MISSOULA - The lockdown at Hellgate High School on April 5, 2023, had a city-wide response, which is why community leaders came together to address the public in the weeks following the incident.
Mayor Jordan Hess, Missoula County Public Schools Superintendent Russ Lodge and Missoula Interim Police Chief Mike Colyer spoke at a press conference on Tuesday, April 18, 2023.
They explained the training, preparation and response to active shooter threats. The event was closed to the public.
Hess — who introduced the speakers and spoke of their collaboration — said the officers and school faculty that responded to the scene were equally shaken by the event.
“This experience rattles people throughout our community," Hess said. "There are people in the men and women of the Missoula Police Department live and work in the city of Missoula. The faculty and staff at MCPS, live and work in the city of Missoula. And when we have a threat of violence, it really does shake all of us to our core.”
Colyer explained the steps of police response, which began when a student informed the MPD Student Resource Officer at Hellgate High School of an active shooter threat posted on social media.
The threats included two pictures posted with airsoft guns, according to Colyer. He says the two pictures were of the same individual and the orange safety tip on each gun was removed.
Colyer emphasized the impact of the student who came forward.
“We're always encouraging people to see something say something as the adage goes, and that seems to be getting traction, so we have young people reporting these things which is great," he said.
While the students at Hellgate were on Lockdown, Colyer said the police department was working every lead they could find to locate the suspect. Digital Forensics and the Internet Crimes Against Children divisions worked behind the scenes at MPD.
“What you see is obviously the visceral response to the facility, but there's important work going on behind that," Colyer said.
During the incident, Colyer said he thought often of the shooting at Sentinel High School in June 2018. His son attended the school at the time.
“I had some options. I have a police car at my house first of all, I have a radio in that car, and I have extra body armor and rifle. So I could do some stuff. So as helpless and terrified as I felt, I can imagine that people that don't have that opportunity, that feeling is much worse," he said.
MPD is trained for these incidents under the Active Law Enforcement Response Training (ALERRT) program, which is a nationally recognized program and funded by the FBI. ALERRT stands for Active Law Enforcement Response Training.
Superintendent Lodge said MCPS teachers and faculty are also trained frequently on how to respond to, not only an active shooter threat, but a myriad of emergencies that can occur at school.
“All of our administrators are trained that if something happens, and it could be on this level, or it could be a medical emergency, or a student began having a seizure, or there's just all kinds of things that come up all the time, the first thing you do is call 911," he said.
For Lodge, communication during frightening situations like the threat on April 5 is critical to mitigating panic.
"What I found out in this job, is that the communication's critical," he said at the conference. "That you're timely, that you're accurate, and that you haven't, that you're not getting mixed messages either.”
MPD agrees but said misinformation can sometimes be more harmful than no information.
“Public communication is complicated because people really want something now, but I believe that we are better to wait a little and get it right," Colyer said at the conference. "We can't operate on gossip and misinformation just to get something out. I apologize that people are looking for something a little quicker, but I really think it's important to be measured and make sure that we feel comfortable the information is correct.”
Lodge commended MPD for their quick response and said they trusted law enforcement with control of the investigation.
"When law enforcement arrives, law enforcement is in charge, we're not there making decisions and we really tell people that's the way it rolls," he said. "So whatever they say to do, we do and of course, we do it in collaboration.”
MCPS deals with frequent threats and incidences similar to the one at Hellgate High School and while each situation requires a different response, Lodge said they take every incident seriously.
“It is really a part of who we are. It's the culture we're living in," he said. "Every time we get a call, we take it seriously. And even if we know it's the silliest thing in the world, it makes no sense, we treat it as if it could be a serious situation."
For MCPS, education around mental health and social media is an important aspect of teaching both students and staff.
“We also deal with having to teach and be a student in this climate we're living in," Lodge said. "So it's the mental health side of the world and the trauma side of the world and the stress side of the world.”
Lodge said while conversations about the dangers of social media in regard to threats do happen in MCPS, their focus is academics. They try not to overemphasize the threat of active shooters because they want students to feel safe and focus on their education, according to Lodge.
MCPS posted their updates on the lockdown through Twitter on April 5, but District spokeswoman Tyler Christensen said they would typically post on all social media platforms. To speed up communication, however, they decided to post only to Twitter on April 5.
Christensen says they will typically go to Twitter first if they don't have time to update all platforms.
