STOP MOVING. STOP MOVING. [screaming] >> WATCH LEFT. WATCH LEFT. SUSPECT DOWN. SUSPECT DOWN. SECONDARIES PROVIDE SECURITY. >> Violence can erupt without warning, pushing officers into life or death decisions in seconds. These two cases show how fast armed encounters unfold and why rapid response matters. [music] Around 9:00 a.m. on November 29th, 2024, Detective Alan Reddens and several police officers responded to a report of an armed person who had just left the Chase Bank near the Oak Park Public Library. >> I got one with a khaki cold black hat about walking to the Oak Park Library. Blue jeans, white shoes. >> Khak, blue jeans, white shoes. Welcome to the outside. >> Can I talk to you for a second, sir? >> How you doing? >> Good. How are you? >> All right. >> Keep your hands reach. No. No. Keep your hands. >> Don't reach. Don't reach. Don't reach. Don't reach. Keep your hands up. >> ALL THREE SHOTS FIRED. SHOT FIRE. Shot fire. The suspect fires a total of six rounds before looking for cover at the nearby library as one of the officers shouts into the radio for backup. More officers arrive to nab the man. Stay at the library. We're at the library. He's still in front. >> Manny, where is he? >> Where is he? >> That's where you talking to him. Drop the gun. >> Having tracked down the suspect's position, officers begin encircling the area to trap him inside. Stop moving towards him. >> 512, be advised. I'm on his east. I'm on this flank on the east. >> The cops give the man one last chance to surrender. But after receiving no response, one of the officers spots a clear view and takes HIS CHANCE. >> DROP YOUR WEAPON. DROP IT. >> DROP YOUR WEAPON. HE'S BEHIND THE THE LAST PILLAR. >> That's why you're talking to him. >> Brown coat. Looks like he's got a Glock. >> I got him. >> He's down. I got him. >> Go. Go. Down. Down. Roman Ontario 12. Two shots. I'll fire two shots. I struggle. He's down. >> Officers successfully neutralized the criminal. However, [music] the way it was handled left room for criticism. Two cops fired a total of six rounds. Four from a rifle and two from a handgun. And only one bullet struck him in the leg. One of the bullets made its way into the library where it could have easily hit a civilian. area. >> On the GROUND behind you underground, >> how bad is he? >> Where you shot? >> My head on my leg. >> My leg. [screaming] >> I may hit him in the head. So check his head. >> The shooter was identified as Gerald Thomas, a 37year-old Chicago man with an extensive criminal history, including prior convictions for aggravated battery against police and who allegedly stole a 40 caliber [music] pistol from his sister. Just days before the shooting, Detective Alan Reddens, one of the first officers to respond [music] to the scene, tragically lost his life after being shot by Thomas. Gerald Thomas remains in custody, awaiting trial on 56 felony counts, including first-degree murder. On the morning of March 27th, 2023, a car rolls through Green Hills toward a Stone Church school campus. The Covenant School inside the car, a duffel loaded with three firearms and ammo. The driver is a 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hail, former student who's planned this for years. before she left. Hail sent an alarming message to a former middle school basketball teammate asking for help and saying she intended to die that day. The teammate contacted police after receiving the message, but by then Hail was already on route to the school at the school's locked glass entrance. Hail fired through the doors to gain access and crawled inside immediately inside the buildings. She encountered a 61-year-old custodian who was fatally shot. Hail moved to the second floor where students and staff were assembling for an alarm-driven evacuation. There [music] she encountered a substitute teacher and three 9-year-old students, all of whom were shot. And later, the head of school left her office to investigate the alarm and was also shot and killed when 911 calls began. Officers responded and entered the building without waiting to form a surrounding perimeter. >> Um, the kids are all locked down, but we have two kids that we don't know where they are. >> Okay. >> Okay. Yes, ma'am. Hey, give me give me three. Let's get three. Let's go. Metro Police. >> Open door. >> On me. On me. We don't know where he is. >> Metro Police at the door. >> The cops kept opening every door and searching every room, not knowing where the shooter was. Then they heard a gunshot above them. It was hail firing at officers outside from a second floor window. >> Take this door. Take it. It's upstairs. Sounds like it's upstairs. Push an LPB up. Push the LPB up. >> Reloading. Clear. >> Watch out. WATCH OUT. STOP MOVING. STOP MOVING. >> WATCH LEFT. WATCH LEFT. >> SUSPECT DOWN. SUSPECT DOWN. SECONDARY PROVIDE SECURITY. >> HEY, hold the air. >> Audrey Elizabeth Hail was killed 14 minutes after firing the first shot. She fired a total of 152 rounds inside the school and took the lives of six people, three of whom were children. Police later confirmed she had legally purchased seven guns over the previous few years despite being under treatment. For an emotional disorder, detectives searched Hail's home and found detailed maps of the Covenant School, diagrams showing entry points and handwritten notes about police response times. They also discovered journals describing her mental state, frustrations, and obsession with gaining notoriety through violence. Which moment do you think most changed how these situations ended, and [music] why? Share your thoughts in the comments below and don't forget to like and subscribe.