Nashua Prepped For Incidents Like Sky Meadow Country Club Shooting, Former Emergency Director Says

NASHUA, NH — While no one is truly completely prepared for mass casualty events and emergencies, first responders and government officials have spent years preparing to do the best they can to treat victims.

But on Saturday night, just before 7:30 p.m., everything seemed to fall into place after a shooter killed one man and wounded several others at the Sky Meadow Country Club. While chaotic, hospitals were put on trauma alerts, a command center and triage areas were quickly set up to deal with the wounded, and people were evacuated from the scene. Others were sheltered inside the club and restaurant.

Also Read

• Witness Says Shooter Yelled, ‘Free Palestine’ Before Firing Upon Nashua Country Club Event Attendees
• Shooting Reported At Sky Meadow Country Club In Nashua; Multiple Injuries Reported

At the same time, police had to search for the killer — or killers, at one point, since there were erroneous reports of two shooters, in the havoc and confusion.

Nashua has spent several years preparing for such an incident, according to Justin Kates, the former director of the Emergency Management in Nashua, for about a dozen years.

An incident like this, he said, “requires a dynamic response from everyone involved,” while, at the same time, first responders cannot plan for every single location in the city.

“(Nashua) was very good at ensuring the police, AMR, and emergency management were closely connected, sharing information,” he said. “The city practiced over and over and over again, to ensure the command post was set up quickly, interacting with hospitals.”

Kates, who now works for Wawa Inc., said, “One of the challenges was dealing with information — social media and witness reports, dispatchers trying to gather information about what is really going on at the scene and where to send resources.”

Kates said, too, everyone was lucky that a fire station was “right there, on Spit Brook Road, which allowed for an immediate and very quick response.” He added, “This is a real good example of some of the collaborative work between police and state police, firefighters, the hospitals … you hope you never have to use those relationships or plans until something like this occurs … they are all thinking ahead to this specific incident.”

A post-incident analysis will be conducted by all parties involved, one can surmise. But the roots of attainment were established years ago. When the department first started, he said, “We all established collaboration, police, and EMS were working together. It’s great to see they had a unified response for this incident, and saved lives and protected the community.”

Do you have a news tip? Please email it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube or Rumble channels. Patch in New Hampshire is now in 190 communities. Also, follow Patch on Google Discover.