Training intense for stopping massacre

Lt. Dwayne Killian came up with a pretty good way to keep the pen out of the reporter's hand. He put a gun in it.

Last week, I went with a group of Joliet police officers training under Killian for an "active shooting response" for situations where someone goes to a school or public place trying to kill as many people as possible.

"Do you want to do the drill?" Killian asked with a nod before the teams arrived at a vacant medical office building on Glenwood Avenue, "Or are you going to just watch?" he finished with noticeably less enthusiasm.

I immediately said I'd go in, relishing any opportunity for participatory journalism. But my excitement was tempered with worry about getting in the way. I don't need all the cops to love me, but I believe tomorrow's watch commanders are more receptive to the press when the reporter they get stuck babysitting doesn't make an exercise useless for them.

Or shoot them with an Airsoft training gun, which is what Sgt. Joe Rosado handed me after I put on Killian's bulletproof vest.

Rosado assumed I had fired one before on some previous story, and I regretted turning down my first chance at the Channahon Citizen's Police Academy three weeks ago. (Participatory journalism is easily trumped by the opportunity for a hot meal.)

I felt bad admitting I hadn't, but recovered when Rosado asked if I ever shot a real gun. Though it has been more than a decade, I had.

He told me it was "the same thing," but felt I should probably fire off a round to get a feel for it. "Don't just 'spray and pray,'" he said. I looked around the empty medical office and aimed at a file cabinet in the center of the room.

From about 10 yards away, I either hit the large dent I was aiming at head-on or missed the cabinet completely. I prefer to believe I added to the dent.

I walked out to the parking lot where my team was forming up, and Sgt. Steve Bajt noticed the reporter was wearing his gun "cowboy-style." I meant to ask what he meant and wondered if I was already embarrassing myself by being reckless when the shots started and we moved into formation.

Killian prefers that I don't provide exact details about each task of the officers while looking for a shooter, but I don't think I'm spoiling law enforcement secrets to anyone who has ever seen an action movie by mentioning there's a "point" who goes in first and a "rear guard" who watches for danger from behind.

As "the extra guy" my first time through, I was expected to hold onto another team member's belt to help keep the group together. I didn't have a portable shield but asked to see how to hold one in case I had to pick it up.

As we approached, I suddenly realized keeping my left hand free when I'm right-handed and expecting to have time to draw was probably not the best way to confront the shooter or help my team. I switched my left hand to Donnie Hill's belt and pulled the gun with my right as the group moved in. Well, we moved in two steps before spending time as sitting ducks in the foyer's "fatal funnel" before deciding who would get the inside door open.

The team moved quickly through the halls, and I had to keep switching between looking around and doing my part to keep everyone together. Killian appreciated that I kept telling people next to me to "pick up the pace" if we started spreading out, but I'd already known that would get police approval from watching Rosado say it during a drill last year.

But for this drill, Rosado was watching us by using the common objects found in the halls, though when the first confrontation was over he was able to show how an alert officer could find him the same way.

I remained "the extra guy" in the next scenario as we searched for a shooter who was hiding. This exercise seemed to last ten times longer than the first, but was just as intense.

For the next trip, I was named "point" and was handed a portable shield with a different handle setup than the one I had seen. Holding my gun "gangster-style" to allow the most visibility from my shield, I led the team through the lobby to the hall when Rosado began firing.

I got off two rounds, apparently missing him completely. And I had no idea I had been hit until someone noticed the pink dye on my vest after the drill was over. Luckily, the rest of the team had regular experience with firearms.

Without any formal instruction or regular testing on my shooting abilities, I wasn't embarrassed by my "point" performance until Shawn Wascher pointed out I wasn't as calm as I had imagined.

"You were running from the adrenaline," she said. "That's good, but (unfortunately) you spread out the team too much."

So I suppose having "the extra guy" can make a big difference. Though I suppose the police officers will also feel better knowing that he or she is probably a better shot than I am.

Brian Stanley is a staff writer for The Herald-News. E-mail him at bstanley@scn1.com