The deadly school shooting at the Covenant Presbyterian School in Nashville has claimed the lives of three children and three adults.
The heartbreaking news has reached those in Central New York, including Armoured One CEO, Tom Czyz.
"This feels like a repeating nightmare. Ten years of now fighting to of what we call ending the story of an active shooter. There are ways to make it stop and we're doing everything we can to make it stop," said Czyz.
Armoured One is a Syracuse organization that's mission is to protect schools and prevent the loss of lives during mass shooting attacks. Czyz and his team traveled to Nashville right after the shooting and will assess the school building, how it can be updated, and figure out how the shooter was able to get into the school.
Police said the suspect was able to gain entry through a sliding door.
Czyz said, "I’m going to be meeting with parents who have lost their children or parents that their children are traumatized, and the parents are traumatized themselves."
After Monday's school shooting, Armoured One has responded to 61 in total. Czyz explained the horror that comes with that number and feels there need to be federal safety guidelines in place to avoid such shootings from happening again.
He explained that there needs to be School Resource Officers (SRO) inside the buildings.
“My personal feeling is an SRO is one of your top needs for security in schools across America," said Czyz. "The chances of a school having a shooting with an SRO that is on campus all of the time cuts your chances of a shooting down by 50%."
Onondaga County District Attorney, Bill Fitzpatrick added to Czyz's statement. The DA's 'School Safety Task Force' has been around for five years as of now, to prepare and prevent incidents such as school shootings and keep students and faculty safe, and having SROs is part of that plan.
"Every school should have a trained resource officer and I think that is extremely important," said Fitzpatrick.
Czyz said they haven't seen safety funding for private schools, such as Covenant Presbyterian School, across the country compared to the funding public schools are getting. "We need the money that's been given to the schools to be allocated to the right slots to make sure that it is truly making a difference."
Not only funding but Fitzpatrick also explained that Tennessee lawmakers might want to dive deeper into how the shooter was able to get guns.
"They don't have the aggressive robust ERPO laws that we have in New York State. That might be an avenue to explore," said Fitzpatrick.