Three Lives Changed Forever

Three Lives Changed Forever

On an unusually cool dark summer night, my partner and I were on routine patrol, as military police officers in Frankfurt, Germany. We were responding to another silent alarm at Frankfurt High School. Little did we know that the next four minutes would change the lives of three people forever? All the training, received at the academy seemed academic, with little practical real world scenarios. We did role-play, but most training seemed comical, not a life or death situation. Being on patrol with countless hours of doing security checks, school guard crossing or obnoxious barking dog’s complaints boredom can set in quickly.

The silent alarm at the school goes off every few days and occasionally a couple times a night, mostly because of human error such as not shutting the door completely or accidently setting it off by the cleaning personnel. I have responded to countless false alarms at this school. Tonight, we arrived at the school and found a door ajar, not the normal entrance for faculty and employees. I cautiously opened the door ever so slowly, bit by bit. Looking down the dimly lit hallway, I noticed a beaming ray of light protruding from under the restroom door. Protocol at the school is all lights off, except security lighting. We approached the restroom door and listened for about fifteen seconds, someone was definitely inside. My heartbeat began to thump louder and quicken as my adrenaline began to flow. I thought to myself, was it a teacher, janitor, faculty member or a mischievous student? Drawing our military issued M1911A1, colt .45 caliber semi automatic pistol; we quietly locked and loaded our weapons. I was the first person to enter the bathroom and walked in front of the first stall door, someone was inside the stall. Meanwhile my partner stood with his back holding open the main door to the restroom about nine feet away from me. Authoritatively, I announced, “MILITARY POLICE come out slowly with your Hands where I can see them”!

No amount of training can truly prepare anyone, when their own life is on the line, as gunshots ring out. It happened in the blink of an eye. With a very loud kick to the stall door, it flew open slamming against the other stall door in a thunderous crack, like when lightning seems to strike just a few feet away. It screams to the inner soul and resonates throughout the body. I distinctively heard a loud pop, like that of a firecracker ringing out, the flash of the intruders’ weapon, the echoes of the door slamming. I instantly felt a burning sensation in my right thigh, “OW” what is wrong with my leg.

I am not sure if survival instincts kicked in or was it actually the training I received at the academy. Now I knew the hot lead of a bullet had ripped into my upper right thigh area. I started to fall to the floor, from the stinging fiery pain in my leg and trying to get a lower profile immediately.

        For protection, I aimed towards the gunman’s chest and pulled the trigger to my service weapon. POP, POP, POP, POP, POP. I hit the floor screaming to my partner; “I am hit, I am hit”! I anxiously reach for the next magazine clip, dislodge the empty clip, reloaded, and was now trying to see where the gunman is. Was he still trying to KILL me? I thought to myself where is my partner, later I learned he sprang out of the bathroom, like an Olympic sprinter as the first shot rang out. I rolled onto my side, holding my thigh and trying to stand up. Still in shock, I cautiously approached and peered into the stall area, where the perpetrator laid slouched between wall and the toilet. His shirt, wall, and partition all covered in a dying red rose-colored blood where his body had slid down the wall leaving a trail of blood. Again, I yelled to my partner, “For HELP!”