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Active shooter drill stresses communication, cooperation
CLOVERDALE — Meant to resemble an actual mass-casualty event with multiple variables, the full-scale active shooter exercise held Saturday morning at Cloverdale Schools underscored logistical challenges first responders and school staff could face in responding to such a crisis.
It was about retaining grace under pressure with time being of the essence. It was being able to holistically take stock of the scene amid the chaotic back-and-forth. It came down to everyone working together to get resources where they were needed.
On paper, the exercise might have seemed intuitive. There would be a shooter and casualties inside the building. Police would respond, come in, eliminate the threat and secure the area. Dead and wounded would be accounted for by fire and EMS personnel and handled accordingly. Parents would then be united with students – or be told the worst had happened – at Cloverdale High School.
With Ivy Tech students acting in place of victims, and with the first responders in the mindset of it being a real emergency, the drill as it played out was more nuanced.
Putnam County Dispatch relayed shots fired at Cloverdale Middle School at about 8:30 a.m. School Resource Officer James Collings, who was already present, then engaged a single “suspect” in a firefight in the gymnasium. He was hit four times, but his injuries were not life-threatening.
Putnam County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Clark and Cloverdale Deputy Marshal Wade Warren then came and searched the building, eventually finding the shooter with a single gunshot wound to his head.
The overall police response was effectively made in five minutes. But then there was the full measure of what occurred.
With casings littered on the floor, firefighters and emergency medical responders tended to 26 victims. Ten of them were fatal, while the rest were to be transported for their injuries. Simulating that essence of time, they were aware as the assessment continued that some of the critically wounded could die if they did not get help in time.
Besides ambulances from Putnam County EMS being called, two medical helicopters from St. Vincent StatFlight and Indiana University Health LifeLine out of Terre Haute were staged nearby.
In the meantime, a team of administrators and staff from Cloverdale Schools handled a reunification site at the high school. While working to reconnect some students with their families, they provided as much information as they could to those standing in for scared and confused parents as it came minute by minute.
It was crucial for the reunification team as a whole to be calm and temper the environment. Nonetheless, the simulation could never fully capture how emotions will run high as parents and families are told their loved ones are either safe, injured, unaccounted for or worse.
A separate exercise in and of itself, Area 30 and Cloverdale student volunteers took part in ALICE, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. A proactive approach aimed at preventing as many casualties as possible, they practiced a lock-in-place scenario, as compared to escaping through a window or directly confronting an intruder by pummeling and subduing them.
With everyone back in the middle school’s cafetorium, a press conference was held. As the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office’s public information officer, Cpl. Scott Ducker took questions from reporters, with Cloverdale Township Fire Chief Kerry Shepherd, Indiana State Police Sgt. and Putnamville Post PIO Matt Ames and Cloverdale Town Marshal Steve Hibler standing alongside.
Apart from the police and medical responses, the number of casualties and the cause of the suspect’s head wound being undetermined, Ducker spoke to a rumor online about a second shooter, saying this was unconfirmed as the investigation was continuing. He further stated that he could not identify the suspect, say if he was a Cloverdale student or what his motive was. Meanwhile, the school was locked down.
How hectic it all seemed reflected the unpredictability of a school shooting as a mass-casualty event. To space out the objectives and give better focus on potential improvements, each element of the exercise – police, medical, incident command, reunification, PIO and ALICE – was overseen by a controller who dictated different variables as well as an evaluator.
Overall, clear communication between personnel, as well as being able to dependably get correct information to families, media and the public in general, were key themes.
Noting during the “hotwash” session that personnel initially dealt with an actual radio glitch, Putnam County Chief Deputy Matt Demmings, who controlled incident command, commented that a “fog” of information is the reality of an event like this. It takes time as well as the energy.
“I thought that the time was used really well, despite the fact that we did have a lot of artificialities here,” Demmings said, reiterating the radio issue and the challenge of moving personnel. “There was a lot of good planning, a lot of good hypotheticals, like, here’s what we would be doing right now.”
Cloverdale High School Principal Sonny Stoltz acknowledged that the exercise’s incident command and reunification sites were constrictive. In planning for the future, he said that establishing both elsewhere, rather than on campus, would be more optimal in accommodating news media and better ensuring confidentiality for parents and students.
Seeing it all come together, the result was “mission accomplished” for Dave Costin, Putnam County’s emergency management agency director, as well as its 911 director. The impetus was learning from mistakes. Having opportunities like this solidifies teamwork among first responders.
“The biggest challenge is everyone knows how to work inside their silo,” Costin said. “We brought people together where they had to be forced to cooperate to work well. Some things went well, some things we learned.”
Besides relocating incident command and reunification, improvements suggested during the hotwash included lanyards for students’ ID cards, as well as simplifying interactions and procedures for parents and staff. Hibler also advocated for agencies being more aware of ALICE and participating in the training.
But as to the exercise itself, the variables, as well as its design, touched on the necessity of adapting and setting goals. Going through the paces, for Stoltz, showed the commitment of those who participated.
“I truly knew going into today that, like anything you do, we focus on failure; but in reality, the thing I wanna focus on is all the people in the room,” Stoltz said. “For you to show up today, whether you’re an actor, you’re an observer, whatever, it’s called success.”