School Shootings: Training For The Unthinkable

By Ken Smithgall

It was a warm spring day when a father and his son walked into the office of an Elementary / Middle School. The father was very upset because his son had been suspended for fighting at school. The School Administrator was very familiar with this family as they had several incidents involving this child in the past. The office staff tried to calm the father and called for the Principal.

As the Principal arrived at the office, the father appeared to become more agitated and angry. After attempting to calm the father and sensing no resolution, the Principal called for the School Resource Officer (SRO).

This scenario set the stage for an active shooter exercise designed for Marion County Public Schools to fulfill their Safe Schools Grant. An exercise planning team was comprised of representatives from the public school system, Sheriff's Office, Fire Rescue, County Health Department, local hospitals and the exercise contractor (Trident Consulting Group llc.).

The primary objectives for the exercise were to evaluate the local elementary schools response to an active shooter, their lock down procedures and integration into the ICS system as well as the district wide response from administrative staff. Secondary objectives were reserved for the first responders and hospitals which included On Site Incident Management, Law Enforcement Response, Pre Hospital triage and treatment, and Hospital Surge Protocol.

As the exercise played out, the father pulled a handgun from his waist and shot the two office staff members then attempted to shoot the Principal. In the meantime the son pulled out an assault rifle from a bat bag and attempted to make his way on to the school grounds to retrieve his younger sibling. The School Resource Officer arrived and was able to neutralize the threat before it could escalate.

This was noted in the After Action Report as a positive action as having a School Resource Officer assigned to schools can reduce or stop these types of incidents. The exercise was then reset and the scenario continued as originally written, that the son would make his way through the school engaging targets of opportunity then barricade himself in his siblings' class room.

As the School Resource Officer pursued the young gunman, he encountered injured students throughout the hall ways. (Local ROTC students volunteered to play the part of students and victims) At the same time the school was placed in lock down, teachers secured their doors and huddled their students in back corners of the class rooms. One teacher advised she could hear the bad guy trying to open the door while the screams of injured were heard in the background. The gunman made it to his siblings' classroom and barricaded himself with hostages in the class. Additional zone units arrived and assisted with securing the building and classroom.

An Incident Command Post was established by law enforcement and the Assistant Principal was assigned to assist and represent the school. The Principal was insuring that the school was in lock down and directing the operations of his staff, making proper notifications to the school district for response and trying to assist wounded staff and students. Additional resources were requested including the SWAT team and Fire Rescue. Within several minutes a command officer from Fire Rescue was on scene and a unified command was established.

Once the SWAT team arrived on scene, teams were assigned to relieve the inner perimeter zone units providing security. Additional SWAT team personnel removed the injured from the hallways to a secured area within the school. This area provided cover for Fire Rescue teams to move the injured out to a medical sector for field triage and treatment. A transport officer was identified and provided the information to local hospitals on the number of wounded that would be transported to each hospital. The hospitals initialized their emergency surge protocols and started working on moving and or discharging patients.

As the exercise played out, the young gunman attempted to flee the building and engage the officers. The threat was neutralized and secured. The remaining classrooms were searched by the SWAT team and students were escorted out of the building and searched. The exercise ended and everyone reported for the "Hot Wash".

Lessons Learned

During the After Action Report for the exercise, issues are identified that are both positive and areas for improvement. Both can be considered lessons learned and should be relayed to the participants of the exercise as well as the planners for the agencies involved.


About the Author

Ken Smithgall is the President and CEO of Trident Consulting Group llc. Mr. Smithgall has spent his career serving the public in both law enforcement and fire rescue fields. Mr. Smithgall has chaired several emergency preparedness committees and served on the State of Florida's Domestic Security Task Force.

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