On guard against mass shooting

from Richard Brooks, The Press-Enterprise

Fatal school shootings have occurred six times in California since 1976, when Edward Allaway killed seven fellow university employees and wounded two others in the Cal State Fullerton library.

Since then, nationwide bloodbaths have erupted from Columbine to Virginia Tech.

Now, the Fontana Police Department is joining other law enforcement agencies in issuing rifles to school resource officers and other officers so they can form an assault team if they are the first to arrive at a shooting spree in a school, market, mall or other public place.

Fontana police Cpl. Dave Lally, right, demonstrates a magazine change on an AR-15 rifle during training for police officers in Lytle Creek.
“We want … these dirt bags who are planning evil to plan it somewhere else,” said Sgt. Doug Wagner, who readily acknowledges that the ultimate goal is to kill any gunman who can’t be deterred.

Thirty-one officers already are patrolling Fontana streets with rifles in their patrol cars. Ten more rifles are awaiting distribution. At least eight are on order.

At the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Academy, officers from 13 agencies recently have undergone training with rifles, or have signed up for classes. The agencies include the Redlands and Desert Hot Springs police departments and the San Bernardino City Unified School District Police Department.

In Riverside County, most police agencies that deal with the county’s 23 school districts subscribe to the rapid-attack philosophy of dealing with shooters on campus, said Lt. Doug McGrew, sheriff’s liaison to the Riverside County Office of Education.

“I know our department is going to … assemble a team and go after the threat,” McGrew said. “And I think a majority of the law enforcement agencies in the county would do the same. I would say a majority of the school resource officers in the county have had some sort of training on this.”

So far, no gunman ever has killed anyone at a school in San Bernardino or Riverside counties, according to local authorities and national reports.

But when a man killed 32 people and then himself at Virginia Tech in April 2007, police say it hammered home one major lesson: The first arriving officers must be prepared to immediately halt shooting rampages, rather than wait for SWAT teams that can take more than an hour to assemble and reach a crisis scene.

Weapon of Choice

Why issue rifles?

When a killer is shooting, Wagner and other experts say, a pistol doesn’t have the accuracy or stopping power to guarantee an immediate end to the violence, particularly from long range.

A shotgun also is a short-range weapon, and often a poor choice if the incident involves hostages or crowded rooms.

“If you know you’re going into a gunfight, take a rifle — and a friend with a rifle,” says Corona resident Mike Hall, a retired Santa Ana police officer-turned-firearms instructor who teaches at several police academies. “If handguns were all that great, we’d send our military into combat with handguns.”

A police rifle bullet immediately killed a gunman who was holding a handgun to his ex-girlfriend’s head Jan. 4 in a Chino market busy with more than 30 people, investigators say.

The gunman already had wounded his hostage in the arm and her sister in the chest, and had shot at two customers who escaped injury, said Chino police Lt. Al Cheatham.

Although the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office hasn’t ruled on whether the officer’s actions were justified, Chino police officials say the rifle shot saved both women and maybe others.

“Every one of our black-and-white patrol cars has a … rifle and a shotgun in it,” Cheatham said.

“We have regular training for these types of scenarios.”

Also armed with rifles are the school resource officers at Chino’s three high schools.

The department’s active-shooter rifle program is an outgrowth the April 1999 slaying of 12 students and a teacher, and wounding of 23 others, at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo.

“One of the (lessons) that came out of that is: You can’t wait for a SWAT team to arrive if you have someone … who is still firing,” Cheatham said. “That’s our mission: Stop the shooter.”

Threats and Solutions

Shooters on school campuses can range from angry students to determined terrorists, said Dave Grossman, a former West Point psychology professor who has investigated school shootings and frequently speaks to police groups.

The odds of a school attack in any particular community are low, Grossman said. But so are the chances of a particular police officer being shot during a traffic stop, he says.

“Yet we train for that eventuality on a regular basis,” he said.

On his Web site, Grossman recommends that every school:

Deter would-be shooters by posting armed security officers in plain view.

Detect the telltale signs of an impending attack, which usually includes the would-be perpetrator checking entry and exit points, asking questions about security preparations and even photographing or sketching the area.

Delay attackers by hardening the campus with security checkpoints and random patrols.

Destroy any attacker who refuses to be deterred.

“Train your (school resource officers) to respond effectively … either alone or as a two-officer team, joining up with the first arriving patrol officer,” Grossman said. “Consider the controversial option of pre-positioning protective gear and a carbine for these officers.”

San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies are generally trained not to wait for a group of backup officers before responding.

“For our department, the minimum number of officers to go in and engage an active shooter is one,” said firearms instructor Cpl. Robert Warrick.

In some mountain and desert areas, deputies would have to wait up to 20 minutes for reinforcements, he said.

“Obviously, it’s more dangerous with just one officer,” Warrick said. “But when kids are being killed or harmed, you’ve got to go in.”