Outside. The next thing you know everybody looks and you hear boom, boom, boom i just ran as fast as i could to the nearest forest to hide. I called my mom. I saw some girl. She got shot in the kneecap. Had a bandage and limping. Fireman came and got her. She called me and said, mom, there were shots at the school. I turned around and got here as quick as i could. I got on the phone and told her to stay quiet, stay calm, breathe. And just waiting and waiting and waiting and finally they were leading her out of the school. Thank god shes okay. Thank god shes okay. Many others are not. This is the seventh School Shooting this year and the second deadliest since the Marjory Stoneman douglas in parkland, florida. Casey stegall is on the way to Santa Fe High School and joins us live on the phone. We jumped in the vehicle in dallas this morning the moment the news broke and we have been making our way down through the state of texas. Across houston. This community is about 36 miles or so to the southeast of houston. Its actually in galveston county. For people who know texas, this is one of the areas hardest hit in Hurricane Harvey. And right now in santa fe, parents are picking up the children. Scene of pandemonium still as you can imagine. Police are trying to secure the school. They are going through room by room to make sure it is safe. The shooting started this morning. One witness says the gunman walked in an art class. It was first period. He had a sawedoff shotgun and started shooting. Students report hearing multiple gunshots. At some point there are conflicting reports that you have been hearing about all morning. But the schools fire alarm went off, either before or after the shooting started so the students scrambled to get out of the school. Once people realized what was happening, teachers and staff began yelling to run. We know that out of the at least eight who died, its unclear how many are students. How many are adults. Teachers, if there are any Police Officers involved. We just know its a devastating loss. It is. The thing is we talk about this. The explosive devices placed as the sheriff says both on the campus and off the campus. It takes us back to columbine because in the days of columbine, that was supposed to be an explosive event, right . They had the propane bombs planted inside the school. They had other bombs planted in the cars. That was the initial thing. This is a good indication experts say there might have been help for we talk about klebold being involved in that. When you have explosives now the first thing that investigators will look at, and they have a person of interest in custody, is whether or not there was more help. That is where social media comes in to try to find out what the mindset of the kid is. Also, social media and students cell phones. Nowadays this is a time when most kids have iphone or some kind of a smartphone that can record h. D. Video. So, in fact, already, we have seen the local authorities on the ground in santa fe putting out calls for help. They are asking that if anyone, students, faculty members that was inside the school this morning that they have some video or cell phone pictures that they turn it over to police because it could be considered valuable evidence. You mentioned explosive devices. We have heard reports on the local channels that have been described as pipe bombs found inside the actual high school. But in terms of the specifics as far as how many were found, where, you know, things like that, we simply dont know. You take it to another level when you hear of reports that there may be explosive devices planted around the school, the community around. So we have also seen Law Enforcement putting out information to the public as well. Like we saw in austin in the serial bomber when that man was on the loose. We have seen police even asking the public that lives around the high school there in santa fe to remain extra vigilant and call in any suspicious packages, unattended packages, things like that. Its a very active, a fluid situation as these typically are. Multifaceted investigation involving multiple agencies. State, local and federal. Yeah. Casey stegall on his way to the scene. We will get back to you when you are live on scene. Dana, they talk about this all the time. We have a questioning why it takes so long for the officers to get in and clear the school. They have to go through every locker and every closet and every classroom because they dont know if there are explosive devices and they have to balance that with going in for the students who might be gravely injured and need help. So its a delegate balance when you do that stuff. Dana we have been hearing how they been doing repeated drills at school, Law Enforcement, and at the hospitals. We are awaiting right now a press conference with Governor Greg Abbott of texas. He is going to be doing a press conference. We understand that senator ted cruz will join him at the press conference. It will happen any minute now. We will bring it to you. In the meantime, we have grace johnson on the line. She is a senior at Santa Fe High School. And was in band class when the shooting happened. Grace, im sorry for what you have gone through today. Your experience is invaluable to us to understand. If you could set the scene for us this morning. I understand you are in band class already. Yes, maam. Dana walk us through your morning and what happened. I actually had gotten to school about five minutes before it happened, before the fire alarm went off. We were in band class, not really doing anything. And the fire alarm went off. And we have fire drills a lot. So we kind of took our time going outside. You know, a lot of our class made it out there before us. The end of us just got out the door