Sandy Hook fallout extends to local communities
photo illustration by Linda Sappington
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MISSION VALLEY — Dec. 14, 2012, could very well be marked as the day when everything changed.
Whether that change will be positive or negative remains to be seen.
Sandy Hook
According to a press release from the Connecticut State Police dated Dec. 15, Newtown Police received a 911 call reporting a possible shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School around 9:30 a.m. Dec. 14.
Newtown Police and Connecticut State Police responded along with a host of “surrounding police agencies. Troopers, both on-duty and off-duty, responded to the scene.”
Teams of officers and troopers formed “active shooter teams” and entered the school, escorting students and teachers to safety. Once the shooter, later identified as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, was located, emergency personnel entered the school and pronounced 18 children and six adults dead at the scene.
Two children were taken to an area hospital where they were pronounced dead shortly after.
“The processing of the scene began immediately with documentation of the crime scene and identifying and gathering both physical and forensic evidence,” the press release said.
Beyond a few press releases issued from the Connecticut State Police in the weeks following the shooting, authorities remain tight-lipped regarding what exactly transpired that day. Several news organizations have resorted to interviewing the families of surviving students in order to gain a clearer perspective on what happened, despite a specific request from the CSP that news organizations refrain from doing so and respect the privacy of survivors and victims alike.
This has resulted in a multitude of conflicting accounts, misinformation and, ultimately, conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy theories
Several Second Amendment and gun-owner websites and forums have cast doubt over the facts of the case and, at times, openly accused law enforcement agencies and the mainstream media of lying to the public regarding the Bushmaster XM-15 rifle and its involvement in the massacre. Several of these sites contain a link or video clip of a Dec. 15 NBC “Today Show” clip in which Pete Williams, an NBC News Justice Department correspondent, said four handguns were recovered from inside the school and the assault rifle was found in the trunk of Lanza’s car.
These conspiracy theories drew so much attention the CSP issued an additional press release Jan. 18 stating, “In previous press conferences, the Connecticut State Police clearly identified all of the weapons seized from the crime scene at Sandy Hook Elementary School. To eliminate any confusion or misinformation, we will again describe and identify the weapons seized at the school crime scene.”
The press release goes on to identify three different weapons found inside the school: A Bushmaster .223 caliber Model XM15-E2S rifle with a 30-round magazine; a Glock 10-mm handgun and a Sig-Sauer P226 9-mm handgun.
An Izhmash Canta-12 12-gauge shotgun was found in Lanza’s car in the school’s parking lot.
Connecticut Chief Medical Examiner Dr. H. Wayne Carver II, M.D., performed the autopsies on the Sandy Hook victims and said in a phone interview with the Valley Journal that the weapon used in the attack was indeed the Bushmaster .223 rifle.
“It was used on all the kids and the teachers,” Carver said. “(Lanza) killed himself with one of the handguns.”
Carver said he was not able to determine exactly which handgun Lanza turned on himself, as the 9-mm Sig-Sauer and 10-mm Glock leave similar entry wounds and the bullet was not recovered as, “(Lanza) had an exit wound.”
Carver said he was at the scene of the shooting around four hours after the first 911 call came in. Upon arriving at the scene, “The first thing I saw was a German shepherd in a bullet proof vest. There were FBI guys in their full combat outfits; it was something else.”
In reference to conflicting reports early on in the investigation that would later spawn several conspiracy theories, Carver said there were multiple departments responding, and the scene was chaotic.
Even four hours after the shooting, Carver said he had trouble locating an incident commander.
“It was a zoo, ok?” he said. “I don’t know what to say (about the conspiracy theories). We’ve become a society where you can get 10 percent of people to believe anything. The Internet is a fabulous thing, but it has a downside to it, and it’s gotten to the point now where a profoundly compromised individual can cloak himself in some sort of psuedo-moral authority and say whatever they want.”
“Conspiracy theories used to take years to develop. They’re still talking about Kennedy and it’s been 40 years. What can I say?”
Local reaction
Schools around the country reacted to the shooting by, in some cases, sending teachers to obtain concealed-carry permits and allowing them to carry firearms in the classroom. Schools are also stepping up security, involving local law enforcement in emergency procedures and revising lockdown procedures.
Lake County schools are no exception.
Ronan-Pablo School District Superintendent Andy Holmlund said that while the school has a plan in place, he will not discuss it in a public forum.
“We have in place a multi-point plan that has been practiced and prepared to be as vigilant and ready for the unseen as we possibly can,” Holmlund said. “I cannot give out the specifics, because then all we’re doing is putting it out there for someone to say, ‘Oh, I know how to get around that,’ and I don’t want to create that level of knowledge. I don’t want to give the playbook up.”
Holmlund said he sees giving out specific details of school security and administrators as “pushing the button of the one unstable person who sees that as a challenge.”
