SENATE MEMORIAL 84

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2018

INTRODUCED BY

Steven P. Neville

A MEMORIAL

HONORING THE HEROIC ACTIONS OF THOMAS HILL AND KATHLEEN "KATIE" POTTER IN THE AZTEC HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTINGS.

     WHEREAS, on December 7, 2017, a disturbed shooter entered Aztec high school and took the lives of students Francisco "Paco" Fernandez and Casey Jordan Marquez before fatally shooting himself; and

     WHEREAS, the death toll would have been much higher if not for the bravery, courage and quick response of many people; and

     WHEREAS, Thomas Hill and Kathleen "Katie" Potter were at the forefront of responders; and

     WHEREAS, after encountering the shooter, custodian Thomas Hill sent out a radio alert of an active shooter to administrators, teachers and students so that the school could quickly go into lockdown; and

     WHEREAS, substitute teacher Kathleen "Katie" Potter reacted quickly to the lockdown warning, gathering her seventeen students in a small office next to the computer lab, pushing a sofa against the door as a barricade and directing her students to get down on the floor; and

     WHEREAS, the shooter entered the computer lab and began firing into the walls, but thanks to Katie Potter taking the school's active-shooter drills seriously, no one was hit; and

     WHEREAS, both Thomas Hill and Katie Potter say they are not heroes, but their actions prove otherwise; and

     WHEREAS, Aztec high school students and staff members also welcomed first responders back to the school on January 12, 2018 to pay tribute to their bravery; and

     WHEREAS, student body leaders recognized police officers, law enforcement agents, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, 911 dispatchers, red cross volunteers and school and district staff; and

     WHEREAS, Craig Daugherty, San Juan county's fire chief, presented Thomas Hill, who has been a volunteer firefighter for twenty years, with a medal of valor for prompting a lockdown after the shooting began;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the bravery and heroic actions of Thomas Hill and Kathleen "Katie" Potter in the Aztec high school shootings be recognized; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to Thomas Hill and Kathleen "Katie" Potter.

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