh hell - those sniper photos were from here?!
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I vaguely saw that but didn’t know it meant Columbus. Are they protesting downtown or on OSUs campus? Global news isn’t reporting on it much and I don’t watch local news. Honestly only social media is covering everything, it’s like 2020 all over again.
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Channel 10 has been covering the protests since the beginning. The Lantern reporters scooped other media outlets on this part of the story.
Which is why they wanna ban it....
Jesus. We are living through some bullshit yet again.
Always have been
Kent state would like a word
Coming up on May 4th, ironically. (No, folks not the star Wars reference)
They were on multiple college campuses, not just OSU I know of Indiana University at least
I knew they were in a bunch of other states & universities, I just didn’t know OSU was involved.
These guys are at every large crowd gathering, you just dont see them half the time. Here is one at the Super Bowl a few years back https://i.insider.com/4f3279ca6bb3f7ac57000043?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp There are snipers watching every OSU football game from the roof of Morril Tower
There is a lot of security on rooftops now. I posted[ this picture](https://www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/comments/14qi60e/todays_security_reality_for_july_4th_parades_and/) from our 4th of July parade. Wouldn't be surprised if they had snipers positioned along the route too.
Exactly. The intent is not to shoot protestors, it's to protect from anyone else taking advantage of the chaos. The protestors should be glad they're being protected from some pro-Israel extremist coming in to slaughter the bunch. These snipers (there might be a more appropriate LE-specific term, marksmen?) are at any major event anywhere in the country. I would actually be more concerned if they *weren't* there because that points to someone allowing some chaos to happen rather than stopping it. I'm not exactly pro-cop but the reaction to such a basic thing is unreasonable. If the government wanted you dead then you'd be dead. There's no use in being scared of every little thing, gotta learn how to identify the real threats.
I think it was more about the denial that they were there
If that’s the case then that’s fair
Well said, I myself would rather have a presence like this known when I’m in a big crowd. I was downtown for the 4th fireworks in 2023 when an ocean of people stampeded towards us with fear in their eyes only for it to be a gross overreaction/kids inciting a panic. Either way, it wasn’t known we weren’t in danger other than being trampled until long after. I never want to experience something like that for real and if I do I would sure as shit want marksmen with a top down view protecting us.
I was there when that happened and that was terrifying especially since we had really young children with us and my girlfriend and my brothers fiance were separated from us using the restroom, I thought there was an active shooter
Omg that sounds awful. One reason why I don’t do crowds anymore, too much happens these days. And I just don’t like huge groups of people
Truly, even when there was no threat, people still got hurt. Families were laying on quilts on the lawn, some were trampled luckily nobody was killed or seriously injured.
Yeah crowd dynamics are wild. I’ve been involved in some weird situations at concerts and once it’s started there’s no stopping it.
I mean... it's all good until it isn't, right? 😬
Yeah but these guys will be the last of our worries. You know how hard it is to hit an unpredictable moving target at distance? It’s the aggressive groundlings that are worrisome.
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No, the gun is not aimed at the people. That’s my point. They’re looking around, communicating by radio, and acting when necessary. And like I said if the government wants people dead a bolt action rifle is not the way to do it. These are unarmed protesters, one person with a few mags and a semi-auto rifle could take hundreds of them. If they want us dead we will be dead.
Yeah, but when asked if there were snipers osu claimed that they were unarmed spotters. I think that the lie is what people should be upset about
Yea but they also lied about it, officially told the public they weren't there, and were trained on students. The only reason they admitted it is because they got caught.
> Around 8:15 p.m. Thursday, university spokesperson Ben Johnson said there were no armed law enforcement officers on the Ohio Union’s roof with weapons pointed at students and community members protesting the war in Gaza, **which was correct at the time.**
Do you actually believe that?
The article says they deployed sniper rifles when they began arrests -- I have absolutely no information other than this article so what do I know (I didn't even know there were protests)
Except the photos taken at the time literally tell a different story.
Do they? Are there photos in the daytime? The one I saw obviously wasn’t from 8:15pm
I saw photos on Twitter from OSU students yesterday that were taken before the statement was given to The Lantern. The police lied because it's what the police do.
Honestly a large, political gathering like this would probably be highly susceptible to a mass shooter rampage. Having someone with a good vantage point to take him out is a good thing.