Holmlund said schools around the country are generally very safe places.
“Can you tell me the last time a child died in a fire in a school? Schools are safe. They’re surrounded by people who care for children and put the child’s best interests and safety at the highest degree,” he said.
Holmlund pointed out that Sandy Hook teachers and administrators had laid down their lives to protect the children under their charge.
In a Jan. 16 column in the Valley Journal, Polson Superintendent of Schools Linda Reksten said Polson administrators, Polson Police and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office had “decided to look at the safety procedures at all schools. It was determined that we would standardize these procedures so that we could work effectively together in emergency situations to protect the safety of children and adults. As a result of this meeting, a district safety team was created to look at not only school procedures but the safety of each individual building in the district.”
The day of the Sandy Hook shooting, administrators checked to see all doors were locked and went over visitor procedures to be certain all visitors had registered at the main office. Polson Police and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office maintained a presence at the school to ward off any copycat crimes.
“We will be reviewing these security issues as a district safety team, and we will be improving our procedures throughout the year,” Reksten wrote.
Security cameras with monitors in the attendance offices were installed at Cherry Valley Elementary, Linderman Elementary and Polson Middle School. In addition, the district plans to install a doorbell system and identification badges for every staff member and substitute. Plans are under way to improve the security in the parking lot, doors and lockdown procedures at Polson High School, but all other security installations will be put off until repairs to the roof, soffits and heating system are complete.
“Again, our goal is to maintain a safe environment for students and staff,” Reksten emphasized.
Echoing these sentiments was St. Ignatius Schools Superintendent Bob Lewandowski. Since the Sandy Hook shooting, Lewandowski said he and his staff have taken many steps to ensure the safety of students.
“We’ve done a lot of things since Sandy Hook ... Sandy Hook is just another horrible incident that continues to push us to really refine what we do in schools, where people can go and who those people can be and what access they have to our children,” he said.
Lewandowski said the district has 12 panic buttons with the school security system to “address possible disruptions that would take place that might put our kids at harm.” All school doors are now equipped with a magnetic locking system.
The school also put together an emergency operations planning committee comprised of 23 members. These members include deputy county attorneys, Mission Valley Ambulance, Mission Valley Security, Tribal Law and Order, Mission Police, Mission Fire, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Ignatius School Resource Officer.
“We’ve met three different times, and they were a part of running our first lockdown drill under the new system,” Lewandowski said. “We’re really just trying to bridge a lot of gaps and pull together our community to help us with our emergency response protocols.”
With the new lockdown system, the school has practiced drills for handling everything from earthquakes to fires to hazardous material spills that could occur and is now in line with the National Incident Management System. The school even changed its community library hours to limit public access while children are in school.
And even so, both Holmlund and Lewandowski say the issue is bigger than their respective school districts.
“I really believe it’s a societal thing,” Lewandowski said. “I think it’s bigger than just what our school district can do as far as addressing some of those issues ... I think everybody is looking for a quick answer, and I don’t think it’s out there. I don’t think there’s just one solution.”
Holmlund said he doesn’t believe something like the Sandy Hook shooting can ever truly be prevented.
“It’s a mental health issue, not a gun issue,” he said. “Look at the overall dollars used for locking up criminals as opposed to providing mental health (care). It’s a big difference, and with an individual’s right to privacy, it’s difficult to set aside an individual’s rights, because you have a hunch that they might do something because they look or act a little different.”
That being said, both men are very confident in the safety of the students under their care.
“We’ve spent a lot of time and money toward making sure safety comes first. It’s got to be a priority if learning is going to take place,” Lewandowski said. “Can we prevent (something like the Sandy Hook shooting)? No, but if someone ever takes a liking to it we can save as many lives as possible and that’s what we’re hoping to do. I don’t know if we can prevent it, but we can certainly prevent the impact it would have if it should ever come to our school, and that’s what we hope to do.”
National reaction
In the weeks following Sandy Hook, politicians across the nation pledged action. Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced an assault rifle ban to Congress last week. Three weeks ago, President Obama signed more than 20 executive orders dealing with gun violence and mental healthcare issues — among them, an assault rifle ban.
County sheriffs from Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and now, Montana, have written letters to their representatives and their constituents assuring them they will not enforce any new law infringing upon an individual’s right to own firearms.
Lake County Sheriff Jay Doyle and Sanders County Sheriff Tom Rummel issued press releases within a week of each other declaring they will uphold the Constitution of the United States and Montana and will not enforce any assault rifle ban. (See Page 10 of the Valley Journal for Doyle’s full statement.)
In the wake of this political turmoil and the seemingly uncertain future of firearms, gun sales around the nation have skyrocketed and the price tags on some assault rifles have increased 300-500 percent. These issues will be explored in-depth in next week’s Valley Journal, in the second installation of this series on the ongoing gun debate in America.
