It’s the phone call / text that no parent ever wants to receive from their child. “Dad/Mom… there’s been a shooting at my school. I’m scared.” I’m thankful that my children are all out of high school but realistic enough to understand that doesn’t mean they are free of danger. In this case, there are some things to be learned from the event circumstances, the response and the mitigation/recovery.
First, I’m talking about the “school shooting” that occurred at Great Mills High School in Lexington Park, Maryland on March 20th. I put school shooting in quotes because it is NOT the “typical” what you’ve come to expect as a reported school shooting. This was not a mass attack. At the time of this writing, the indications are that it may not ever have intended to be such. It may well have been a murder attempt with a single intended victim. We’ll never know because the shooter was quickly neutralized by the School Resource Officer on site. Also, if this had happened in a department store parking lot, the number of dead/wounded would likely have remained the same but since it wasn’t on a school’s property, the mainstream media wouldn’t give it the time of day.
Second, the mainstream media representatives, as I watched them during the two press conferences I attended today, kept looking for a hook to make this bigger news. The expected politicians showed up to express their concern and shock to those in attendance. One or two of them tried to leverage the event into a greater call for gun control and bans on semi-automatic rifles. That proved a challenge since the shooter didn’t use a rifle and the only casualty reported (as of this writing) was the shooter himself. The female victim is reportedly in ICU at the PG County Shock Trauma unit. The male victim was shot in the leg and is in stable condition at a local hospital.
As a law enforcement professional it was heartening for me to see the support that turned out for the agency involved. Sheriff Tim Cameron and his St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office couldn’t ask for better neighbors or support as demonstrated this morning. On hand before 0900 local time was Sheriff Troy Berry from Charles County, troopers from the Maryland State Police (multiple barracks), representatives from the FBI and ATF. It further helps that St. Mary’s County has a Sheriff who has walked the walk as well as talking the talk. Way back in 2000, within fifteen months of the Columbine attack, I attended Active Shooter Response Instructor school being taught by none other than (now) Sheriff Time Cameron. Where other jurisdictions might have issues with whether or not their training is up to date, St. Mary’s doesn’t have that challenge. Where other jurisdictions have issues with whether or not their sheriff’s office is led by a warrior leader or a political leader, St. Mary’s County doesn’t have that challenge. Sheriff Cameron is a true law enforcement leader who takes care of his troops, and while I’m sure that aggravating for some in the county government at times, you can bet that this morning they were happy to have him in charge.
What is reported to have occurred this morning: a male senior at Great Mills High School took a Glock handgun (unspecified caliber as yet) to school where he shot a 16-yr old female and a 14-yr old male. The female suffered life threatening injuries while the 14-yr old male’s injuries were not as severe (shot in the leg is what’s reported). The School Resource Officer, Deputy First Class Blaine Gaskill ran to the sound of the shots and engaged the shooter. As I type this, social media is lighting up with posts about how DFC Gaskill is a hero and should never have to pay for his own drinks at any warrior’s bar every again. Amen.
While I was in Lexington Park this morning I had opportunity to speak with several members of the St. Mary’s County government, emergency management team and sheriff’s office. That DFC Gaskill’s actions are being praised and that he is held in the highest regard was made abundantly clear.
Now, with a high degree of seriousness, I want to talk about two things:
One – as a parent, getting that text or call from your child, and
Two – as the deputy who had to engage the shooter, dealing with the reality of shooting, or shooting at, a 17-year old violent actor.
For the first part, see the attached image which is a screen shot of the text conversation held between a friend of mine and his daughter (shared with his authorization). As a parent, I can’t imagine getting such a text and I commend my friend for how rationally he responded. He later told me that he was immediately checking any and all media sources for news of the event and trying to calm his child when first reports were that the shooter had been neutralized. On his facebook account he commented about how he is normally a fairly calm person who manages stress well, but getting such a text will certainly ramp up your heart beat and adrenaline. Again, I can’t imagine. That said, how do we deal with the potential of this? And I beg of you, don’t think to yourself, “This can’t happen here.” Yes… yes, it can. The worst lie you can tell yourself, which makes it an even worse lie to tell your children, is that it can’t happen where you live. No parent wants to face that reality but we all have to. It CAN happen where you live. Talk to your children. Know your school’s plans. Understand what will happen and how things will unravel after the fact. Find out what you can do to not make things worse… or even better, how you can help.
For the second item, after we finish congratulation DFC Gaskill, we have to recognize the reality he has to live with. No law enforcement agency I’m aware of trains officers to expect and plan to deal with the potential emotional trauma of having to shoot someone society still refers to as a child. I am IN NO WAY being critical of DFC Gaskill NOR of St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office. If there is any criticism offered here at all, it’s toward those agencies that don’t adequately train for such events; response to them; neutralizing them; managing multiple scenes and recovering afterward. But we’ve dealt with this reality since 2000. Most of the mainstream media saturation coverage has been on school shootings where a student (or students) brought guns to school, sometimes also with some improvised explosives and started killing classmates. Within hours (as was demonstrated today) politicians will leverage the event to meet an agenda; mainstream media will do their best to find a hook to sensationalize the event for better ratings; and the agency (or agencies) involved will spend days managing the after-event.
Let’s contemplate for a few minutes what Sheriff Cameron has to deal with. He has a minimum of five different agencies that responded and offered assistance. Simply coordinating that is a challenge. He has to deal with information dissemination without compromising the investigation. He has to deal with the county’s emergency management office. He has to deal with the school board (board of education). He has to deal with the fire department for emergency medical response. He has to deal with the shooter’s family and the families of the victims. He has to deal with his involved Deputy, the Fraternal Order of Police, State’s Attorney’s office and more. He has to answer to his community on the why of things and what’s happening next.
I list all that out to share some of what you should be training for. If your agency offers line officers active shooter response training but offers no training for command staff and absolutely nothing on how to manage the potential stress and emotional trauma that can come with such a response… then you just aren’t getting it right. And you owe your agency, your officers, your deputies, your community, your schools and the students in them… you owe it to all of them to being doing it right. If you’re not sure what “right” is, start studying.
Today in St. Mary’s County we saw how things can be done right. Without knowing the shooter’s motivation or intent, we have no way of knowing how many lives DFC Gaskill saved. I know at least one parent who is thankful that DFC Gaskill didn’t hide; didn’t hesitate; didn’t wait; didn’t stand by. He went – expeditiously – and did what needed to be done. I tip my hat to DFC Blaine Gaskill and Sheriff Cameron and everyone who responded this morning. Stay safe. Keep standing in the gap.