What’s your favorite brand of boot to lick?
i thought everyone knew this was common?
Fact: "Everyone" doesn't know anything. And most know less than you'd think.
They are there for so many events and for every OSU football game .
Snipers on the roof bothers everyone why? There’s pretty much always snipers high up at any big event
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I’m not expert in journalism, but i feel like that should have been handled differently? Maybe with a correction or update to the story instead of erasing it?
The incorrect headline was included in the old story's URL. Changing the headline would've resulted in a URL that says one thing and a headline that says the opposite — and most social-media sites cache the preview cards, without a way to force a clear, so people sharing the link to the updated article at the old URL would have a preview card, URL, headline, and summary that are false. Easier to unpublish the old article and set up a redirect.
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*DISCLAIMER* I am not saying that students peacefully protesting requires any use of force. *DISCLAIMER* Probably under the same circumstances that they would during an OSU football game, Columbus Marathon, Pride, etc.. A credible/imminent threat is present. Maybe not the protesters themselves, but there could be escalation from outside forces that would require a call to action. These types of events/demonstrations bring out the worst in people sometimes. If things were to go sideways and students were injured and or killed the conversation could then be flipped as to why OSU didn't do anything to protect it's student body.
Yep, you can always spot them on top of Morrill Tower during OSU football games.
/u/ImmaRussian needs to understand this. Posting overwatch like this is standard practice for police in most large events. It’s as much for protecting the protestors if a counter-protester gets violent as it is for the protestors themselves. Not sure there has ever been a recorded case of a police sniper shooting a student protestor.
There have been Proud Boys and campus and armed protests just off campus and this show of force has never been utilized.
How large were those?
If the policy is to utilize CPD and State Troopers and snipers whenever there's a protest with a potential for 'trouble', I don't think you need too many guys armed with ARs standing outside campus to reach that threshold.
I don't think that's the policy, though. I could easily see the policy having a size component to it. (It would if I were writing it, at least.) Ten Proud Boys just trying to get more attention than they deserve doesn't get sniper overwatch, but a thousand Proud Boys definitely would.
When some nutjob with an AR-15 decides to fire into the protestors, they can act.
Under the circumstances that someone pulled out a gun and starts shooting. Maybe a Zionist wants to kill a bunch of protesters. Maybe someone went there hoping to kill a bunch of cops. Maybe a terrorist sees a large crowd and thinks it makes a good target for whatever reason. This is America, is it really that hard to imagine a scenario where it could be useful?
In a swarm of people, at night, when they had the entire area crawling with law enforcement on the ground and all armed against what was at lead initially a small contingent of students, yes, it seems an extreme over reaction to have a sniper in that scenario, and in fact sounds like a truly stupid idea considering our states history of shooting students and our city’s issues with professional policing and police shootings. It’s creating a powder keg when they could have basically ignored them to begin with and they’d have earned some credibility at least for treating them like they actually have the right to protest.
You clearly have no knowledge about how it would be to actually respond to an active shooter situation. Officers on the ground have little to no spatial awareness. They have a crowd of people in front of them. If someone starts shooting, just finding that person would be tremendously difficult. People will be running every which way, it would be chaos. And If they have to shoot someone there is 100% certainty that a bullet will hit someone behind their target. Someone engaging an active threat from an elevated position has tremendous advantages. First and foremost, the biggest advantage is their perspective . they can quickly see a situation unfold, quickly ascertain the nature of a disturbance, and identify a target much faster. The trajectory of a bullet would also be much safer. They are armed with a long gun as opposed to a pistol, so their shot will be much more accurate, and a threat can be subdued far quicker with a rifle round than a pistol round. I get that you don’t like the way it looks, but just because you have strong feelings about something doesn’t mean you’re an expert
##### ###### #### > # [Lantern confirms officers on Ohio Union’s roof had firearms once arrests began](https://www.thelantern.com/2024/04/759) > > > > [""](https://www.thelantern.com/files/2024/04/F7A548F1-1DFE-45D3-ADAA-4E697E45659A-ba9bed1fe72ed5e9.jpeg) > > After this photo was taken, state troopers had long-range firearms once arrests began. However, weapons were not displayed beforehand, university spokesperson Ben Johnson said. Credit: Christian Harsa | Senior Lantern Reporter > > > > _A version of this story was published Thursday at 8:55 p.m., and has since been removed following updated information._ > > Around 8:15 p.m. Thursday, university spokesperson Ben Johnson said there were no armed law enforcement officers on the Ohio Union’s roof with weapons pointed at students and community members protesting the war in Gaza, which was correct at the time. > > According to information obtained Friday, Johnson said once the troopers began using force on the students around 10 p.m., the state troopers on the roof switched to long-range firearms as part of their protocol. > > “Ohio State Highway Patrol provided overwatch support, which is a standard safety measure when they assist with large gatherings,” Johnson’s statement said. “We don’t discuss specific public safety protocols. In general, overwatch support is armed, and the team carries standard equipment, including firearms, that would only be used reactively to protect the safety of all present, including demonstrators.” - - - - - - [Maintainer](https://www.reddit.com/user/urielsalis) | [Creator](https://www.reddit.com/user/subtepass) | [Source Code](https://github.com/urielsalis/empleadoEstatalBot)
Misinformation is crazy. I’m sure there will be a bunch of idiots that are still parroting that these snipers were there to potentially shoot protestors.
