Active school shooter seminar draws concerned Borderland residents

Borderland security consultants teamed up with the El Paso Independent School District’s police department to host an active shooter awareness seminar that focused on schools.

Tom Buchino heads Covenant Special Projects. The company, founded and managed by former U.S. Army Special Forces Operators and elite Law Enforcement Officers, specializes in security, training and emergency response.

“If you look historically there are two common denominators between every active school shooter event. One, there have been indicators that the event would occur. And two, that every community , including El Paso, believes it could never happen here. And it can,” Buchino said.

Buchino began his presentation, which was open to the public, by saying school shootings should not be political. His presentation focused on educating people on how to spot troubled teens and clues indicating they may be prone to violence. Buchino emphasized it is the community’s responsibility to play a part in preventing school violence.

Victor Araiza , EPISD chief of police, also spoke to the crowd.

“When we have kids that are making an outcry, when parents are aware that there is a concern with their child, when teachers see writings or drawings that are very dark and things like that, we want to make sure that we intervene in advance,” said Araiza.

While the two were putting together their active shooter presentations, news broke of yet another school shooting. This time a Maryland classmate shot a female student before being killed. The mother of the teenage girl says she is brain dead and is being removed from life support.

Melissa Willey told news reporters Thursday night that her daughter, 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey, has “no life left in her.” She said Jaelynn would be removed from life support during the evening.

Arias stressed the importance of parents talking to their children about what to do in an emergency. However, he added the message should be different for different ages.

“There is a lot of emphasis on run, hide, fight. But you don’t necessarily want to tell a preschool child or a first grader to fight an armed intruder. So, there is kind of a balance there that we need to make sure gets communicated out to parents,” Araiza said.

Arias assured those in attendance EPISD’s police department and schools have active shooter plans in place. He also encouraged people to help local law enforcement by reporting any suspicious behavior and making sure loved ones get the mental heath care they may need.

Nathaniel Jones came to the seminar because he wants to help. He too is worried that mass shootings like the ones that happened at Columbine, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas could happen in his own backyard. And if it does, he want to make sure he is ready.

“Normally your mind and body will respond on generally on what you have been trained to do. I tested that with 27 years of military training, You know you go through and train all these methodical scenarios. When that is needed it, will all come forward and you will know what to do,” Jones said.