Even outgunned, Apalachee officers stopped school shooter
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The accused Apalachee High School shooter used an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle, according to police, but the school resource officers had only handguns.
This makes the response by the school resource officers all that more heroic because they were literally outgunned.
They were able to stop the rampage, even though two students and two teachers had already been killed.
Some school police in Georgia have training in – and access to – patrol rifles, while others don’t.
Atlanta Public Schools police added rifle training for select resource officers about a year ago. But the rifles are stored in patrol cars — not inside schools.
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“If there’s a shooter, you know, right in front of you, you’re not going to have time to go get it,” said Atlanta Public Schools Police Chief Chief Ronald Applin. “There’s a shooter and you can get to the shooter quicker vs. going to get that rifle. If it’s going to save time and for me to go and address the shooter, I’m going to do that first.”
At Apalachee High, the school resource officers didn’t have access to rifles of their own, according to training records.
Officer Tanner Good was rifle-qualified when he was with Winder police, but he gave up his rifle when ing the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office in 2023.
His rifle qualification lapsed Sept. 6 last year.
Clayton County Schools Police Chief Reynard Walker made the decision to add rifle training.
“It is time to consider using whatever methods we need to stop the threat,” Walker said. He itted that if one of his officers armed only with a pistol had to engage a shooter who had a rifle , they’d be outgunned right out of the gate.
It’s not yet clear whether the Apalachee High School shooting suspect was still armed when officers approached him.
But we do know those school resource officers were armed with handguns, and they were able to confront suspect Colt Gray within minutes, forcing him to surrender.
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