caught in the crossfire: every second counts during and after a campus shooting
DESCRIPTION
The author's portion of a 3-part panel presentation at the 61st Annual International Association of Emergency Managers Conference in Reno Nevada, 30 October 2013. This builds on the other presenters with a treatment of the author's experiences in the December 14th 1992 school shooting at Simon's Rock College in Massachusetts, 20-years to the day before Sandy Hook, changes in response to schools shooting over 20 years, and a look some of the 'hard questions'. The other presenters were Sue Fisher, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator at California State University at Fullerton, and Lisa Morris, Emergency Manager at Southern Methodist University.TRANSCRIPT
Eric Vought, CommanderLawrence County Sheriff ’s Auxiliary
October 30, 2013Silver Legacy Hotel andEvents Center, Reno, NV
Caught in the Crossfire
Part I – The Story
14 Dec 1992, at Moonlit MA Campus
A phone call, interrupted.
“Something's going on . . . . “
“Get back in your room, lock the door, and get under the bed.”
6 people shot; 2 fatalities.
A Long NightHours to get that
information.Night waiting to learn
who would live.Three hours for
police/EMTs to enter campus.
Former roommate arrested and charged with murder.
Campus Upended
Dorms considered crime scenes, closed off = refugees everywhere.
Parents arriving, finals canceled.
State police gathering evidence.
Why did this happen?
Sequestered
A full year for the trial to start.
No news; could not witness trial.
Friends saved clippings in a box.
Year of the Living Dead
Conversational pitfalls.New students don't
know what's happened, no one will explain.
The Night the Music Died; invisible victims.
Civil suits and effects on the administration.
The Squirtgun IncidentFear comes in
technicolor plastic.
Community simmered: “Free Lev Bronstein!”
The Dean speaks.Students crumble,
the wounded stand tall.
Fast Forward
“Goneboy” - Greg Gibson's closure.
Struggling with illness.
Writing Wayne Lo after 17 years.
Sandy Hook on 20th anniversary.
Part II – How Do We Deal With This?
Can We Stop It?
Resounding NO.
Mitigation is possible.
Response Is Possible, But Must Be
In depth, instantaneous and highly adaptive.
Dependent on bystanders for critical moments.
Active shooter incident often leaves victims on own.
Communicate/coordinate to transition to professional response.
But I’m Not a Professional!Bad stuff happens; we
don't choose comrades.Coordination and
training happens before incident.
Local response must be automatic, reflexive.
Wide dispersion of trained volunteers bridge to professionals.
Community Survival Skills Triad
Everyone participates.
Know when to get out of the way.
How to transition to professional response.
CSS
First
Aid
Comms
Self-Defens
e
Lawrence County Sheriff’s Auxiliary
Joplin EF-5 14-county deputy depletion.
Supplements Sheriff's Office manpower.
Organized February 2012.
Trained, deploy as teams, exercise, interoperation, ICS/NIMS.
On-call, armed, non-peace-officer volunteers.
Self-Defense, a Combative Topic
Never enough police.Shooters like soft
targets; guns level playing field.
Evidence that defender need only disrupt attack.
They intend to break the law and not survive; control.
Out of the box: Children can defend. ALICE.
AlertLockdownInformCounterEvacuate
Moral/Spiritual Questions:Victims/Communities must choose
I have used first-aid kit more than gun.Defense important but priorities often
wrong.Firearm as right not separable from
duty; requires training, coordination, sense.
Our society founded on citizen response; how to make effective in modern US?
ResourcesOur School ShootingGone Boy by Gregory Gibson20 Years Later: Community Rememb
ersTeachers as Armed Guards in Michi
ganThe A.L.I.C.E ProgramTeachers Simulate A.L.I.C.E. Defens
eActive Shooters in Schools: An Opti
on-Based Active-Shooter Policy for Schools
Lawrence County Sheriff’s Auxiliary