GREENWOOD (KFSM)—The Greenwood police chief is talking about the importance of active shooter training in the wake of Monday’s (April 10) school shooting in California.
“It's tough to foresee something like this or even a plan because there's no specific description of what an active killer is,” Chief Will Dawson said.
That’s especially true in Monday’s situation at North Park Elementary School in San Bernardino.
Cedric Anderson, 53, reportedly checked into the main office saying he was there to drop something off for his wife. Police said he opened fire killing his spouse Karen Elaine Smith and a student standing behind her. Another student was also injured. Authorities said the gunman then turned the gun on himself.
“This is a husband that was coming in I guess over a domestic situation,” Chief Dawson said. “I’m not sure they could've prevented that without further security measures.”
Chief Dawson held an active shooter training seminar several days ago geared to help school officials.
“The more training they get to respond to those type of situations, that will reduce causalities if something like that does happen,” Dawson said.
Chief Dawson said the top priority for faculty is to get as many students as they can out of the building and away from the threat.
If that doesn’t work, he encourages teachers and staff to fight back with items such as a paper shredder or fire extinguisher, and do whatever they have to do to distract the suspect.
He said having school resource officers is also a good idea.
“We have two full time officers that are in schools looking at a third possibly being added here shortly,” Dawson said.
Fort Smith native Katlin Donnelly recently moved close to San Bernardino a few months ago. She said she watched the whole thing unfold on her local news.
“It's extremely scary,” Donnelly said. “Even though these students weren't targeted, the teacher was and she's not the only one in that classroom.”
Chief Dawson also said schools in Greenwood are doing an excellent job taking proper safety precautions. Every visitor is put into a computer system when they check in.