During the April 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, six Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies responded within four minutes of the initial call.
After establishing a perimeter around the school, deputies exchanged fire with gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s report on the incident. A SWAT team finally entered the building two minutes before Harris and Klebold died by suicide, more than a half hour after the first student was shot and killed.
In the end, 13 people were killed and 21 were injured in the school shooting.
Tooele County Sheriff Paul Wimmer said tactics in an active shooting situation have changed in the nearly 19 years since Columbine.
“The typical protocol back in the day was when you had a major situation, you’d hold the scene and call SWAT out,” Wimmer said. “Well, in an active shooter situation, the damage is done in the first few minutes.”
Both Wimmer and Grantsville City Police Chief Jacob Enslen said case studies show that most shooters give themselves up or die by suicide when law enforcement officers are on scene. It’s the reason law enforcement in Tooele County and around the nation are now training officers to immediately enter the school and engage the gunman.
“We know that in an active gunman situation, it’s going to be whoever is closest is going to that school,” Wimmer said. “That’s not one where you wait for SWAT to go out.”
Tooele City Police Sgt. Tanya Kalma said school resource officers receive specialized training for working in schools, which can range from dress code violations and minor disputes to active shooter situations. If officers come in contact with a threat, they are trained to engage it, she said.
“Our officers are trained to stop the threat,” Kalma said.
During the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, a Broward County sheriff’s deputy and school resource officer waited outside the school for four minutes. Inside the school, 17 people were killed in the shooting, which lasted about six minutes, according to a preliminary timeline from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
“I would hope if there’s an active shooter incident taking place, any officer would go in and address the threat,” Enslen said.
“We don’t train that it’s an option to go in, we train that you go in,” Wimmer said. “We train that you go in alone, if need be. If there’s no one else there, you go in.”
County agencies, including the sheriff’s office, Grantsville City and Tooele City police, and Utah Highway Patrol, participate in annual training together, Wimmer said. Tooele County Sheriff Lt. Eli Wayman said the training focuses on getting in and addressing the threat and doesn’t use SWAT hand signals or other complicated communication for small two or three-member teams that might arrive at the shooting at the same time.
County law enforcement agencies train in Tooele County School District school buildings when class isn’t in session over Christmas or the summer break, Wimmer said. This builds familiarity with the layout of the schools and allows small teams or solo officers to practice clearing rooms.
County law enforcement has also trained with the virtual reality simulator operated by the Utah Attorney General’s office. Wimmer said the simulator adds the element of a full school with fleeing students and trains officers to identify shooters in the crowd.
The more realistic the training can be, the better equipped officers are to respond properly should a shooting occur, according to Wayman.
“In our training, we try to induce that level of stress and that kind of pressure so that it’s not a new thing should it ever actually happen,” Wayman said.
Members of the county’s SWAT team participate in more regular training and active shooter response is a primary focus, according to Wayman. Enslen said there is an upcoming training involving the county’s SWAT team that will feature non-lethal training ammunition.
Wimmer said the sheriff’s office meets with school district officials monthly to monitor the environment of the schools.
Enslen said meeting with the principals of the schools in Grantsville was an early priority of his tenure as police chief and he will be meeting with staff in the coming weeks to ensure everyone is on the same page in regard to lockdown procedure.
Local law enforcement also plan for large outdoor events and gatherings, such as Country Fan Fest or lantern festivals at Utah Motorsports Campus. Wayman said event security involves ensuring police are properly deployed to provide security in crowds of thousands.
“We try to place people in certain areas — ingress, egress points,” he said. “We just try to have people spread out enough so that if something was to go down, we’re able to respond very quickly.”
Wimmer said following the Oct. 1 shooting in Las Vegas, the county changed and upgraded its security for Country Fan Fest this year, with high-vantage observation towers and more roof checks on nearby buildings among the changes.
Kalma said that each new shooting provides more information to police on improvements they can make in responding to active shooter events. She said law enforcement must be flexible in their response to shooting incidents.
“As they’re changing and evolving, our response does as well,” Kalma said.
Active shooters are situations specific to law enforcement, whether it’s school shootings, domestic violence or workplace violence, Kalma said.
“We understand that’s part of why we do this job, to protect the safety of the public,” she said.
Enslen said officers must guard against a sense of complacency setting in, in regard to active shooting incidents.
“You’ve got to be vigilant,” he said.
Training is intended to keep officers prepared and sharp if a shooting happens.
“We pray none of this ever happens but we try to cover the full gamut of possibilities and at least have a game plan in place for it,” Wayman said.