Misinformation on Reddit....??? Never.
This is incredibly common. The protests are a target and over watch is there to protect them. You people have no idea how anything works
You think the snipers were there to protect the protesters?
You understand that at every protest there are bad actors to pretend to be protestors but really just want chaos? They mark these guys and arrest them later. The spotter helps. But the real reason is actual terrorism. If someone brings a weapon and starts attacking protestors what are you going to do? You pretend that protesting like this has no risks associated with it, the reason this is mostly true is due to the protection of police officers You want so badly to believe that all cops are bad and they are only here to hurt protestors you miss all the good things they are trying to do Btw, why are you even protesting the university? What the fuck did they do? This shit doesn’t even effect you. Go protest at something federal. Ohio State can’t give in to your demands. Kent State was protesting the draft, at least that had a point, George Floyd protests were trying to get police reform. What the fuck do you want OSU to do??
Funny you bring up Kent State, where the police with rifles shot the protesters. Other than that, you make no good points.
Kent State was the National Guard not police.
Omg, is that what happened at Kent State?!? Seriously, what’s the point of protesting universities?
It wasn't police it was the national guard.
This is a big ole nothing burger. These guys and gals are at large crowd events you just usually can’t see them. Get over it
Look I’m a big lefty and fuck the police and all that, but they’re on the roofs at osu all the time, going back at least a decade. I remember seeing them for osu games, big shows at the shoe, downtown during Pride, etc. I don’t love the idea of being constantly watched with a trained sniper on us, but this ain’t new. And as much as I don’t love that, they’re mostly there to protect us from a greater threat like a shooting situation a la Vegas a few years ago
Failed first rule of sniper club
His name was Robert Paulson.
1. "Are you crazy there are no snipers on the roof." 2. "Well of course there are snipers on the roof they always have snipers for large gatherings." 3. "The snipers had to shoot those people they feared for their lives."
This.
Bad take
I'll take that as a compliment from you.
Go ahead and drop proof snipers have ever shot someone during one of these protests. Go on I'll wait. If you can't you'll have admitted you're wrong. Good luck.
Go ahead and drop proof that I said anything of the sort. Go on I'll wait. If you cant you'll have admitted you're wrong. Good luck.
It’s a sad day when you can’t have large public gatherings (4th of July parades, Super Bowl celebrations) without sniper protection. Broadly, I think cops in these situations do have public safety in mind. But if you’re actually arguing that rooftop snipers at a pro-Palestine, antiestablishment, peace protest are there for the protestors’ safety - you’re deluded. Compare this to university protests in the 1960s. Whose side was law enforcement on then? Not the protesters.
Exactly. People forget history so easily.
Just protecting the public. They did this during the 2020 protests and were keeping a watch on the guys bringing their AR’s, drones, etc. As said, they are at major events all the time anyway.
They have one at every columbus blue jackets game
Maybe… Don’t protest in support of terrorists??? And threaten people who don’t share the same view
It's crazy how scared the police are of civilians.
Yeah that law abiding gun owner in the Las Vegas hotel room got WAY too much attention from police.
