Yes, but they were not wherever the shooter was whenever he was shooting, unarmed victims, who were following the no guns allowed policy,  were though.

Some of you may have already received this information but for those who haven’t seen it I felt it would be a great benefit to you. The attached review of the Virginia Tech Active Shooter incident has a lot of info and everyone in LE should review it.

Some of my thoughts on this report:

•From dispatch time to the shooter being reported as dead was only 10 minutes.
•Three ad hoc active shooter teams made entry. These teams consisted of patrol officers, ERT/SWAT members and administrative members of LE (i.e. Chief’s).
•VTPD and Blacksburg PD had trained for Active Shooter events together and had two combined AS training events in the past year before the massacre.

From a training, readiness and response time aspect it would be tough to beat the actions of VTPD and BPD on that day. Actual entry time to the team being on the second floor of Norris Hall to take out the AS was 28 seconds.

The delay was in the teams being able to make actual entry into the building, all doors had been chained shut from inside by the shooter. Two officers were able to get one door open partially and attempted to shoot the lock off the chain with 00 buckshot from a 12 gauge shotgun. Being unsuccessful they were able to make entry into another door by using slugs to breach the lock.

This is an area that needs to be looked at in our own departments and training programs. Some departments only allow the use of buckshot to be deployed with patrol shotguns. The use of buckshot is ineffective against locks. However the use of slugs/breaching rounds have been proven to be effective against padlocks, deadbolts, hinges and other impediments.

•Patrol officer who carry shotguns need to have access to slugs/breaching rounds in addition to the standard buckshot load out.
•Officers need training in conducting shotgun shell select loading to be able to effectively transition from buckshot to slugs in such events.
•Continuous training of patrol officers in the use of shotgun slug/breaching rounds needs to take place.
•Shotguns should be available to patrol officers in addition to rifle/carbines. Each one has their place and are valuable tools to the patrol officer.








A request for bolt cutters to be brought to the scene so the other padlocks could be removed to facilitate the evacuation of students and faculty took several minutes.

•Patrol cars should be equipped with a breaching kit. To include bolt cutters, small halligan tool and sledge hammer. These type kits could be placed in every other patrol car and small decal placed on the truck lid to denote the presence of a breaching kit in that vehicle.
•Training of patrol officers on regular basis in the use of these type tools should take place on continuing basis. Training should also be stressed based.

The officers of VTPD and BPD were highly trained and prepared for an Active Shooter event yet the largest school massacre in US history still took place. The VTPD and BPD departments and officers were committed to AS shooter training. They had been conducting this type training for years. The departments also trained together so any blending of ad hoc AS teams could take place across departments. This training took place on a semi-annual basis.

As LE we have to be prepared for an AS event. We need to train and equip our patrol officers with the skills and tools to effectively deploy against an AS. It only took a few minutes for one shooter to inflict a massive amount of casualties.

•Training and equipment for Active Shooter events should be priority in all departments. Presentations of AS events to city council members should be made to stress the importance of fully funding AS training and equipment.
•Take advantage of summer breaks, spring breaks and other holidays to conduct training at your local schools.
•Invite members of other local LEA’s to attend AS training events.
•AS shooter training is for ALL in LE, patrol officers, ERT/SWAT, and sworn administrative officers.

The shooter, in this case did not all of the sudden decide to go on a murderous rampage. He thought it out, planned and trained for this day. This is something all officers need to keep in mind. The Active Shooter you go up against may have been planning and training for his event for a long time.

•The AS in this event procured weapons, magazines and ammunition for his event.
•He bought clothing, chains and padlocks for his event.
•Visited local shooting ranges to become proficient in the use of his firearms.
•Training for his event included shooting targets on the ground, i.e. Execution style.
•The shooter conducted tactical magazine changes during lulls in his shooting event.
•Extra magazines and ammunition were placed in a central location so the shooter could reequip himself after he expended the ammunition/magazines he carried on this body.

In closing, it is up to all of us who are involved in LE and LE training to prepare officers for the Active Shooter event. All officers from patrolman to chiefs need to be trained on a continuous basis. As this event showed even with highly trained and motivated officers it only takes minutes for a tragedy of massive proportions to take place.

Timeline
0941 Shooting starts
10 KIA
6 W
0942 Disptatch notified, LE dispatched
9 KIA
10 W
0945 LE arrives
11 KIA
11 W
0951 LE makes entry
2 shots are heard (person was already dead)
0952 Cho dead
Cho fired 113 9mm, 61 .22 and conducted 17 magazine changes.

That's what I've been hitting.

VT officers arrived within 3 minutes of being dispatched.

Archangel has a 300 page report. Not sure if it is out in the public.