Think No Evil by Beiler Jonas

Author:Beiler, Jonas [Beiler, Jonas]
Format: epub
Publisher: Howard Books
Published: 2010-03-03T05:04:46+00:00

Buggy passing a media horde

CHAPTER EIGHT

Think No Evil

I POURED MYSELF a cup of coffee at the Bart fire hall and took in the scene. The debriefings had started—groups of first responders were going into some of the side rooms and offices in the fire hall to talk about what they had been through. As counselors, we have seen a vast difference in the long-term emotional health of first responders who receive an initial debriefing and those who do not. I was not involved in any of the meetings that day, so I wandered around the fire hall, listening to any bystanders who just needed to talk.

I ran into Brad Aldrich while I was there. Brad is the executive director of the Family Resource and Counseling Center, which we had founded fifteen years prior. Brad started at the center as a counselor and grew into the position of director, where his roles included public relations and fund-raising. On that day, he had been at his office, looking over some paperwork and preparing for his individual meetings with other counselors. When he first heard the news, his mind couldn’t register the information. A shooting at an Amish school. Only miles away. Then came the blur of activity as the counseling center’s phones began to ring. Everyone in the center had questions with no answers: Which school? How far away? Was the shooter on the loose? Many of our counselors grabbed their coats off the backs of their chairs with the intention of driving to the scene to help, but Brad stepped in. They knew nothing about the shooter’s status or even if the scene was safe. He decided that two counselors would join him on a trip to find the school and the rest would remain at the center, wait for a report back, and handle the influx of calls into the center.

When Brad first saw the schoolhouse it was a blaze of activity: what seemed like hundreds of state patrol cars, ambulances, fire trucks, and all of their associated personnel surrounded the small building. Brad noticed that the King farm, about a half mile off in the distance, seemed to be the center of activity for the Amish, so he drove in that direction. He parked his car along Mine Road and walked up the lane toward the farm, wondering what he would encounter. At this point Brad knew very little about what had actually happened. He only knew there was a gunman. He had no idea if anyone had been shot or, if she had, how badly injured anyone might be.

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