Frederick County Sheriff Says His Deputies and SROs Would Act Quickly To Stop A School Shooter

Sheriff Chuck Jenkins

He said the Uvalde, Texas police response to the Robb Elementary School shooting was negligent.

Frederick, Md. (NS) – If a school shooting similar to the one at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas happened in Frederick County, the Student Resource Officers (SROs) would not wait to engage the shooter.

That’s according to Sheriff Chuck Jenkins who recently joined WFMD’s Morning News Express.

He said he had a meeting with his SROs after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018 and had a “come to Jesus” conversation about what their response would be in a similar situation.

“I feel very confident that every one of my Deputies that are SROs would make the decision to sacrifice themselves to get in there and to at least draw gunfire, or get the attention of the shooter away from the students, in attempt to kill the shooter,” said Jenkins.

When it comes to gun control, Jenkins said he supports background checks.

“I’m all for all those things that keep the firearms out of the hands of people that shouldn’t have them. This whole thing about guns is getting really divisive. I don’t think there’s any way that, that government can ever confiscate all your guns. So, we have to learn how to keep them out of the hands of people that shouldn’t have them, out of the criminals, out of the people who have mental health issues, which need to be identified,” he explained.

He said 18 years old may be too young to buy a semi-automatic rifle, but more conversations need to be had about mental health issues and mass shootings.