Elephant

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An active shooting has been reported in a community college. Time is critical, move fast.

Description of "Elephant"

Watt Community College
Group(s)	Unknown Shooters
Suspect(s)	Archie Zem, Albert Liu, "Chase", One Unknown Shooter

Elephant is the eleventh (ninth chronologically) playable mission in Ready or Not.

In October 6, 2025, four students commit a mass-shooting at Watt Community College, presumably due to a mixture of mental health issues and immense dissatisfaction with the current state of the United States. LSPD is able to contain the shooters in the Science Wing and D Platoon is sent in to neutralize the threat.

Mission Brief

Team Lead: Alright, everybody settle down and listen up. We’ve got active shooters on the Watt Community College Campus. From what we know right now, they are contained inside the science wing, but we all know that could change. We’ve had numerous reports coming in, and we know there are victims, dead and alive. We don’t have time to mess around on this one.

Officer: How many shooters are there?

Team Lead: We don’t know exactly. The reports have been varied, but we do know there are at least two, but probably more. Two campus security officers are at the scene. We don’t know where, but we’ve got their details, and one is former LSPD.

Officer: Do we have contact with them?

Team Lead: No, we got the info based on what one of the 911 callers provided and we don’t have time to waste. We need to lock down that wing and close ground on them ASAP. I want you all to be ready. We’re working to see if we can find a possible location based on the calls we’re getting and the rooms the callers are in, but we’re moving fast. If we don’t have it when we pull up, we’re going in without it.

Officer: What are our entry points?

Team Lead: The science wing has three main entrances. I want to hit all three at once. We’re not giving them a chance to get out once we arrive. We’ve got uniforms coming in too, locking down the campus and doing all the footwork. It should be obvious, but we’re going in with lethal force, boys. These assholes are shooting kids. My kid went to this college, goddamnit.

Objectives

Main Objectives

• Bring Order to Chaos
  • Arrest or neutralize any contact at the scene.
• Rescue All of the Civilians
  • Detain any unarmed contacts at the scene.
• Defuse The Bomb Threats
  • Deactivate any bombs at the scene.

The Map

The mission takes place in the science wing of the school. It is two stories. Two points of insertion are available, the Southern Entrance and the Northern Exit.

The Southern Entrance provides immediate access to both stories, but there is a chance the SWAT team can take fire from the mass shooters on either floor. This can be used to the player's advantage to take down threats in a shorter time, but can also result in teammate casualties or the player's death since there is no cover when approaching the doors and it can be difficult to see through the door glass.

The Northern Exit is considered a safer insertion point and provides multiple points of entry into the building, but does not grant immediate access to the second floor. If the player chooses the Southern Entrance but wants access to the side of the building where the Northern Exit insertion point is, they need to enter the building through a side door that is located to the left of the SWAT team after spawning, go up the small set of stairs, and go through the set of doors directly in front of them.

There is a total of four suspects. All suspects wear body armor and use automatic rifles. All wear dark clothing, and can be wearing a baseball cap and visible body armor, a hoodie with the hood up with a face covering and backpack, or a gas mask and a trench coat. Just like the suspects in A Lethal Obsession, the gas masks are purely cosmetic and will not protect against CS gas.

The interior is a mix of long open areas and small cramped rooms. Suspects will roam the school, and will sometimes exit the building. A number of civilians are still inside. If the player does not take down all the shooters within a short period of time, the suspects will start to execute civilians, including ones the player may have already detained. Some of the rooms, such as the lecture hall and computer room, are dark so some sort of illumination device is recommended. A total of two homemade bombs are placed at various points in the building, and will explode after about 11 minutes if the player does not defuse them.

The recommended method to complete this mission is to swiftly find and take down the shooters first before defusing the bombs and restraining civilians. Setting up to breach a room (such as looking under the door with the mirror gun, and then having the team stack up to ram the door and throw a flashbang) or wedging doors is not recommended as it takes away valuable time. Having officers use the ballistic shield can help prevent incapacitation and deaths when entering a room blind, or when approaching the Southern Entrance.

