Thousands gather for community meeting at Freeman High School

Every resident in southern Spokane County seemed present Thursday evening, packed into the Freeman High School gym to hear an update on the shooting that rocked the school Wednesday.

Some, like West Valley School District Superintendent Gene Sementi, were there to lend support. Freeman, West Valley, Central Valley and East Valley school districts are a tight-knit group, Sementi said.

“We try and stick together,” he said. “It’s very close to home. Most high school kids in the Valley know someone in Freeman. It feels like it happened at our school.”

Parents and students packed the bleachers and the rows of chairs on the gym floor. There were tears and hugging as people greeted each other. Signs of support from other schools and community members hung on the walls.

Freeman School District Superintendent Randy Russell was generous in his praise for first responders as well as parents and students.

“We’re all hurting,” he said. “It hurts. It cuts right down to the core.”

What’s important is to pick up the pieces and move on, Russell said. “It’s going to be a tough road ahead,” he said. “We’ve got to be looking out for each other.”

Russell said he went to the hospital Thursday to visit the three girls wounded in the shooting.

“I’m happy to report they are doing pretty darn well, considering the circumstances,” he said.

School will resume on Monday, Russell said. “We have to start thinking about moving forward,” he said.

Lt. Steve Jones of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spoke to parents, noting that the shooter was captured within minutes of the first phone call. The first deputy on scene was school resource deputy Ron Nye, who was across the street at the middle school when the call came in.

“He ran into the fray,” Jones said. “That’s what Ron does. That’s what we do.”

Detective Jack Rosenthal said investigators served search warrants on and off school grounds Wednesday and had every piece of evidence they needed within 10 hours. He promised parents his investigators would bring them the resolution they need and deserve.

“We are here for you,” he said.

Some of the same first responders who came to the school Wednesday also came Thursday night, among them Spokane County Fire Department District 8 Assistant Chief Greg Godfrey. “Everybody we had on duty was here,” he said of Wednesday’s shooting.

The department has a special connection with Freeman, Godfrey said. Sam Strahan was killed in Wednesday’s shooting, and his father was a volunteer firefighter with District 8 before he died in an accident in June.

A relative of one of the wounded girls has also worked with the department. Some firefighters have children who attend Freeman schools.

No firefighter who was at the school was allowed to go home before they talked to a counselor, Godfrey said. The department’s chaplains spent all day Thursday checking in on the first responders.

“You’re not going to get over this in a day, or even two,” Godfrey said.