Not 'if' but 'when'

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-“All units update,” crackled Dispatch over a dozen radios crowded around the county’s mobile tactical command post parked behind the Colter Elementary School. “Be advised, suspect is an older male wearing a blue hoodie. He is armed … pistol. He may be holding a hostage.”

“There are also students in the classroom,” added negotiator Michelle Weber. Sgt. Kelly Wells lead the snipers to nearby rooftops. Two entry teams carrying bolt-cutters, a Halligan entry tool, and door ram made their way to the school entrances. Cpl. Russ Ruschill geared up and headed out to backup the tactical squads covertly, travelling light and fast.

Dean of Students Glenna Weaver sounded an alarm that sends the school into lockdown mode. At the onset of an armed intruder situation, all classroom doors are locked from the inside. Teachers are instructed to open the door only for law enforcement or school personnel who identify themselves. Calls to the school from anxious parents will eventually be rerouted to emergency services in the event of a hostage situation.

The dawn of school shootings
The scenario has become all too familiar: Yellow crime scene tape cordons off a school hallway filled with prone bodies and blood-spattered walls. Before the term “school shooting” became popularized to describe gun violence perpetrated at an educational institution, the country was blissful and ignorant. Until Charles Whitman changed everything.

Whitman’s rampage from an observation tower on the Univ. of Texas campus at Austin in 1966 killed 17 and wounded 31. It forever changed the way we think about schools and guns and what would happen if the two were suddenly thrust together in the hands of a troubled soul.

The Texas massacre gave birth to modern day police tactical units known as SWAT teams – Special Weapons and Tactics – and spawned a growing trend of school shootings. After several shootings at public schools grabbed headlines in the mid-90s, CNN aired a news story on March 25, 1998 claiming that shootings like the Jonesboro Middle School massacre – perpetrated by two boys, 11 and 13 – were on the increase but “still relatively rare.” Before the decade ended, four more shootings would claim lives at schools in Oregon, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
And then there was Columbine.

The shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado was the fourth-deadliest school killing in U.S. history and marked a moral panic turning point in societal values toward teenagers and trouble. Following the attack, the Secret Service and the Department of Education launched something called the Safe School Initiative. The partnership’s objective was to attempt to identify information that could be obtainable, or “knowable,” prior to an attack.

The joint-agency effort between the Jackson Police Department (JPD) and the Teton County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) got underway early on the afternoon of December 13. A light snow was falling. The Chief of Police paced outside the mobile Incident Command (IC), radio in one hand, cell phone in the other. Dan Zivkovich orchestrated the movements of a dozen law enforcement officers in a practice drill designed to assess how police and sheriff personnel would react to a school hostage/shooting scenario.
Zivkovich would later tell the student body the goal of the exercise was to test the mettle of both students and cops “when the real thing happens.” Not “if,” he told them deliberately, but “when.”

The trial run is something the high school likes to run through every two years, according to Weaver. She and Deputy Brett Bommer attended a school violence workshop in Denver where a SWAT team from Bailey, Colorado shared some tips of the trade. “We left thinking it would probably be good to practice an evacuation,” Weaver said.

After the simulation is initiated, only those officers playing the roles of “bad guys” know exactly what will transpire. The good guys, as in a real situation, read and react. Smooth communication is essential. During the drill last month, SWAT units had the keys to the school building in minutes while IC officers huddled over blueprints of the school’s layout.

“All units update … suspect in hoodie appears to be leading another male around … possible hostage. They are in the art room.” Zivkovich deployed units to the southeast corner of the building. Dispatch operators are the incident commander’s ears; detachments in the field are the eyes. The command post is setup out of the line-of-sight with the action for several reasons.

“First is for security reasons,” said Zivkovich. “A person with a high-powered rifle could make life miserable for anyone at IC. We also don’t want the perpetrator to see IC or the amount of force we have around him.”

The sniper team was first to radio back information. “There are 12 windows, all with shades drawn except for 9 and 11. There are students in the classroom.”
“I have him. He’s 88 yards out,” said another sniper.

Only IC can clear a sniper to “take the shot” and only if a situation has elevated to that level. “We don’t artificially escalate the situation,” Zivkovich said. “If we see the suspect shoot, we will. In extreme cases, when things go bad, like with shots fired, we will engage with deadly forced.”

Managing deadly force is the job of the tactical leaders. Calming the gunman is the negotiator’s task. JPD/TCSO use Michelle Weber and Tony Matthews as negotiators when Dispatch can route a call through to them. They are strategically isolated from radio chatter and other chaos at IC to shield the caller from sensitive tactical information that might be overheard and to allow negotiators to focus in on a one-on-one conversation.
“Hi, Jack,” Weber said while connected with the hostage-taker. “We’re working on everything you wanted. We don’t want you to hurt anybody. Is everyone OK? We’re working with you the best we can.”

Weber let Zivkovich know the perpetrator has demanded a ladder and a van. He authorized both but is distracted by radio transmissions that suggest there may be a second gunman.

“Copy that, Wells?” the Chief asked.
Negotiators report suspect is becoming increasingly angered. “He’s yelling and screaming and keeps hanging up on me,” Weber told the Chief. The situation begins breaking down.

Inside the school, hostilities commence. The first entry team has surprised a gunman in the lobby while securing the halls. IC hears the aftermath minutes later in spurts.
“All units … shots fired,” Dispatch relayed coldly.
“Talk … Wells?” Zivkovich said.

“Subject down,” Wells said calmly. “Jack is mobile.”
Another radio message blared, “Two subjects down.”
And just like that it was over. Armed with automatic weapons, the two entry teams had engaged both perpetrators with deadly force.

“Code Four. Scene is stabilized,” came the final radio communications over police channel six.

Student body meets heroes
After Weaver and Bommer unlocked and checked every classroom and bathroom, all students reassembled in the gymnasium where they met the 12 men and women who were prepared to put their lives on the line had this been a real emergency.

“We do this exercise to train ourselves but also to add the dynamic of you,” Zivkovich told the students. “When the real thing happens, some of you will help and some will get in the way.”

Turning to the lineup of the heavily-armed SWAT teams, Zivkovich said, “These people here before you are the reason why you can sleep at night. They are more than just men and women in uniform, they are fathers and mothers; they are part of this community. They are also people who can meet violence with violence. Sometimes, we have to be prepared to go to the extreme.”

The practice went smoothly but both school officials and law enforcement learned valuable lessons, things they could have done better. Channel six doesn’t come in well along High School Road and the set of four keys for the school didn’t say which key unlocked which door.

“We have a drill folder and found out it wasn’t working,” Weaver said later. “That’s why you do drills.”
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Not 'if' but 'when' | Planet JH News Article: Jackson Hole High School

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