CINCINNATI -- Ohio state trooper Bradley Hess was one of the first emergency responders to arrive on the scene of a triple shooting Monday in the West End. His quick thinking might have helped save a victim's life.
Hess, who has worked with the Ohio State Highway Patrol for five years, used a tourniquet to stanch the man's bleeding in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
"It's just part of the job," he said. "If I can do something to help him out, help the victim out, I can try my best and hope for the best when he gets to the hospital or when the paramedics get there to help him out."
With help from Hess and other first responders, all three victims were hospitalized and survived the incident.
Tourniquets, which have been a staple of emergency medicine since ancient times, fell briefly out of favor in the aftermath of World War II but have recently experienced a renaissance, according to New York Times writer Michael Schmidt.
Some of the renewed urgency has to do with mass shootings, in which even civilian bystanders might find themselves in a position where their intervention is necessary to save a stranger's life.
Local teachers, public officials and police officers have this year participated in a training program called "Stop the Bleed," which a coalition of doctors and law enforcement officers created in the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.
"Our goal is to get this training to all the faculty within the Cincinnati Public Schools, at least the high schools, this next year in 2018," Cincinnati Fire Department Assistant Chief Tom Lakamp, who helped administer the training, said in early August.
The suspect in Monday's West End shooting, whom police said fled the scene on foot, was still at large by Thursday night. Anyone with information about the incident should call Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040.
