10.1. SR 03-02-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

an inescapable fact, he said, that access to guns adds to "He had been in City Hall numerous times," Hemken said. the security risks in public buildings. "And we'd talk to him, and get him calmed down, get him back to center. Sometimes he'd leave in a cheery mood. "Part of the reality is that there are a large number of Had this guy not had access to a gun, this would not have weapons in the hands of people,"he said. "And as a happened. society, we have differing opinions on whether that is a good or bad idea. But it is part of the equation." "This man was not a stranger to us. But the man with a gun was a stranger." `We have to fix us' John Reinan •612-673-7402 The advice on reacting to a shooting incident has changed in recent years, said Stacy Carlson, Golden Valley chief of ©2015 Star Tribune police. "It used to be, get down under your desk and hope they don't find you,"Carlson said. "Now the prevailing theory is, get out of the building. If you can't get out,then hide.And last resort, fight for your life.We call it`Run, hide, fight.' " Carlson said Golden Valley city employees and council members have been trained in that method by police. "You can't fall back on, `We have a sweet town, and nothing's going to happen here,' "she said. Golden Valley has also added a uniformed officer at its council meetings since the New Hope incident. In New Hope, the attitude of Mayor Hemken and other city officials is summed up by the exhortation to battle-scarred British civilians in World War II: "Keep Calm and Carry On." Hemken said the best security is simply looking out for one another. 'We can't let this incident define who we are,"she said. "We can't move our council meetings to a different spot. So we have to fix us—our mind-set. Because we're not going to fix the rest of the world. Bad things will still happen. "The way we're operating today is pretty much the way we operated a month ago,"she said. "If we're scared,we can't logically carry on the city's business." Immediately after the shooting, she said, "there was a calmness there.And it was because everyone was watching out for everyone else. And it was really very powerful." Hemken said she can't demonize Kmetz,the 68-year-old shooter, who was convinced that government and other agencies were conspiring against him. 'We need to remember that this person,though he was mentally disturbed,was somebody's father. Somebody's son,"she said. 'We need to remember that somebody died." But she wishes he hadn't been able to get his hands on a gun.