Here’s the thing about school shootings: The response can be flawless, and the outcome can still be horrific. On Wednesday morning, two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Georgia took their last breaths after being shot by a 14-year-old. Nine others at the school were wounded during the mass shooting.
Moments after the first shots were fired, screens in classrooms flashed the message, “hard lock down.” Well-rehearsed students pushed desks and chairs up against classroom doors to form barricades even as more shots echoed through the halls. School resource officers quickly confronted the shooter, who dropped to the ground and surrendered. EMS responders sped to the scene and tended to the casualties.
It was an exceptional response to an event that should have never happened.