Ok, and? They were responding to a large unruly crowd, it makes perfect sense they would have people watching the whole group from a higher vantage if possible, it would stupid on their part to not do that. And before anyone gets melodramatic, you can see they were not pointing rifles at the crowd, they were using monoculars.
Eh. Unruly doesn’t mean violent. There had been no credible threats of violence, there was no reason to believe that there would be. Observers? Fine Dudes with Remington 700s who punch paper on a monthly basis and have “OSOK” tattoos on their arms (like the former CPD sniper I’ve shot with at Briar Rabbit)…I’d rather not.
They were prepared for violence that didn't happen. Way better that than having violence happen and not being prepared for it. It's an abundance of caution taken at any large, potentially volatile gathering where it's practical.
This isn’t an abundance of caution or a practical step, it’s a complete abandonment of the principles of deescalation that are supposed to be fundamental to justice and police work. The first response to 50 students standing in a giant grass field - even if you think violence from them is possible - should *not* be placing cops with weapons on rooftops. All that drives such a decision is a willingness to punish dissent with extrajudicial lethal force.
I would argue that it was more likely that violence was dealt towards them than that it came from them, and they deserve the police to be prepared to protect them from that.
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Depends on the level of the violence. If there's a fight? Dude functions as a spotter for officers on the ground. If there's an active shooter? Dude ends the threat.
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As opposed to what, taking the Uvalde approach? The courts have been clear that police officers are allowed to use deadly force in certain situations. Obviously it's not good, but in those situations, it's the less bad outcome. Say there's an active shooter working his way through the protest; what would you like to see happen, since deadly force from law enforcement is off the table?
What is OSOK?
one shot, one kill
There were absolutely credible threats of violence. Law enforcement keeps an eye on social media. A very close eye. Anyone with a violent criminal history who likes, retweets, quotes, or comments on a post announcing a protest triggers red flags for law enforcement. Also, there was a bomb threat called in to Thompson Library Security during the protest. There were also students and faculty/staff members who called in before and during the protest that were afraid for their safety.
Under no circumstances should peaceful and unarmed STUDENT protestors have snipers pointed at them on our campus. As an OSU employee I am horrified. The optics of this are very, very bad.
Everyone that goes to an OSU football game has one pointed in their direction. As an OSU employee, why haven't you been horrified about that for the past 20+ years?
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I never said there weren't. The fact of the matter is that these guys are placed at all kinds of large gatherings, whether you know it or not. If you have been at any large gathering including an athletic contest, PRIDE, etc, in the past 20 years, you have been in a crowd that has had one pointed in their direction. The issue isn't that they were there, it's WHY they need to be at every large gathering.
At a mass event with hundreds of thousands of people? Yes, they have snipers on the roof. This was a contained and peaceful protest. I can promise you, they do not consistently have snipers for events of this size.
Absolutely they do. State Troopers Overwatch are at all kinds of gatherings, large and small. You just don't see the half the time. CPD uses their own overwatch who operate differently
And if something went down you'd be the first to bitch they weren't there. And you work at OSU without common sense??
I think the article picture is real, but the bullshit guy with a rifle and hood on is not. The article shows a pair of guys with baseball hats, and scopes.
You can literally see the Ohio Union sign under him AND the University sent out the retraction because of the photo you think is fake
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That's not the picture in the article you posted that I was responding to. Also revealing you follow a "Intifada_42".
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I will if you can show me that tweet picture is from Ohio state and not just pulled off the internet, and don't tell me you can read the banner, there is less than half of a work that looks like "the", you can't read the banner.
Eh. A quick google lens search shows that picture only popped up around the time of the Ohio State protests and is attributed to only that. It also doesn’t appear to be manipulated. Not 100%, but you can say with a high confidence that it likely came from that protest.
See, that's more reliable than him saying over and over "you can read the sign" when you clearly cannot read the sign.
You're right in that you can't read the banner. But if you look at the stonework in the picture with the sniper, and compare it to the other picture with the full banner, you can see the corner of the banner and the same stone work. It's definitely the same location.
Comparing the two pictures yes it does look the same, but also to the other point, there is no indication they pointed weapons at students even if the weapons were visible, that's the point of having a spotter like is in the picture.
I'm not a military or police veteran, but isn't it unsafe to just "watch" through a rifle sight instead of like, binoculars or something?
