The problem with that is, schools train to "lock down" during times of "active assailant" emergencies. They hunker down in their classrooms and barricade the doors. Pulling a fire alarm in that situation would cause mass confusion and scare the kids to death. The kids would be panicking, "Do I stay in my lockdown and burn up, or do I open the doors and make a run for the exits?"


Or away from their relatively safe lockdown, and INTO the danger. Made worse by their panic to "Get out of the fire, and not get shot/stabbed along the way."

If I were an insane student intent on killing/maiming my classmates, one of the first things I might do is pull the fire alarm. Multiple targets come pouring out of classrooms, and once they see their bloodied injured classmates they will panic and create all kinds of confusion. What better than a surging and confused crowd to hide myself in as I made my escape?

I think pulling a fire alarm, on purpose, as a way of "warning" people, would be a very very bad idea.

Back about 20 years, when I ran the school's computer lab, the emergency procedure was to shelter in place. Everybody away from the windows, lock the doors, and close the blinds. The walls were concrete and the doors were steel fire doors. I believe this is still the policy because schools are "locked down" if there's an incident in the area.

During classes, this is by far away the best policy since it secures the vast majority of students within seconds of the bell sounding. But between classes, the student body is vulnerable. A fire alarm may be beneficial then, since it puts the students in a situation where they can readily scatter. The downside is it takes longer then heading for the nearest classroom and they're still vulnerable to gunfire.

A victim pulled the alarm.

http://www.ibtimes.com/nate-scimio-haile...m-after-1569462

For this stabbing, I'm going with good idea. As others said above, the stabber can cause more damage if everybody is not alerted about what's going on. One girl even said she thought the stabber was just wrestling/fighting with another guy in the hallway. That's something that's relatively common in most high schools.

If the alarm is pulled, everybody is on high emergency alert. So, the stabber's advantage is eliminated.