AMU Emergency Management Public Safety

EDM Wednesday Briefing: STEM High School Shooting in Colorado Kills One, Injures Eight

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Emergency and disaster management briefing for May 8, 2019: A STEM high school shooting in Colorado kills one and injures eight others; extreme weather spawned tornadoes in Texas and Oklahoma while heavy rains closed an interstate in Kansas; a Canadian man visited many of Seattle’s popular tourist destinations while infected with the measles; a Harlem apartment fire kills six people — four of whom were children; a new report says that 43 states have locations where water is contaminated with PFAS chemicals; an altercation between two inmates at a prison in Guatemala leaves seven dead and 17 injured; authorities in Pennsylvania are still searching for a suspect who opened fire on the occupants inside a disabled vehicle as it waited for AAA to arrive; and an American Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing at Miami International Airport after sustaining tire damage.

1)Shortly before 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, law enforcement in Douglas County, Colorado, received a call that shots had been fired at a STEM high school in a Denver suburb. One student was killed and eight others were wounded, some critically. The two suspects — allegedly students at the school, including one adult male, Devon Erickson, 18, and one juvenile accomplice — were able to travel deep into the school and opened fire in two separate locations. The STEM School Highlands Ranch is only about seven miles away from Littleton, the home of Columbine High School, which was the scene of the deadly 1999 school shooting that killed 13 people.

2) Extreme weather broke out across the Texas panhandle and southern plains Tuesday. According to the National Weather Service, the weather had a high probability of producing multiple tornadoes, hail, straight-line winds and heavy rainfall. As the system moved eastward, it spawned several tornadoes, including one that traveled from Hobart to Rocky, Oklahoma, and caused reports of damage. Heavy rainfall in the Houston area prompted flood watches and warnings, with roadways and buildings flooding into Tuesday night. In Kansas, the deluge of rain flooded a portion of Interstate 35 south of Wichita to the Kansas/Oklahoma border and forced its closure.

3) A Canadian man allegedly infected with the measles, traveled to Seattle, Washington, and visited many of the local tourist attractions in late April. King County officials noted that the man was infectious when he went through the Sea-Tac Airport, visited the Seattle Space Needle and several other popular spots, including the monorail, during his week-long visit to the area. Prior to traveling to King County, the man also visited New York City and Japan. Health officials stated on Monday that another 60 cases of the measles were reported, bringing the 2019 total for the country to 764 cases.

4) A fire that broke out in a New York City apartment building in Harlem killed what appears to be a family of six people, including four children with ages ranging from three to 11. According to the Fire Department of New York, the fire appeared to have broken out in the kitchen of a fifth floor apartment in the Frederick E. Samuel Apartments around 1:30 a.m. It took firefighters nearly two hours to contain the blaze, and the victims were pronounced dead at the scene once the fire was under control.

5) A new study alleges that people in locations across 43 states are exposed to unhealthy drinking water. The study, conducted by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), used data compiled from the Pentagon and water utility reports. Experts determined that there were at least 610 locations that had contaminated drinking water; these locations include public water systems, military bases, civilian airports, industrial plants, dumps and firefighter training sites. The water is shown to be contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states have been linked to health issues, including affecting the behavior, growth, and learning in infants and older children; interfering with the body’s natural hormones; and increasing the risk of cancer.

6) An altercation between two inmates at a prison near Guatemala City in Guatemala, resulted in a shooting that left at least seven dead and injured 17 others. Law enforcement officials state that they have regained control of the Pavon Prison, located approximately 10 miles from Guatemala City, after the alleged confrontation and shooting between two inmates that led to the violent shooting. The Pavon prison was also the scene of a deadly riot in 2016 that left 14 people dead.

7) Authorities in Pennsylvania are searching for a suspect — who they consider to be armed and dangerous — after he opened fire at the occupants of a disabled vehicle in Philadelphia late Saturday as they were waiting for AAA to arrive. Surveillance video shows two men walking along the sidewalk near where the disabled vehicle was located on North 16th Street. One of the two men pulled out a gun and opened fire into the back window of the vehicle, striking its occupants.

8) An American Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing at Miami International Airport (MIA) after the pilots reported damage to a tire. Flight 2370 departed Kingston, Jamaica, with 178 souls on board and requested a flyover at MIA to allow ground crews to visually confirm damage to a main landing gear tire. Emergency crews were on standby at Runway 9 when the pilots circled the Boeing 737-800 back around; the plane landed safely and without incident.

 

Kimberly Arsenault serves as an intern at the Cleveland/Bradley County Emergency Management Agency where she works on plan revisions and special projects. Previously, Kimberly spent 15 years in commercial and business aviation. Her positions included station manager at the former Midwest Express Airlines, as well as corporate flight attendant, inflight manager, and charter flight coordinator. Kimberly currently holds a master's degree in emergency and disaster management from American Public University.

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