Experts divided over Sandy Hook response
If police had arrived at the shattered front entrance of Sandy Hook Elementary School with their sirens blaring —Adam Lanza might have ended his rampage and committed suicide sooner.
But experts are divided over whether police should have immediately gone into the school and confronted Lanza, or waited — as they did — outside for six minutes.
In the bloody last seconds of the murder spree, investigators said Newtown police cars arrived and parked more than a football field away.
The long-awaited release Wednesday of recorded calls for assistance and the background sounds of rifle shots that killed 20 children and six adults may provoke more questions than provide answers on the important issue of the police response.
During the 47 seconds in which Lanza fired at least nine shots from his semi-automatic Bushmaster XM-15 assault-style rifle and a Glock 10mm handgun, first responders were setting up outside the school on Dickenson Drive.
“Since Columbine, the message is go after the shooter as quickly as possible,” said Brookfield Police Chief Robin Montgomery, speaking on the evolution of tactics in active-shooter incidents.
While I understand that the families of the children were sensitive about the release of the 911 calls, they really are public domain information. Public funds paid for the emergency response infrastructure, the responding officers, their equipment and training.
Given that we all may encounter such a situation, and that these incidents are being used to destroy a fundamental right of self defense, we have every right to know what happened.