WILMINGTON, Ohio – A college student says she went to an active shooter training seminar on campus never expecting two students to storm in firing airsoft guns as part of a police officer's presentation.
Jadie Riewoldt
Jadie Riewoldt says she is outraged because she was shot and never expected that the training seminar, sponsored by Wilmington College, was going to put students' safety at risk.
According to Riewoldt, Wilmington police Sgt. Ron Fithen gave two airsoft guns to two students outside the Kelly Center before his presentation last week. Inside, the students were facing forward listening to Fithen introduce himself when the two "gunmen" entered from the two doors in the back.
"In the middle of his speech, two students walked in from either side and started firing airsoft guns on the students sitting there," Riewoldt said.
Like all of the students seated inside, she wasn't sure what was happening.
"I heard the student on the left and turned to look at him," Riewoldt said. "Meanwhile, the student on the right was about 3 feet away from me - between me and the wall - and shot me in the side with one of the airsoft guns."
The incident has her stepfather, Dirk Morgan, outraged as well.
"Our family has the utmost respect for all law officers and we'd just like to know who's accountable - who made these poor decisions in our daughter's life that could have been much more serious," Morgan said.
WCPO went to the Wilmington Police Department for answers. We got a statement from Chief Duane Weyand, who said that he heard about it Monday.
"As of today, we haven't been contacted by anyone to report this incident. We are currently looking into the matter," Weyand said.
A Wilmington College spokesperson sent a statement that read, in part:
"It's unfortunate that this happened, but we relied on Sgt. Fithen's judgment about how the training should be conducted."
Riewoldt says both the police and the college need to do better.
"There's other ways to do it without inducing a panic or causing injuries," Riewoldt said. "Making people aware what they're getting into."
