
| |||
Ready to take action
WILMINGTON – It took officers from four local police agencies to take down a gunman holding Booth Central Elementary School hostage Thursday. Luckily, Booth Central in Wilmington is no longer in use by the school district and the gunman was part of a police training simulation. Officers from the Grundy County Sheriff’s Department and Morris, Coal City and Minooka police departments have spent the last four days training with Illinois State Police on rapid deployment for an active shooter situation. Thursday morning, about 15 officers were broken up into groups to practice handling four active-shooter situations. Earlier in the week, the officers received instruction on different techniques to apprehend a gunman. Thursday, officers in the third group, made their way to the second floor of Booth Central as gunshots echoed in the stairwell. As they headed toward the sound, a man came running out, his hands up as he was yelling, “Help me! Help me!” The man was guided to safety and then the officers rushed the room with guns ready. A bit of hesitation was shown, however, as they were going through the classroom doorway. “Don’t ever expect the person in front of you to go in one direction. You just go in the opposite direction of them,” Chris Garibay, ISP sergeant, said. “You’ve got to be safe, so give good directions. Let your team know what you want them to do.” Once in the location, a man was found in the center of the room, pointing a gun at a victim lying on the ground. “This is the hardest part for police officers. When a gun is pointed at you, you know it is immediate,” said Ron Caves, state trooper. “But when it’s pointed at someone else, it’s harder for an officer to put out shots.” Caves emphasized to the officers that a gun pointed at someone else is just as much of a threat as though it were pointed at them. “Our job is to protect. What’s faster, action or reaction?” he asked. The officers went through several scenarios, including a “no-shoot” situation. In this scenario, a “coach” was able to get the gun away from the shooter, but was still holding the weapon when officers rushed into the classroom. The officers then had to assess the situation to make sure the man holding the weapon was not actually the shooter. Comments
|
AP VideoReader pollBlogs
» Morris Mirror
![]() Loving the Colts; disliking Marinelli's promotionThough it has been reported on during ESPN's scrolling The Lead all week, I still don't know for sure if Indianapolis DE Dwight Freeney is going to play in tonight'sSuper Bowl XLIV.
» Morris Mirror
![]() Martz hired as Bears offensive coordinatorIt figures that the same day I pen a column ripping the Chicago Bears for their lengthy search for an offensive and defensive coordinator, they actually go and hire one. |
||