On September 21, 2017 during lunch at Mattoon High School, a student opened fire in the cafeteria. Two students were wounded non-fatally when a gym teacher, Angela McQueen, intervened and quickly subdued the attacker. The School Resource Officer was able to quickly assist in controlling the attacker and the weapon. While this was going on, other students and staff safely evacuated or performed enhanced lockdown and there were no additional injuries or fatalities.
Mattoon Police Chief Branson “She’s been trained obviously, but in these scenarios, you just don’t know what’s going to happen until it happens,” Branson said during a press conference Wednesday night. “Had the teacher not responded as quickly as she had I think the situation would have been a lot different.” The school immediately reacted with ALICE techniques provided by their training to assess and respond to the situation.

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