Well in this story I have first hand information.

My daughter is a grammar school guidance counselor in the Leonardtown MD school system. She knew many of the high school kids from being with them as grammar school students. She was called to the high school as a first responder, as soon as the incident began. The school had excellent protocols in place and they had drills rehearsed for what to do in case of such an emergency. Their training plan kicked in and they all worked very well from start to finish!

While she did not personally know this "Resource Officer", he has a strong and everyday disciplinary role at the school. He's not just a person who's called in for horrible emergencies like this. She said he's tough! He doesn't put up with any fighting nonsense among the students. He's the LAW to the students. He's young and friendly but an armed no-nonsense presence in the school everyday. In this case, his armed presence was life-saving. He went right at the sound of gunshots, engaged the shooter and prevented the tragedy from becoming much worse. He was a model for how things should be handled. [quite unlike Parkland]. Here was a good guy with a gun who saved the day.

I spent a tearful hour with my daughter on the phone last night. She had spend her whole day at the high school and was exhausted. It was obvious she had been a strong presence and comfort to these traumatized students. Some she spoke with had seen the event and the blood, witnesses, and were walking around with their hands trembling and she gave them comfort, holding them and their shaking bodies. What a horrible tragedy this was for all! ...the students, the faculty, the families ...and then everyone even remotely involved!

I was in text communication with my daughter from early on, after I saw the story on the news, it seems this was before it was even daylight. The school had a system in place for gathering the students to a secure location. They would only release them to parents who had to show ID's, and this, one by one. She said it took around six hours to complete the process as the student body is over 1,000 students. She said local fast food restaurants responded by sending over lots of food. The Red Cross was there early on with emergency food and water. The students were cared for first and then, at the end, the faculty finally ate.

We're very thankful for our faith in God which is what carried us through a day of horror like this.