MISSOULA – Wednesday's lockdown of Hellgate High School due to a social media threat lasted approximately three hours. It is one of several lengthy lockdowns we've had in our area in the past few years.
Sentinel High School was locked down in January 2019 for more than three hours after a loaded ammunition clip was found in a hallway. And in September of 2021, Hellgate was under another lockdown after someone overheard kids referencing a possible incident.
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We sat down with Alain Burrese, who is a Certified Active Shooter Response instructor in Missoula and who wrote the book "Survive a Shooting". He's helped schools — including Hellgate Elementary — learn how to defend their classrooms against a would-be shooter by teaching them how to barricade a door or use a fire extinguisher or defense spray to stop the violence.
Burrese told MTN News it's a very comprehensive guide that discusses the history of school violence, the fight or flight response and how to have a plan in mind before an attack.
"I wanted a textbook on what the problem is, what we can do beforehand to harden targets. I wanted people to know what they can do during an active situation — which I teach. Escape, deny, attack back rather than run, hide fight because I think the words you use have a meaning. I'd rather they escape to safety rather than just blindly run, I don't want you hiding and hoping that's not a plan for survival. I want you to actively do something to deny that killer access to hurt you.
Another thing we talked about was the threats that come on social media, often on apps parents don't generally access, or even know exist. There are so many ways to communicate digitally it is challenging to stay on top of it all and Burrese says that's where students need to step in.
"Students need to realize that when they see something like that, they need to report it to the proper people. And it's not snitching, or anything like that. We don't want to give it a bad stigma,” Burrese explained. “It's proactively doing something to get those people help and stopped before something terrible happens."
School shootings have been prevented because students have gone to administrators and the administration took them seriously, and they have prevented what could have been terrible.
Reflex Protect Training also includes instructions on how to help an injured person before the police and ambulances arrive on the scene. They've trained schools, hospitals and businesses across the state to prepare for a violent attack.
