CLEVELAND—City police officers who responded to the shooting rampage by a 14-year-old student at a downtown high school had been trained to storm the school and immediately go after the shooter.
Cleveland police on Wednesday arrived at SuccessTech Academy within three minutes of the first radio call, police said. Working together, officers climbed the stairs of the converted five-story downtown office building to where the most recent 911 callers said they had seen the shooter.
“That’s what we do,” said patrolman Frank Woyma. “We don’t worry about ourselves. We go in, no matter what.”
Less than five minutes after the first radio call, they found the body of Asa Coon, who had committed suicide with a gunshot to the head after shooting two teachers and two students. The teachers and students all survived.
Charging in and searching for the gunman is a change from what police around the nation did in similar situations before the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in which 12 students and a teacher were killed.
Police then were usually instructed to wait outside buildings until the heavily armored SWAT team arrived—even if officers could hear gunshots coming from inside.
Those tactics allowed two teenagers more time to fire at students at the Colorado school, critics have said.
Cleveland patrolman Douglas Nichols was trained in the new approach several years ago. At first, he thought the department was preparing for something that would probably never happen, he said.
But as he and the other officers climbed the stairs at SuccessTech, he fell back on that training: form groups, move fast, take cover and communicate.
The officers were taught to go toward crying or whimpering, but not to stop and help the wounded until the shooter is found and stopped, said patrolman Jeff Petkac.
Just after reports of the shooting came in, Gary Gingell, who oversees Cleveland’s SWAT team, called to offer help to Joseph Sadie, the acting commander of the department’s 3rd district. Sadie told him that district police already had the building under control.
Chief Michael McGrath decided last year to require training for every city police officer on how to deal with shooters who target homes, factories or businesses. But Wednesday’s shooting felt different because children were involved, officers said.
“When we went in, all I could think about was my own kids, how terrified they would be,” said police Sgt. Gary Rizk.
———
Information from: The Plain Dealer,
