'Gold Standard' In Nashville: Ex-Riverside Chief

RIVERSIDE, IL – The former Riverside police chief says the Nashville police response to this week's school shooting at a private school was the "gold standard."

That's in contrast to last year's response to the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, former Chief Tom Weitzel said in an interview Thursday. In that case, 21 were killed and 17 injured.

In Uvalde, officers waited for an hour and 14 minutes before engaging the shooter. In Nashville, officers went in right away to Covenant School, a private Christian school. Three children and three adults were killed.

"In Uvalde, they waited over 70 minutes to engage the shooter," Weitzel said. "The communication was horrible among the police agencies. There was no leadership at the scene. They were fighting over who was in command at the scene."

In Uvalde, he said, "the parents were hearing the gunshots. They knew the kids were being slaughtered. I mean slaughtered. It was the worst response I've ever seen to a school incident. It was a textbook case of what not to do."

In Nashville, Weitzel said, it took 12 minutes from when police were called to when they shot and killed the shooter.

"When the officers arrived, they handled it at the patrol level," he said. "They didn't waste time to set up a perimeter. They didn't waste time waiting for a SWAT team. They advanced down the hallway toward the gunfire. They engaged the shooter."

One of the first officers who arrived had four years of experience. He gave orders to those with more seniority, Weitzel said.

"You are trained to put rank aside," he said. "When you get there, you are running the show. They didn't wait for supervisors."

From now on, Weitzel said, the Nashville response will be the "gold standard."

"I guarantee that this is the way we will train in the entire nation," he said. "That's the best response I've ever seen."