Signal 25!
Well, tonight I am back on Medic 92- the Advanced Practice Paramedic gig that I was able to grab a fill in slot for. Tonight is the first night back in the Suburban after “that call”. You know that call- the one everyone, yet no one, wants to talk about.
It was Thursday night, just before 5pm. I was working an overtime shift on Medic 92 and was sitting in a parking lot joking with the supervisor and another APP about how inept our local psychiatric hospital is. “DC 9- SHOOTING- 6028 Osprey Cove Dr.” We start reading the notes- male in neighborhood shooting people in the street. Subject driving a white car”. Seconds later- “SIGNAL25! OFF DUTY OFFICER DOWN” Chris alerts us- get ready guys, it’s going next alarm.
DC9 heads out and I follow, with Medic 93 right behind. EMS stage, subject still shooting! As we get closer, we get the go ahead- scene secure, shooter is down- on the greenway! We need EMS on the greenway, subject down. We head into the scene, but we have NO idea what the scene is- the scene spans over 2 miles. CAD notes report the subject is between 14-16 years old. MY GOD!
As Chris and I find a safe place to park, Chris establishes medical, and I call onscene. We start walking up the street to see where we are needed. Just then, we hear “white male on Sahalee, dressed in green camo- has a rifle- dont know if that’s PD or the subject!” Wait! We are on Sahalee and this street is only a block long!
Chris assigns me to a woman on her porch, CPR in progress. EMS 61 is establishing care. Another unit is working on another female right at the bottom of the stairs of the same porch. I run up the stairs of the porch and see a dog- a little terrier mix dead at the patient’s feet. She had a pink harness on. “The dog! The dog is in the way! I cant get to my patient. I need to move the dog!” I was scanning for a means to pick up the dog. I froze for about 15 seconds, processing what I am seeing. I finally just picked up Sami by her harness- “I’m so sorry, baby.” I gently placed her on the other side of my patient’s feet.
“YOU NEED TO GET HER AND GET OUT! THE SCENE IS STILL VERY HOT! WE DONT KNOW WHERE THE SHOOTER IS!! I look around and see police, guns drawn protecting us as we work. It feels like a SIM- am I in training? Everything was so surreal. We roll our patient on her side to put her on the megamover and I notice blood at the back of her head. “I think she has a head shot”- I told the others. Someone asked me, do we black tag her? No- lets go- discussion began about whether to leave her or take her, but we were already carrying her down the steps and the words of the police officer telling me we are in a hot scene resonated loudly- LETS JUST GO! The ER can sort it out.
Our patient was riddled with holes all down her left side. Looks like a shotgun spray, Justyn notes. We begin working her- one RPD doing CPR with me, one Firefighter ventilating and Justyn handling all ALS care. We dont get her back. She’s too far gone. The reality of the shooter being lose begins to hit all of us- what if he sprayed the truck on the way out of the scene? What if we died right there? My GOD, we. Never. Should. Have. Been. In. A. Hot. Scene But no one knew. We’re ok- we’re safe. But our peers aren’t.
At the end of the day, 5 people died that night.The shooter, a 15 year old male who shot his 16 year old brother before going outside and opening fire on his neighborhood. Several hours later, He was found in a barn a few miles away, slumped over, shotgun on the ground, handgun in his hand. He was pulling the trigger on the handgun when PD found him, but nothing was happening. He wound up taking a bullet to the forehead. As of today (Oct 17), he’s still alive.
Killed in the attack were:
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