when there is a hallway that is all glass that you can see outside and the windows just started shattering. You know, we could hear gunshots and everybody started running. Half of us ran back inside. Half of them who were too far to get back in in time ran to the gas station. Dana when you do your drills, what are you told to do . Obviously a fire drill is different from an active shooter drill. But you decided to run back inside . Yes, maam. Dana i understand that you have a lot of friends obviously there at the school. What happened after you went back inside . How did you know that you were going to be safe . We have a cement room above our band hall. Our band director is exmilitary there is a 200pound steel door. He shut that. We were pretty confident we were going to be okay no matter what. Dana that is certainly a quickthinking teacher, indeed. At what point let me ask you this. Do you think you have any indication whether any of your friends have been injured . I have not gotten a list of name of who have been injured or who has been killed. You know, a lot of kids dont have their phones or they got left at school. I know a lot of my friends are okay but there are still some of my friends who are unaccounted for. Dana any other thoughts that you have about this is not the first School Shooting. Unfortunately. There have been many. Including just this year. We had the parkland shooting in florida. In that situation, the students had, not just the students said there was a problem with one particular student. This whole idea of if you see something, Say Something that had taken place. Any indication that you have as to what might have happened before this . Honestly, im not sure. You know, i agree if you are concerned about a student that you suspect could have issues like of course, tell somebody. But this student in particular was not one of those kids. He was very, very sweet. I had classes with him. So its honestly, its really sad because you dont know why they do this. Dana grace, you sound like a very poised and mature young woman. Im sorry for what you have gone through. I know you are a senior in high school. Of course, i wish you the best of luck in anything that comes forward in your bright future. I appreciate you being here today. Thank you. Thank you. Dana trace, turn it over to you. You know, dana, your last question was spot on because we have learned in the wake of the parkland shooting that, in fact, nikolas cruz had 58 disciplinary actions against him in a fiveyear span. In fact, one of those should have brought him before a judge but because of a Diversion Program he never made it before a judge. That is exactly what the schools will be talking about. I want to bring in michael, the president of a Company Called ssi guardian that actually developed the First University accredited active Shooter Training program. Michael, you know, you go on the website of Santa Fe High School and they talk about the changes they made in the wake of the shooting at sandy hook and how they changed the entire protocol. They had two resource officers that were armed on classes. They went over the active shooting drills. How much of a factor do you think it played into what you are seeing happening today in santa fe . Good afternoon, trace. Thank you for having me. What they did having School Resource officers there is a best practice. I would say that is a good step. If you are going through the proper evidencebased training, that, too would be a proper step. When it comes to the actual exercises, if they are planned, that is the right way to do it. What you want to be careful of is doing unannounced exercises. I dont know what policy was in place for the particular school but you dont want to do the things randomly. Such as a fire drill. Because i heard your last guest say sometimes you think its a fire drill. You are walking out because you are not taking it serious because they are used to doing this on a regular basis. Is that the thing . This the third or fourth time where a fire alarm was used in a shooting situation. Is it a case that you know the guys going in and we have seen many terrorists event around the world, they are trying to attract the students to go their way and the fire alarm might be one of those resources they use to get people to come in their direction . It is definitely a strategy. We saw a similar incident take place in parkland. The active shooter threat is constantly involved. In the path you didnt see so much of the fire alarm being used but in this event an parkland we see the fire alarm was utilized. I have heard and read conflicting reports that the attacker pulled the fire alarm. I read another report where the students pulled the fire alarm to help people evacuate. We dont know that for certain at this point. Michael, this is your business. You do this all the time. You know the studies. You have done this again and again. What in your estimation is the best defense for the high schools around the country . They talk about banning guns. We know in the near future that is not going to happen. What do the schools do . Rand paul said we need to protect our schools every single day. What is the best defense the schools can have . Look. There are existing best practices that schools can implement today. We dont have to try to reinvent and recreate things. But stick to Security Best practices that we know have been proven to keep schools safer. It all starts with evidencebased advanced training that trains you on preparation, mitigation and of course response. Another best practice would be to have the right equipment in place. Practicing the plan, practicing the training that you incurred. So there is a plethora of things that schools can do today. Things that do not cost million or a