Baldwin County investigators say they still have not ruled out the possibility that shots were fired inside Elberta Elementary School during a lockdown earlier in the week, as first responders from across the county gathered to review their response to the incident.
Emergency personnel met at the Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency office in Robertsdale for the first joint debriefing since the school went into lockdown just after 1:30 p.m. the previous Wednesday. Baldwin County Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack said it marked the first time every agency that responded that day had been in the same room together, and that while communication between agencies could be improved, the overall response to the rural community’s lone elementary school was handled well and by the book.
According to Mack, a woman came to the back service door of the school’s cafeteria asking to speak with a relative who worked there, and entered the building once a cafeteria employee went to retrieve that staff member. Investigators believe a handgun was produced shortly after she entered. Forensic specialists had already collected evidence from the scene, including fractured glass and a bent metal window frame consistent with possible gunfire, though accounts from witnesses in close proximity to the incident were mixed on whether a shot was actually heard.
Mack said investigators believe it’s possible shots were fired from outside the school as well, and that the entire episode unfolded in a matter of seconds. The woman involved was later ordered held on $1 million bail, required to undergo a mental evaluation, and barred from coming within a mile of a school.
Officials also disclosed that a separate, armed parent had to be stopped from entering the school perimeter that law enforcement set up in the aftermath of the initial incident. That parent was not arrested, but Mack called the situation extremely dangerous, stressing that in scenarios like this, only law enforcement should be armed near the scene.
Anthony Sampson, the Baldwin County school system’s director of safety, security and attendance, said Elberta Elementary staff followed their lockdown training precisely and that he had not heard complaints from parents in the days following the incident. He confirmed the school does not have a dedicated school resource officer, though a deputy makes regular visits to the area, and said a resource officer on-site might have allowed for a faster initial response.
Baldwin County EMA Director Mitchell Sims praised the school’s teachers for staying calm and improvising in the moment, including telling students police were on scene “practicing today” to keep them from panicking. Baldwin County Schools Superintendent Robbie Owen said first responders arrived within four minutes of the initial report of shots fired, calling the speed of the response remarkable.