Atlanta

Mayor, police chief say training, teamwork crucial after Atlanta Midtown shooting

ATLANTA — Atlanta’s mayor and police chief say teamwork and training helped lead to the arrest of the accused gunman in Wednesday’s Midtown shooting.

Channel 2′s Bryan Mims spoke with both of them as they reflected on that chaotic and tragic day.

Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum praised the men and women of his department, and other agencies, for their sheer heroics.

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He said in those first few minutes, police were doing three things simultaneously: Looking for a gunman, escorting first responders to the building’s 11th floor, and getting people out who had barricaded themselves.

Schierbaum said various agencies worked seamlessly together, as they have trained to do.

“And next week, we’ll be debriefing on this very incident,” Schierbaum said. “What did we do good, what could we have done better, and we will start crafting our next training protocol to reflect that and then that will start influencing how we deploy next time.”

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens called it “an emotional day.”

He was in a meeting Wednesday when he was pulled out and told those dreaded words: “active shooter.”

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“Anxiety and readiness was kind of my emotional state, but you’ve got to stay level-headed and thinking through things,” Dickens said.

Dickens went to the scene himself and took a hands-on approach to the investigation.

“First and foremost, I’m an Atlantan, not just the mayor,” Dickens said. “I’m someone that’s a resident. I live here. I have friends here. My daughter’s not too far from midtown, so I’m concerned,” the mayor said.

He said it’s important now for the city to focus on healing.

“And then make sure we love on each other as a community a little – and continue to resolve conflicts without guns, continue to seek a way to be non-violent with one another,” Dickens said.

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