That wildly understates the extreme stupidity of what occurred at Catholic Charities in Omaha in May. The great minds who run that operation had hired someone to stage an active shooter drill, complete with a man in a hoodie firing blank and “victims” lying on the ground with fake bloody wounds.
But Catholic Charities’ managers didn’t tell their employees it would happen.
When the time came to choose someone to conduct the “drill,” Catholic Charities hired a self-described “citizen police officer” who happens to be an alleged abuser of young women and a child pornographer.
From the Omaha World-Herald . . .
Catholic Charities’ compliance coordinator, Carrie Walter, and Security Director Mike Welna agreed on April 28 to pay [John] Channels $2,500 to conduct the training. Walter stated the idea of conducting an “active shooter” training “had been discussed for some time … due to having the new facility open … which contained a domestic violence shelter.”
Walter said she and Welna had little idea how to go about organizing such training, so they yielded to a security guard’s suggestion of hiring Channels. Channels had claimed to have conducted other active-shooter drills and claimed that law enforcement “would be present during the training event and would even participate and ‘play along’ with the scenario.”
“Walter stated that Channels planned to start by shooting victims outside of the office windows and doors to be viewed by employees, then make his way through the building (with keys provided by staff) hoping to cause employees to flee from the building or hide,” Mois wrote. “Walter stated Channels specifically stated he did not want the Catholic Charities staff to be informed that the scenario was only a drill and wanted to feel as though they were in danger.”
Catholic Charities of Omaha Executive Director Denise Bartels, totally unencumbered by the thought process and employing a mind-numbing lack of foresight, approved the un-announced drill…and ran it five days after the Buffalo supermarket shooting.