Saturday, July 16th, 2022
ACTIVE SHOOTER
Today, it was a drill
By Leslie Gartrell
Photo by Leslie Gartrell/The Daily Standard
Wright State University-Lake Campus Police Officer Tyler Pottkotter runs into a classroom during active shooter training on Friday at Fort Recovery Elementary/Middle School.
FORT RECOVERY - Mercer County Sheriff's Office deputy Kristen Nixon dashed through Fort Recovery Elementary/Middle School, running toward calls for help from a classroom down the hall.
"He's got a gun!" teachers in faux bloody shirts shouted from behind protective headgear. "You have to help us, hurry!"
As she neared the classroom, Fort Recovery Police Chief Jared Laux stopped Nixon from entering. He said she needed to wait for a SWAT team to arrive and that more backup was needed.
After hesitating for a few moments, Nixon ran past Laux and into the classroom, exchanging plastic bullets with the would-be bad guy.
Photo by Leslie Gartrell/The Daily Standard
Fort Recovery Police Chief Jared Laux tries to dissuade Mercer County Sheriff's Office deputy Kristen Nixon from entering a classroom with an active shooter.
Law enforcement personnel from across the county were thrown into similar chaotic situations during the seventh annual active shooter training held Thursday and Friday at the school.
This year's training also incorporated for the first time the Rescue Task Force, a group of first responders who join law enforcement agencies to help the wounded.
Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey observed the scenario from the opposite end of the hallway. The exercise was modeled after the delayed law enforcement response to the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Grey said.
Although law enforcement had arrived within minutes of the shooting at Robb Elementary School, heavily armed and trained officers waited more than an hour to enter the classroom and kill the gunman. Nineteen children and two teachers died in the attack.
"Nobody took charge," Grey said of the response to the Texas shooting. "One of the things we're really stressing is you go in, period. You go. Nobody's gonna stop you. If somebody tells you to stop, you go anyway."
Photo by Leslie Gartrell/The Daily Standard
Fort Recovery patrolman Adam Diller enters a classroom.
Going against orders can be difficult for law enforcement personnel, especially those who work at the sheriff's office, according to Grey.
The office operates much like the military. Rank and seniority are important, he said, and officers and deputies are expected to follow orders.
Yet rank and file goes by the wayside in an active shooter scenario, he said.
"Our No. 1 directive is to get in the school and take out the threat," Grey said. "(Taking orders and following rank) is off the table here."
In the past, law enforcement personnel had been trained to wait for at least three, but preferably four, officers to arrive before responding to an active shooter situation, Grey said.
However, Grey said they now train to respond to active shooter situations alone, as well as linking up with other officers, the rescue task force and other first responders after the threat has been contained.
The two-day training series presented law enforcement and rescue task force personnel with real-life scenarios based on actual school shootings.
In one exercise modeled after the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida that left 17 people dead, a deputy acting as the gunman exited the classroom with other victims, blending in with the crowd to escape.
In another scenario, Fort Recovery's Laux impeded officers and deputies trying to respond to a shooting, testing their willingness to defy orders. Grey said this exercise was important for all officers and deputies, but especially those new to the force or still early in their career.
Photo by Leslie Gartrell/The Daily Standard
St. Henry patrolman Ryan On, left, engages with role players during active shooter training.
While training with the rescue task force, law enforcement practiced establishing perimeters and safe zones to quickly and safely bring in medical care.
Throughout the day, trainees were encouraged to use their radios, shout, identify themselves and communicate as much as possible to avoid confusion.
Although no lethal weapons were used in the training, law enforcement practiced with airsoft guns and pelted each other with plastic bullets, which several deputies noted can pack a punch.
Grey said all deputies are required to participate in the annual training. Other law enforcement agencies had the option to send half of their staff on Thursday and the rest of their staff on Friday to get everyone trained, he said.
Photo by Leslie Gartrell/The Daily Standard
Wright State University-Lake Campus Police Officer Tyler Pottkotter checks a role player for weapons after shooting her with an airsoft gun.
While officers are trained to respond to active shootings, Grey said there are steps civilians can take to prevent them from happening. Most often, a shooter will tell someone of their plans, he said.
"Most shooters have told someone about their plan… so they need to report it," Grey said. "One of the common traits with active shooters is they go from anger to hate, and there is a big difference between the two. If people see people that are exhibiting behavior and hate towards a group or towards a school or towards a school teacher or anybody, those are red flags we need to be aware of."
In fact, in four out of five school shootings at least one other person had knowledge of the attacker's plan but failed to report it, according to Sandy Hook Promise, a national nonprofit founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
Sandy Hook Promise and the FBI state warning signs include but are not limited to bullying and intolerance, especially if targeted toward differences in race, religion, gender or sexual orientation; bragging about access to guns or weapons; experiencing isolation; suddenly withdrawing from friends, family and activities, including online or via social media; excessive irritability, lack of patience or becoming angry quickly; expressing persistent thoughts of harming themselves or others; recruiting accomplices or audiences for an attack; making direct threats toward a place, person or themselves; or directly expressing a threat as a plan.
The FBI states one of the most important clues that may precede an adolescent's violent act is "leakage," when a student intentionally or unintentionally reveals clues to feelings, thoughts, fantasies, attitudes, or intentions that may signal an impending violent act.
These clues can take the form of subtle threats, boasts, jokes, innuendos, predictions or ultimatums, according to the FBI. They may be spoken or conveyed in stories, diary entries, essays, poems, letters, songs, drawings, doodles, tattoos or videos.
Another form of leakage involves efforts to get unwitting friends or classmates to help with preparations for a violent act, at times through deception, such as asking a friend to obtain ammunition to go hunting.
Leakage can be a cry for help, a sign of inner conflict or boasts that may look empty but actually reveal a serious threat, according to the FBI.
Photo by Leslie Gartrell/The Daily Standard
Mercer County Sheriff's Office detective Megan Baker runs into a classroom.
