Shooting of Mr. Vance

The shooting of John Downes Vance, a thirty-seven-year-old history teacher at Placerville High School, occurs within minutes of Charles Decker's first murder, transforming a shocking but isolated act into an ongoing, volatile hostage crisis. Vance's death is the direct consequence of his well-intentioned but fatal interruption of Decker's newly seized control of Room 16, and it immediately alters the stakes for everyone involved—the students inside, the faculty, and the rapidly assembling police force outside.

The Interruption and the Shot

Moments after Decker has shot and killed his algebra teacher, Mrs. Jean Underwood, and announced to his stunned classmates that "this is known as getting it on," the fire alarm, triggered by Decker's burning locker, begins to blare. The door to Room 16 is snatched open, and Mr. Vance pokes his head in, calling out about the fire. He asks, "Where's Mrs. Underwood?" Decker, now holding the gun, orders him out. When Vance, a porky man with a neatly crew-cut head, stares in confusion, Decker fires a warning shot that misses, the bullet whining off the upper edge of the door and chipping wood splinters. Vance does not retreat. Instead, he tries to return to the beginning, stating, "There's a fire in the building. Please—" It is at this moment that Mike Gavin, a student, attempts to clarify the situation, saying, "Charlie's got a gun, Mr. Vance. I think you better—" The second bullet catches Vance in the throat. His flesh spreads liquidly, like water when a rock is thrown into it. He walks backward into the hall, scratching at his throat, and falls over.

Immediate Aftermath and Escalation

The killing of Mr. Vance produces a different reaction from the class than the shooting of Mrs. Underwood. While Irma Bates screams again, her cry finds no imitators; the students are too busy peeking at Vance, whose scratching motions are slowing down. Decker immediately orders Ted Jones, the student closest to the door, to shut and lock it, a command Jones obeys. Down the hall, someone yells that the fire is in a locker and that "Vance's had a heart attack!" The murder of a second teacher, one who was not even Decker's direct target, shatters any remaining illusion that the event is a contained, personal confrontation. It forces the administration and the arriving police to recognize Decker as an unpredictable, lethal threat. The fire alarm continues to blare, and the fire whistle on the Municipal Building begins to scream, creating a cacophony of disaster that frames the new reality: a madman is holding a classroom hostage, and he has already killed twice.

Legal and Psychological Consequences

The shooting of Mr. Vance becomes a cornerstone of the legal case against Decker. At his trial on August 27, 1976, he is convicted of the willful murder of John Downes Vance, alongside the murder of Jean Underwood. The court, however, finds him not accountable for his actions by reason of insanity, remanding him to the Augusta State Hospital. In his own retrospective narration, Decker connects the act of killing Vance to the deep-seated rage he feels toward his father, Carl Decker. He reflects that he wishes it had been his father he had killed, calling the shooting of Vance "a classic case of misplaced aggression." This admission reveals that the murder of a relatively innocent, well-meaning teacher was, in Decker's fractured psyche, a symbolic act of violence directed at the paternal authority he could not bring himself to destroy.