Breaching equipment is highly recommended, as the metal doors are resistant to kicks. The shooters are the most imminent threat in the mission. Collecting evidenced can be postponed until the very end. The suspects are uncoordinated and aren’t as much of a threat to the officers themselves.

To save time and minimize civilian casualties, the player can order civilians to flee the building on their own. To do this, shout at the civilian until they get on their knees and raise their hands. Open the command menu and point at the civilian, then select "Move to exit." The civilian will then flee to the team's insertion point and will be instantly detained and reported by the game once they arrive.

Motive

Depression

While it is unknown how much depression had to do with the attack, two or more of the shooters almost certainly had it. When arresting suspects alive you can sometimes hear them say "It's finally over." or they might start crying. Antidepressants can be found in the evidence locker once the mission is complete. It mentions that Albert Liu and Archie Zem both had Kasonopram antidepressants in their system.

Poverty

One of the suspects is mentioned in another mission's briefing, Twisted Nerve. In the witness statement, the witness talks about how they did a drug drop off and received cash to take to someone else. However, the witness took the money, stating that he needed it, and talked about moving out of Los Sueños with "Reba and Archie". It is unknown if this has anything to do with the Watt Community College Massacre.

Archie Zem's Social Media Post

After completing "Elephant" on S-rank, you can find a box labelled "Recovered Social Media" in the evidence locker. It shows a removed post on the social media platform Malibuu, posted by Archie Zem on the day of the massacre. The post is heavily redacted so it is hard to decipher what he is talking about. The post reads:

It seems like this is it, one last *REDACTED*. But to those that I love, family in particular, it was never meant to be this way. The things I will do, the acts I will commit today, will shock this country to its core. The people who *REDACTED* never cared for us and never will, our brains rot midst of our *REDACTED*. There is no escape, all of us who wander this hellhole have been foreordained by whoever *REDACTED*, and we are only fastening the process now. This country spirals every day only destined for *REDACTED*. I will likely die tomorrow, hopefully in a hail of bullets when the pigs arrive. Maybe we can put some of those *REDACTED* after the initial carnage.

To Chase and Albert, *REDACTED*, and I will forever *REDACTED* for what you have done for me. It gets to me knowing this will be the last day I see your faces, smiles, and laughs.

THE STAGE HAS BEEN SET, TO THOSE WHO HAVE WRONGED US YOU WILL *REDACTED*

*REDACTED*

Victims

Tilly - Tilly's Bag can be found in the evidence locker. She attended the college for around a year, hoping to become a psychotherapist due to seeing mental health stigmatized and belittled in her community. Unfortunately, she would perish in the attack.

Son of Thomas Rudes - It is alluded to that Thomas Rudes's son was killed during the massacre, leading to him having a mental breakdown during work and quitting his job.

Eight People - On the map Greased Palms, you can find a donation box raising money for the families of the victims. This small memorial reveals that at least eight civilians were killed overall in the attack, although judging by societal reaction to the shooting it seems likely that there are more.

Unknown amount of people - Their bodies can be found in the theatre room, a officer will state that class was in session.

Trivia

• This mission is based on the 2003 movie of the same name, which was itself based on the real-life Columbine High School massacre.
• This is the only mission to not have any music (not including the training).
• The level is one of two levels in the whole game that is timed due to the bombs (approximately 18 minutes). The only other timed level is Relapse (approximately 30 minutes) due to more bombs.
• This is the only mission where your Officers take morale damage in Commander mode even if no civilians or suspects die.
• According to a pamphlet found in Police Headquarters after the Dark Waters update, Watt Community College has been reopened at some point between 2025 and 2028.

Columbine Massacre

• Both attacks were committed by students of the school in question.
• Both attackers used improvised bombs (at Columbine the bombs failed to detonate).
• Both attackers used illegally-modified automatic weapons.
• One of the suspects will have a similar appearance to Eric and Dylan.

Elephant (2003)

• The mission name "Elephant" shares the name of the 2003 Movie.
• One of the suspects will have a similar appearance to Alex from the same movie.
• In Elephant (2003) the high school is called Watt High School. In Ready or Not the college is called Watt Community College