Teacher took students to bathroom, prepared to fight with 3-inch heel

A Saturday speech and debate competition in Springfield took an unexpected turn during the finals round, as six Cassville students and one teacher were forced to use the run, hide, fight techniques taught to be as safe as possible when facing a potential shooter.

At around 7 p.m. on Saturday, police responded to about 10-15 gunshots near Glendale High School. A man walking by the school arrived at a hospital at 8:30 p.m. with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

At the time of the incident, Glendale was hosting the finals of a speech and debate competition that began at Springfield Central earlier in the day. Talana Hinson, Cassville speech, debate and drama teacher, had six of her 12 students at the event and four in the middle of their finals when the competition abruptly halted.

“There were several other students at the event that heard [the gunshots],” she said. “One of our students heard what could have been the shots but was unsure. When the coaches found out, we immediately stopped the rounds. Our immediate concern was to account for the students and get them to a safe spot as fast as possible.”

Glendale officials directed attendees to the gymnasium/ auditorium. Hinson, however, took a different tactic to ensure the safety of her students.

“The students were debating,” she said. “I had to find my six students, and then I took all of my students to the bathroom. I was fortunate to have a small number of students. That gave me more options. My students were amazing and responded quickly and without hesitation.

“Cassville school has taken great measures and provided training to try and prepare both the students and I to act quickly if this unfortunate situation were to occur. My gut instinct was to find an area quickly that I felt safest and that I had the most control. The end result was the bathroom.”

Hinson said the bathroom door allowed her to lock it from the inside and could only be unlocked from the outside with a key. She and the students were in the bathroom for an hour, and having run and hidden safely, the fight portion was on their minds.

“I wanted to take every precaution I could to ensure the safety of the students,” Hinson said. “If the worst-case scenario were to occur, I was prepared to fight. Because we were in a bathroom, we did not have many options. I took off my pink, 3-inch block heels and stayed by the edge of the door to listen. After about an hour, we heard voices coming our direction and keys.”

Hinson said the voices were discussing if the bathroom was out of order, and they later found out that the door had an out-of-order sign on the outside.

“About the time he got the door unlocked, I recognized the coach’s voice,” Hinson said. “He thought the bathroom was empty because the lights were off and we were silent. If I had not recognized his voice. I would have hit him with my heels. In fact, I almost did.”

Hinson said the students handled the situation wonderfully, staving off panic and stress. She credited the location with the locked door for keeping everyone calm.

“Surprisingly, we felt very safe in our location,” she said. “The students remained calm and handled the situation very maturely. I think cautious and alert would best describe it. A few even had things to throw if it came to that. One student even had her own heels ready to go. They were incredible.”

One of the students competing was Hinson’s daughter, sophomore Tierany Sloan. She said there was a bit of panic, but overall, she and her classmates felt safe.

“At first I was very panicked because the other coaches came banging on the door and said to get to the auditorium,” she said. “I was scared [in the bathroom], then, it was better because I was there with my mom.”

While Hinson’s daughter was present, she also acted as mom and protector for five others, including junior Audrey Gosvener.

“I was really scared [in the beginning] because I thought that something really bad had happened, and I felt very overwhelmed,” Gosvener said. “[In the bathroom], I was still scared, but I felt better than I had. I think being around the people I was made me feel better. Since no one else was panicked, I wasn’t panicking. Sometimes the pipes made noises that frightened us.”

Sloan and Gosvener said when the ordeal ended, the primary emotion was relief. They also were thankful to have Hinson with them.

“I would say Mrs. Hinson’s handling of the situation was very good because she took us to a safe spot that would have been very hard to get through the door if anything would have happened,” Sloan said.

“I was very relieved but I was still scared to walk outside,” Gosvener said. “I think Mrs. Hinson did an amazing job of handling the situation, and I felt very safe in the bathroom.”

Hinson said given the situation, the group just did the best they could to stay safe.

“We were thankful for the quick response and to be safe,” she said. “The students and I felt we made the best possible choices in the circumstances.”

After the lockdown was lifted, the remainder of the event was canceled with no plans of resuming.

“The police gave the all clear to the tournament director and we were able to safely return home,” Hinson said.