FAIRWAY, Kan. — Monday marked the return for students and staff at Highlands Elementary School after at least one bullet hit the building last week and a police shootout across the street followed.
Police arrested the suspect following an exchange of gunfire that left parents and students nearby, who had been given the okay for dismissal, ducking for cover.
Mark Ruffin, 26, has been charged in the incident. He was shot by police after he allegedly refused orders to drop a gun he was holding.
While students and staff were greeted with doughnuts and special police coins during their return on Monday, some parents questioned the emergency response.
Joshua Eckrich, whose son and daughter both attend Highlands, said he raced to the school on Friday after being alerted about shots near the building.
“I don’t like to think about what could have happened,” said Eckrich, a veteran who served overseas in Iraq. “All I was focused on was getting my children in the car and getting out of there.”
Shortly after picking up his children and getting home safely, gunfire erupted at a home across the street between the suspect and police.
Officers were able to arrest the suspect, which left many people praising their efforts on Monday.
“Everybody was so thankful that nothing different had occurred,” said Eileen Swatzell, whose husband works as a custodian at the school.
However, Eckrich wondered why parents and students ended up in harm’s way.
“Everyone was okay. Once you get past that then you start getting into that phase of objective analysis,” he said.
With at least one bullet hitting the school building, Eckrich questioned why children were allowed to leave despite the source of the shots not yet being found.
“That seems to me a very tactical failure to release children to their parents,” he said. “They failed to secure the scene such that they allowed the situation to unfold such that parents and children are literally in the crossfire.”
While Eckrich’s frustration was with police, the Shawnee Mission School District spoke with 41 Action News on Monday about the decision to lift the lockdown.
“We had parents in both directions on Mission Road lined up. It made sense for us to start the dismissal process,” Shawnee Mission School District Chief Communications Officer David Smith said. “We had no indication whatsoever that there was anything happening at that house where things ultimately happened.”
Both Smith and police said the best decisions were made on Friday based on the information they had at the time.
“There were police everywhere,” Smith said. “The scene felt safe and under control.”
A PTA meeting was held at the school on Monday night and parents were expected to ask questions about Friday’s incident.
Police did not attend the meeting but moving forward Joshua Eckrich hoped to hear more about why they made certain decisions.
“It could have been far worse,” he said. “I’m not trying to be critical of them but I do think there are some questions that need to be answered from the 30,000 foot level.”
