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Lee school & public safety officials:Personnel trained in emergency response plans

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The Lee County School District reiterated its safety procedures Friday in the wake of a shooting at a Connecticut elementary school that left 28 dead.

Adam Lanza, 20, opened fire Friday inside two classrooms at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., according to the Associated Press. His mother, Nancy Lanza, a teacher at the school, was shot dead in the home she shared with her son before the rampage.

Twenty-six people, including 20 children, were killed in the incident.

Carrying two handguns, Lanza committed suicide at the school, while another person was found dead at a second scene, bringing the toll to 28, the AP reported. Authorities located a third gun inside of a vehicle.

This is the country’s second-deadliest shooting at a school, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead in 2007.

On Friday, local officials reported that all “district administrators and employees have access to and are trained in the School District of Lee County Emergency Response Plans.” Schools are required to submit an updated plan each school year and must host various practice drills.

They cover lockdowns, bomb threats, fire, tornado and bus evacuation.

“All of our Emergency Response Plans are in line with Law Enforcement Response Plans and Lee County Emergency Operations Center Disaster Plans,” officials reported. “All of our Emergency Response Plans and National Incident Management System and Incident Command Structure complaint.”

The Florida State Emergency Operations Center has approved them.

“All of the actual security plans, emergency response plans and measure that are taken at the schools and by district employees in response to a disaster – whether man made or not – are confidential and shall be guarded as such,” officials reported.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office, which provides schools with a School Resource Officer, released a brief statement on the tragedy Friday.

“We at the sheriff’s office mourn tragedies like this and remain committed to doing everything in our power to maintain public safety,” officials stated. “School campuses have always been and will continue to be a focus of our resources.”

According to the LCSO Operations Manuel, initial responding deputies can take immediate action to contain and neutralize active shooter incidents. The general response guidelines for the incidents include the following tenets:

* Assume tactical responsibility

* Situation analysis

* First responder tactical intervention: Contact team/deputy, rescue team and perimeter containment

* Barricade situations during active shooter incidents

* Active shooting site security

* SWAT

* Development of intervention tactics

The overall purpose is to save lives and prevent serious injuries.