LOUISVILLE, Ky. — We've known the dangers our officers face in an active shooter situation. But they're not the only first responders running toward the threat and that's changed how they respond over the years.
Jody Meiman has been a first responder for more than three decades in Louisville, first as a firefighter and now as the Executive Director of Louisville Metro Emergency Services (LMEMS). He's in charge of coordinating response during large scale emergencies, involving MetroSafe operations, Louisville EMS, 311, Emergency Management and the 911 Deflection Program.
On April 10, 2023, Meiman was on his way to work when the call came over the radio.
"We get dispatched on false active shooter runs and you can tell sometimes when they're going to be false, but you could tell this was the real thing," he said.
That's when adrenaline took over.
Meiman was one of 100 first responders who rushed to the Old National Bank shooting on Louisville's Main Street that morning.
"I can't say enough about the people who went into the building. The police, EMS and fire," he said.
They'd trained for this moment.
"We started our active shooter training really in 2013 for the city," Meiman said. "Our EMS folks wear ballistic equipment every day, all day on a normal day. And they're under the protection of law enforcement in case something does go bad."
Meiman said it's a critical part in today's emergency response, with mass shootings inside the workplace and our schools, police are no longer the only ones entering the danger zone.
"If you think about Columbine, that's where it really changed because there was a lot of people in that building. Law enforcement's mentality was to secure the building and wait on SWAT to go in and it was a long time to get people taken care of," Meiman said. "So, they started talking about rescue task forces, and Virginia Tech was the first shooting it started to be implemented. There was documented lives saved because of that."
Louisville has its own rescue task force for this reason. Fire and EMS stage in a "warm zone," where it's declared safe to go inside the building, and treat the victims. Meiman said several medical personnel walk in together, and stay together at all times, while coordinating how to get the injured to safety.
"This happened so fast, police were bringing the people out of the building, and EMS moved in a lot quicker to get those people out and transport them to University Hospital," Meiman said.
In a moment of chaos and heartbreak, Meiman said he couldn't be prouder of Louisville's first responders both on scene and on the phone's back at MetroSafe.
"They maintained every bit of composure they needed," he said. "You don't ever want to be put in a situation like that and hopefully it was their calming voice on the other end of that line."
A year later, Louisville is still healing.
"It takes a while to grasp what you just went through," Meiman said. "Everybody deals with it differently. It affected a lot of lives that day, not only first responders, but the community."
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