billion dollars to implement. So its important that there is a lot of ideas out there now. Its very important we stay focused on the best practices, do what we can do today that we know that works and really make a difference. These events keep happening time and time again. But if we keep relying on the same failed strategies we cant expect a different result. Something has to change. Michael yorio the president of ssi guardian. Good of you to join us. Dana, he makes a great point. When you talk about changing the routine and the protocol we had a School Shooting on wednesday. Nobody was killed in that School Shooting because the shooter was taken out quickly. But talk about the protocol of the school and this school was on it. They had barricaded themselves inside the classrooms using desks, using anything they could get in there there was no way anybody could get inside the classrooms near the area where the shooter was located. Its a very good point. Dana indeed. In fact, when grace johnson was saying that the teacher was reassuring them, they were surrounded by concrete. They were going to be safe. That was very important. Trace, we are still waiting for the governor of texas. Greg abbott. He is coming from austin, texas, making his way to santa fe. He is en route and well have the press conference as soon as we can bring it to you. Senator ted cruz will be joining him. In addition we know that President Trump is meeting with the u. N. Secretarygeneral. They are meeting at the white house. It was closed press but now open to the press and we will keep an eye on that. We will bring you any information we have. Bring in congressman mccall of texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security committee. I believe the last time you and i spoke on this program was when there was the mail bombs placed all around austin and we talked about that. There is a lot that texas has gone through. All across the country, of course. But your district has been hit hard in the past year. I agree. The last time i was on your show we talked about the austin bombing and my hometown of austin. My district stretches to the houston area. This is right outside houston. It seems like we have seen this play out too many times in the schools across the nation. There are very soft targets if you will. We need to target this so we dont see it happen so frequently. Dana how did you learn the news today . We were voting on the farm bill on the house floor. I was notified by my Committee Team there had been a shooting in texas. Active shooter playing out in my home state. It seems like we are getting the news way too often. The interesting thing is this week i introduced a School Security bill to help harden our schools from these type of attacks to get Homeland Security funds out to active Shooter Training programs. Also to help harden the targets. Maybe the use of k9s. I think this is something you have to see Congress Take a little more action and responsibility on. Dana do you feel the pressure from your constituents and do other members of congress you work with feel like people they dont want to turn on their tv and see this ever. The parkland shooting was just three months ago. We talked about the other Mass Shootings we know about this past year. Not even a year ago. The Las Vegas Shooting, southerland springs, texas. In particular of schools and you talk about the legislation you just introduced would it be with any specific requirement . Or would you allow the School Districts to decide what works best for them . I think its always important to let the local School Districts decide what is best for them. Education is a local concern. This just enables and authorizes the department of Homeland Security to assist schools and provide a Grant Funding program for them if they choose to do so to provide this active Shooter Training program. Also, you know, in this case, once again, not unlike the boston bombing in austin we are looking at the pipe bomb and the pressure cooking bombs. These are illegal. There is no question about that. We can talk about gun control debate. These are illegal devices. You know, firearms are not allowed in a certain perimeter of the schools by law as well. But this is a Grant Program to help them harden again what i think to be one of the softer targets we have with our children right in the crossfire. Dana it was just this week that one of your colleagues from illinois congressman kinzinger in his district there was an attempted School Shooting but the Armed Services officer there at the time was able to prevent a mass shooting from happening there. That obviously cant happen everywhere but do you think there is more of an acceptance or at least an understanding that if we do want to help protect the schools there is no magic what happened that can be waved and that people accepting perhaps, having these targets hardened is part of the deal Going Forward . It has to be. I used to prosecute firearm cases as a federal prosecutor. Many of these cases are stolen firearms. The terrorists have ak47s that are illegal on the black market. I think what we need to do is look at hardening the targets, the soft targets with the School Resource officers. You know the parkland case, we also im the biggest fan of Law Enforcement. We had a Law Enforcement breakdown where the f. B. I. Was notified, the Sheriffs Office was notified. Then you had the School Resource deputy sheriffs sitting outside the school as the carnage was going on inside. That is completely unacceptable. I want to give my condolences to the families in my home state of texas who have gone through yet another tragedy here of nine students being killed and one teacher. There is really nothing worse in my opinion than to witness Something Like this