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(The views expressed in commentaries are not necessarily those of site sponsors.) July 19, 2022 Lessons and new school incursion protocol for
the post-Columbine times are taught here, in suburban Denver. The center is named after former Columbine principal Frank DeAngelis,
second from right in this 2018 photo. U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., is at the center. (Terry Frei photo.) The passage below in a Texas Tribune Sunday story about the murders of 19
students and two faculty members in Uvalde on May 24 especially caught my attention. It refers to the 77-page report on the
killings released by a Texas House committee Sunday.
The failure of police to quickly subdue the shooter has faced widespread
public condemnation and criticism from fellow law enforcement officials. At its core, the committee report echoes criticisms
made previously by police tactics experts: that instead of following the doctrine developed after the 1999 Columbine High
School massacre, which dictates that officers immediately confront active shooters, police at Robb Elementary retreated after
coming under fire and then waited for backup.
“They failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety,” the committee said
in its report. Responding officers, many angry, not allowed to enter Columbine
right away. Protocol of time was to secure perimeter until SWAT could go in. 1st SWAT team didn't enter until 47 min after
first shots fired. Killers had shot themselves in library 2 min earlier after rampage. Responding officers, many angry, not allowed to enter Columbine
right away. Protocol of time was to secure perimeter until SWAT could go in. 1st SWAT team didn't enter until 47 min after
first shots fired. Killers had shot themselves in library 2 min earlier after rampage. Responding officers, many angry, not allowed to enter Columbine
right away. Protocol of time was to secure perimeter until SWAT could go in. 1st SWAT team didn't enter until 47 min after
first shots fired. Killers had shot themselves in library 2 min earlier after rampage. Responding officers, many angry, not allowed to enter Columbine
right away. Protocol of time was to secure perimeter until SWAT could go in. 1st SWAT team didn't enter until 47 min after
first shots fired. Killers had shot themselves in library 2 min earlier after rampage. Responding officers, many angry, not allowed to enter Columbine
right away. Protocol of time was to secure perimeter until SWAT could go in. 1st SWAT team didn't enter until 47 min after
first shots fired. Killers had shot themselves in library 2 min earlier after rampage.
 At Columbine on April 20, 1999, the first shots had rang out at 11:19 a.m.
Responding officers,
many of them angry and bordering on the defiant, were not allowed to go in the school right away. The protocol of the time
was to secure the perimeter until SWAT officers could enter.
We didn't know any better. The first SWAT
team entered Columbine at 12:06 p.m., or 47 minutes after the first shots.
It also was a half-hour after the killers' seven-minute
siege in the library, where they killed 10 of their classmates and wounded 12 more. It also was two minutes after
the murderers returned to the library and shot themselves. The total toll that day: Twelve students and one teacher, Dave Sanders, were murdered. The second SWAT
team climbed through a teachers' lounge window and into the school at 1:09. The killers had shot themselves 61
minutes earlier. One of the SWAT teams came across the mortally wounded Sanders in a science room at 2:40 and summoned pramedics.
Sanders was pronounced dead at 3:10. The killers had been dead for three hours. The school wasn't declared secure
until 4:00. The killers had been dead for nearly four hours. We were supposed to have
learned from that. Those at Uvalde
didn't heed the lessons. Or were too scared to. What a shame. So was this: After rurning 18 the previous week, the killer on consecutive days legally purchased two AR-15-style
assault rifles, plus a total of 2,115 rounds of ammunition.
(NOTE: I helped Frank DeAngelis with his book: They Call Me "Mr. De": The Story of Columbine's
Heart, Resilience, and Recovery. Information from the book is used in the above.)
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