East Texas ISD police hold safety summit to discuss active shooter protocols

MINEOLA, Texas (KLTV) - Chief of police Cody Castleberry, along with FBI special agent Josh Matthews and Superintendent Cody Mize, briefed the community on safety protocols and plans to take action if an active shooter steps foot on campus.

“Why do you think it took them 77 minutes to go into that classroom in Uvalde?” asked Castleberry.

Matthews presented a scenario.

“Today is the day I’m going to conduct this shooting. It all starts with a grievance and that grievance is very personal with the shooter, it doesn’t have to make sense to you or me,” said Mathews.

Mathew said that shooters plan their act over a long period of time and that parents and guardians should increase security on how easily a child can access their gun at home.

“So anything that we can do as law enforcement and school administrators to make it more difficult to achieve that goal will make it less likely that they are going to conduct that attack,” said Mathews.

To combat potential school shooting violence, Mineola ISD police force has implemented school guardians to help further protect the school, but Capps wanted to clear up misconceptions.

“For anybody that can carry, we’re just going to give a gun to all the teachers. That’s not the case,” said police officer Seth Capps.

They said they will provide students and faculties an armed, self-defense option prior to the arrival of law enforcement.

A school guardian, according to Capps, provides students and faculties an armed, self-defense option prior to the arrival of law enforcement in the event of an active shooter or “active killer” on campus; he or she is not a school marshal, not law enforcement, not a security guard. Their only role is to respond to an active killer event, he said.

A written application of 20 pages long as well as extensive training is required to even be considered a guardian, he said.

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