Tuff by name

News in Brief

On 19 August, an African-American school bookkeeper became nationally known in the US after she talked a heavily-armed man with a history of mental illness out of a school shooting. Antoinette Tuff was working in the front office at the Ronald E McNair Discovery Learning Academy just  outside Atlanta, Georgia,when Michael Brandon Hill entered carrying an assault rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition.

Over the next hour, with compassion and empathy, Tuff calmly talked Hill into putting down his weapon and surrendering to the police. Hear a live recording of her talking to Hill as the siege progresses: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews879