Posted on 01/07/2004 5:19:45 AM PST by AAABEST
Shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday, the call came in to the Fort Myers police.
Officer John Harrington radioed dispatchers about shots fired in the Fort Myers High cafeteria.
The nightmare for every parent, teacher and student had begun: A madman with a gun was loose inside the school.
Luckily, this nightmare was only make believe.
It was real-life training for police and teachers in case a Columbine-type attack occurs in Fort Myers. The training at the school is the first of its kind for them.
“I thought about what I would tell a roomful of students,” said geometry teacher Janeen Overman. “I don’t like the idea that I have to think about it, but let’s get real.”
The chaos began during a teacher in-service day when the make-believe gunman — played by undercover officer Enrico Doro — fired some fake shots.
This cued the 15 drama students volunteering on their last day off from winter break to go into character.
Sophomore Erika Amaya, 15, played dead on the cafeteria floor as one of the gunman’s victims. Her friend, Jenna Jungferman, 17, joined others in running out of the cafeteria screaming, crying and waving their arms.
“As soon as the shots were fired, my emotions took over,” Jungferman said after it ended. “I don’t think I’ve ever run so fast in my life.”
Six officers working their normal patrols responded along with their supervisor. The pack put on protective gear and turned in their guns for training pistols that fired paintball-like pellets at 400 feet per second. At 9:45 a.m., they checked their weapons one more time before Sgt. Curt Roberts led them into the school.
The team soon reached the cafeteria.
“Several children in the cafeteria appear to be fine,” an officer radioed back to the command post.
Meanwhile, around 120 school staff members were in lockdown mode. They huddled in different classrooms with their doors locked and instructions not to open them for anyone.
Overman heard the shots and then someone trying to open her second-floor classroom door. “I knew it was fake, but it was scary,” she said.
Principal Richard Shafer understood.
“It was so strange to have gunfire in the halls,” he later said to Overman.
The officers took the stairs to the second floor and followed the suspect to the gym, where they cornered him. The gunman fired at the officers, hitting one in his bulletproof vest. The officers responded by shooting him dead about 19 minutes after the fake crisis began.
School officials, officers and students talked about their experience after the event. Police plan to evaluate the day’s events and put into practice the lessons they learned.
Sgt. Pat Gallagher, who first approached Shafer about the training, couldn’t go into detail for safety reasons about tactics they would do better next time.
But “it worked out well,” he said.
Of 20 million middle-school and high-school students, fewer than a dozen have killed at school this year. Of 20,000 secondary schools nationwide, only about 10 have reported a murder on campus...
Los Angeles Times Opinion column May 31, 1998
In 1997, 25 killings occurred in schools. That same year, 88 people were killed by lightning.
Los Angeles Daily News (June 5, 1998)
What are these silly fatsos doing running around high schools with more armament than I had when overseas war (other than creating child-gun-fear hysteria?
If you do the math using the statistics above, you'll find that less than 1 in a million children where murdered (by all causes not only guns) in school.
I wonder how much this illogical "for the children" fiasco cost taxpayers.
Lemme guess, current/ex-cop?
I'm also concerned about your anti-police attitude: "silly fatsos?"
It's a fact of life that most (not all, some are great guys) cops are overweight and not very bright - hence silly fatsos.
Thank you for your "concern"... are you my daddy smurfing as a FR poster? If not go pound a terd pile until you find someone who cares what you think.
I'm honestly regret sounding harsh, but your advocation of stupidity combined with the lame psychoanalysis didn't lay the groundwork for a "discussion".
Yeah, "saving people from gun violence". Join the Million-Moms and change your FR nick to "Million Mom Misterrob". You have their talking points down pat.
And with respect to the overweight comments, most of the cops that I know who are under 40 are in pretty good shape.
I challenge anyone reading this to go to a traffic court session and simply observe. Most are overweight if not outright obese. Alcholism is a rampant and triple digit IQs are extremely hard to come by.
Maybe he was rejected from too many police depts?
HAHAHAHAHA!
Sorry, but you couldn't pay me nearly enough and I haven't been on a W-2 for years.
Yes there are ways to get control of our kids. Good post.
Several cops have told me over time that by the time they show up at a crime scene, it's already too late.
Well, looks like you know what the deal is. Yes, there are a lot of whackos running around, and yes, the cops usually arrive after the crime has been committed. You probably also know that as things stand, police are under no legal obligation to protect you from anything - several court cases have reinforced this point, most notably Warren v. District of Columbia.
So it looks like we have two choices in the matter. We either petition our politicians to pass laws that give law enforcement greater ability to stop a crime before it happens, or we petition them to rescind laws that make it all but impossible for the individual to protect himself.
The typical attacker at a school probably has some specific target in mind. I have never tried to open a schoolroom door with a shotgun, but I bet it could be done.
Most of the classrooms I attended had a full wall of unscreened windows through which a determined attacker could enter.
I wonder why they didn't cover this in their scenario? Maybe because unarmed teachers locked in their classrooms cannot protect their students from such an attack.
Yeah that's it, I envy them and their high rates of alcoholism, divorce, spousal abuse and mental illness. I want to be paranoid, take a hefty pay cut, gain some weight, become an authoritarian and lower my IQ.
As I said there are great cops out there but they are few and far between. You do however have a point with troopers, they (for the most part) more professional, businesslike and down to earth than their local counterparts. They also usually get paid better, maybe that's part of the problem.
More power to the officers you describe, but they are the exception. Most are fat, undiciplined and dumb, just a simple fact of life. If you can't deal with facts as they are you should learn how.
"All right, now, class, we're going to play a game of Human Shield now."
"What's that, Mister Drill?"
"That's where we all show how much we respect non-violence and diversity of opinion. Now you line up in three ranks right here in front of Mr. Drill's desk. That's right. Closer. Now all hold hands and sing 'We Are The World.' Mr. Drill will be keeping time from under his desk..."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.