Date: January 26, 2023
Location: Taylorsville High School
5225 S Redwood Road
Taylorsville, Utah
On January 26, 2023 at 1252 PM I received a text from my son “We’re in lockdown right now, everyone is saying because there was gunshots in the parking lot”. My son is a student at Taylorsville High School. News and police sources reported a fight outside of the school which resulted in shots being fired. I told my son I was headed to the school and to advise me if he heard any gun shots. Probably not something everyone should do BUT, in light of recent school shooting’s I wanted to make sure there was an adequate response for the safety of my son and other’s. Upon arrival I saw a number of units already on containment outside and learned they were doing a search of the building, hence was the reason for the lockdown.
This one hit close to home for me, I was a senior at Taylorsville High School in 1986.
According to sources, Police arrested a 17 year old suspect that fired the gun in this the case. The Police did a great job responding and following up in making an arrest. I wish all responses to school shootings were swift like this. Fortunately this was not a mass school shooting, preventing violence and targeted mass school shootings is the focus of this article.
History has shown over time that police and school resource officer’s rarely arrive in time to stop a school shooter before they kill anyone. History has also shown many of these tragic school shootings could have been prevented if law enforcement and school administrators had followed up on tips and intervened early on and taken immediate action to neutralize the shooter. The Parkland High School shooting in Florida was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. History and it was over with from start to finish in under five minutes! Law enforcement was successfully sued for millions by grieving parents of their murdered kids for failing to act on credible tips one month prior to the shooting. In this case, there was a school resource officer on scene that could have neutralized the suspect but failed to protect the murdered kids. The grieving parents filed a civil rights lawsuit against the school resource officer for failing to protect the children. A federal Judge dismissed the lawsuit citing that the deputy did not have a “duty to protect” because the children were not in the deputy’s “custody”. According to news sources, other law enforcement were successfully sued and settled with grieving parent’s for millions for not acting on a credible threat tip reported a month prior to the shooting.
The U.S. Secret Service did a study in 2021 on Averted Targeted School Violence. They examined 67 Targeted school shootings that were successfully averted and interviewed the plotter’s. I will put a link to the 60 page document. Please share the data with educators, police, or anyone else that could use the data to write security policy in their school
Some steps we can take right now to slow down these shootings:
Secure your firearms in your home: According to the study, 70% of plotters had access to a firearm in their own home! You can get a portable gun safe for about 100.00. Key pad and biometric access are good. Be mindful of prying children’s eyes when accessing your safe; change codes if you believe they have been compromised. Hide keys well so kids won’t find them. Avoid leaving guns in your car overnight or for long periods of time. If you DO need to leave your gun in your vehicle the trunk is the best place, do that BEFORE you arrive to your destination. Vehicle burglars usually do not check trunks when breaking in unless they see you put something in there. If you have someone in crisis at home, take extra precautions, including storing the guns offsite either with a trusted friend, through police, or gun shops. Consider carrying on a regular basis when you are comfortable, this is the most secure way to store a firearm and you will have it when needed. Under Utah law 76-10-509.5 it is a Class B misdemeanor to provide a handgun to a minor, regardless of whether you intentionally or knowingly provided it. 76-10-509.6 makes it a Class A misdemeanor to provide a violent minor with a dangerous weapon. I had a burglary investigation once where 3 handguns were stolen that were laying on a nightstand and on the bedroom floor. The owner of the guns lived with a teenager.
Education starts at home: Parents should have appropriate conversations at home with their children on school violence. Student’s, friends and peers of plotters according to the study did the majority of the reporting, over 60%. Your child should report to you, concerning communication and or threats seen or heard on social media, either verbally or expressed in writing immediately without delay to their parents and school staff. The Study showed if reports are made within one day, the success rate of prevention is very high, that number goes way down waiting two days or more. Take every threat seriously; according to the study some student’s failed to report out of fear of retaliation, or because they believed the plotter was only “kidding.” The study showed that plotter’s communicated intent to carry out their threat in 85% of the averted shootings! These kids are hurt and are crying out for help, we just need to pay attention. The study showed that only about 7% of parent’s were reporting concerns, VS the children making up over 60% of the reporting. Some red flags to report are student’s that are bullied, or have some other grievances with other students, student’s that talk about hate filled topics, idolize other known shooters from media shootings such as Columbine High School. These plotter’s had mental health symptoms in 70% of the cases and had family problems in their own home such as child abuse, parental incarceration, drug abuse etc. According to the study almost all shootings can be prevented with the appropriate EARLY INTERVENTION.
When reporting concerning communication to the schools and/or police, use EMAIL if possible. For non emergencies, give school staff 24 hours to respond. If reporting non emergencies to police give them 3-7 days to get back to you. Get case number’s and officer’s names when reporting. Don’t be afraid to ask the officer and or dispatcher’s to contact you with a “disposition” on your report. The police work for you, not the other way around.
Things to report:
Bullying: Zero tolerance for bullying. Some schools are really good addressing this problem and other schools get an F. In 2006 while I was conducing a Burglary investigation, I arrested three juveniles several hours after the committed a residential burglary and had stolen three handguns. I recovered three handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition that were buried under some leaves at an apartment next to the school they attended. One of the juveniles stated in an interview, he stole the firearms to protect himself from another student that was “bullying him” at his middle school. My police supervisors believed a tragedy would have occurred the following day, had we not arrested them immediately and they were allowed to go to school the next day.
Hold school administrators and police accountable: Get the principals email address and report this way. Give them a day or two to respond back to you if no emergency exists. DO follow-up with school staff, school resource officers, police and teachers for accountability purposes. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, be that squeaky wheel!
In Utah anyone over the age of 21 years old with a valid Utah Concealed firearm permit can legally carry in Utah K-12 schools and public Universities, including teacher’s and parents. Train and get comfortable carrying as a lifestyle if you are able to.
WE as a community can do more to stop school shootings than anyone else through education, tenacity and knowledge, our kids are worth it!
Phil Snyder
(Retired) Unified Police Officer and Utah Concealed Firearms Instructor.