Virginia Tech Tragedy "What If" Scenario

Virginia Tech Tragedy - A “what if” Scenario/Dialog
April 17, 2007

As additional information becomes available on the Virginia Tech massacre, those of us in K-9 search and rescue continue to speculate in an attempt to learn from and apply this learning to future activations in which we may be involved. While there is certainly enough “Monday morning quarterbacking” taking place at this time, I certainly don’t want to add to that but do want to speculation on a “what if.”

When I first heard of this tragedy as it was unfolding and saw the police K-9’s it seemed to me that the use of “immediate scent/bit tracking dogs were, of course, the proper resource. Then I heard the college was not in lockdown and that out of the some 25,000 students, 11,000 were arriving on campus and heading for their classes that early morning. It seemed to me the chances of immediate scent tracking were becoming less possible by the minute with all the students moving around the campus. This is assumption on my part as I do not know if scent discriminating trailing/tracking dogs were in use. As the two hours passed between the first shooting and the second on campus, I started to speculate on a “what if.”

Being familiar with a number of Sheriff’s Department Bloodhound handlers/deputies in Virginia and one Lt. Detective Bloodhound handler from our trips to Virginia for yearly recertification for our Bloodhounds, the thought started to materialize that if a qualified scent discriminating Bloodhound team (or other breed) would have been deployed this tragic and worst mass shooting incident in our history could possibly have been foiled. Let me explain.

The first incident involved two victims being shot in their dorm at 7:15 AM. The shooter would have left shell casings as he apparently was not concerned (my assumption) with covering his tracks. A Bloodhound could have been scented off those shell casings and, with backup of swat team members and police/swat team K-9’s, could most likely have trailed the shooter to his dorm where he apparently went during that two hour period between his first shooting spree and the second where 30 additional students were shot and killed. As we know from our training in scenting a Bloodhound from a shell casing that has been loaded and fired by the shooter, his scent would most likely be on the spent shell casings. During our practice on this scent presentation scenario the Bloodhound has been able to run the trail on the subject after being scented on the shell casing.

Now, I know as a Bloodhound handler I am bias but I am also trying to be objective. Yes, the hound can lose the trail at times and yes, you want to have police bite dogs from a protection standpoint. If swat teams and their K-9’s are in tow following the scent discriminating Bloodhound team you do have that element of protection when the Bloodhound starts to indicate he is getting close to his subject. That is where the Bloodhound team falls back and the swat team takes over with their K-9’s. If it is possible that a resource (a mantrailing Bloodhound) could foil the worst mass shooting disaster in our history it is a “what if” I would bet on.

Immediate response is the key in these activations and I realize that qualified Bloodhound teams are few and far between in most areas of this country as compared to police dogs but here we have Virginia, a state and area that has more qualified Bloodhound teams than almost other states. Just maybe the Bloodhound team, as the resource it can be, will become more prevalent and used more by law enforcement, not as a last resort but as an additional upfront resource when the circumstances apply.

I know this dialog probably serves a therapeutic purpose for me as we all begin dealing with this sad tragedy. If only the additional resource of a qualified Bloodhound team(s) would have been available and used the second shooting and carnage may never have taken place. Of course we will never know but we can learn from speculating on “what if” scenarios and as Bloodhound handlers can continue practicing on as many scenarios as possible, including this one. Wouldn’t it be interesting to practice/work on the above scenario with a swat team and their K-9’s!

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Virginia Tech students, faculty, families and all who have been touched so deeply by this tragedy.

Ron (Lindy) Lindblom
K9KAL
www.bloodhoundscents.blogspot.com
Mid-Michigan Working Dogs – K-9 Search and Rescue
Tri-State K-9 Search and Rescue
www.tristatesearch.org/index.html