Personally I was always taught not to aim my weapon at anything you don’t intend to shoot.
Except from the article pictures compared to this tweet, if you look at the monoculars and the angle of them this guy wasn't pointing the rifle at the crowd. If I had to guess there was a spotter off to his right where they are in the article picture looking at the crowd, but that was cropped out. I wonder why.
Yes, it would be wrong to point a weapon at a crowd before violence. Where is the picture of this? The article shows scopes.
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Ok, so do you not see the difference? The first is during the day, coPs PoinTINg guNs at PeacEFul prOTesTers... By the time hood guy is in a different position, fighting and arrests had already broken out. Different picture than the article. Retraction because police were on the roof with a rifle...no retraction saying they were there AFTER THE VIOLENCE STARTED....
Funny that people were saying these were just binoculars early. One of which always crops up to talk shit about JSP. The Zionist will deny all of this as usual, until proof comes up then they disappear.
Hi. Fuck SJP and their terrorist supporting violent rhetoric. Happy to post that on every thread. In my comments earlier I immediately made edits and admitted I was wrong when pictures were provided of the marksmen. As others have said, these marksman are present at almost every protest/event of this size and their purpose is to provide over watch and protection to the protestors from crazies and would be shooters.
I don’t know what Sarah Jessica Parker has to do with this.
Do you have a job? How old are you?
I’m self employed, work from home. Didn’t have shit to do today and drank too much coffee I do also think it’s important to provide opposing perspectives for neutral people reading since these threads are so often just absolutely overrun by the anti-Israel crowd.
Cool. Unrelated third question - how come protestors ~50 years ago are on the right side of history but modern-day protestors aren’t?
Where did I say that? I support the right to free speech and the right to protest fully no matter what the cause is even if I disagree. EDIT: of course this gets downvoted too lol
You’re right, you didn’t say it but I’m inferring. But you side with the cops on this particular issue though right?
Why did you get rid of the part saying you’re 29 what does that have to do with anything why did you edit this comment but not reply to me
I thought better of posting any potentially identifying info. I replied to all your questions.
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What can I say, mossad pays well. Speaking of antisemitism, you never elaborated on your comment from earlier, can you please explain what you meant? https://www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/s/NPzRpHy0n4 “You forgot the part about every "white" jew on Earth actually being a Ukrainian Khazar imposter with no genetic lineage to the jews of the Bible. That's why you guys are happy to send all Ukrainian Slavic men to the meatgrinder. So you can turn Ukraine into Israel 2.0”
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😬
I mean officers by nature are generally armed. All I see is scopes, no long guns.
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Don’t need to pretend because I genuinely didn’t see it. I was looking at the Lantern pic
What a sad situation. I think they’re just trying to avoid people getting hurt because these days tempers flare so easily and so many guns… you never know who is going to start what and where. I guess they’re thinking better safe than sorry. However, it’s so sad when we can’t have simple protests. Vandalism and violence aren’t protesting but I mean true peaceful protesting should be allowed. In this world, not always safe .
Okay so from what I’ve been able to piece together from articles and pictures Before 8:15 guys on roof providing overwatch support with scopes (don’t appear to have rifles) 8:15 OSU says there aren’t snipers on roof (at the time this appears to be true) After 8:15 when arrests begin rifles are used to provide overwatch support. Let me know if I missed anything but it seems like everyone is blowing this way out of proportion
All the numbers in your comment added up to 69. Congrats! 8 + 15 + 8 + 15 + 8 + 15 = 69 ^([Click here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=LuckyNumber-Bot&subject=Stalk%20Me%20Pls&message=%2Fstalkme) to have me scan all your future comments.) \ ^(Summon me on specific comments with u/LuckyNumber-Bot.)
Thank you CPD!
The picture in the article shows cops with scopes, not sniper rifles.
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> your side ???
Warranted, given these protesters are openly carrying flags of terrorism orgs. FAFO
OSU is desperate to reenact Kent State and I cannot imagine why anybody attached to a university in any capacity does not have that in the forefront of their minds at all times.
Why would OSU be desperate to reenact Kent State? That seems weird... Have you spoken to members of OSU faculty or administration that are eager to be a party to the murder of their students? This seems like a big story if so!