CENTEGIX® | Impact Story
Saving Lives Comes Down to Seconds: How Immediate Notifications and Response Prevented Tragedy
The Challenge
- On September 25, 2025, during dismissal at 2:30:20 PM at S.L. Mason Elementary School in Valdosta, Georgia, an armed individual began shooting off campus just outside the school’s parent and visitor entrance.
- At the time, students were moving to buses, car lines, and daycare pickup, with buses already loaded and ready to depart.
- Two nearby law enforcement officers—the school resource officer (SRO) on campus and a local officer patrolling along the perimeter—heard the gunfire as the suspect moved onto school grounds and began approaching the main entrance.
The Solution
- Within 37 seconds (2:30:20 to 2:30:57 PM), an assistant principal who was outside at the bus loading area initiated a lockdown using their CrisisAlert™ badge.
- The system immediately locked down the campus, triggering strobes, intercom messages, and computer takeovers, alerting staff and students both inside and outside the building.
- Following trained lockdown protocols, buses with their riders left campus safely while staff ushered remaining students indoors to secure areas.
- The SRO engaged and stopped the armed threat approaching the school. Additional law enforcement arrived within three minutes, confirming the threat was neutralized. No students, staff, or parents were injured.
Valdosta City Schools
8,400+
Students
2K
Faculty and staff
14
Campuses
The Results
- Director Smith: “When you have a solution like CENTEGIX and you have the different methods of notification—the computer takeover, the strobes, the intercom message—your response is so much quicker…You don't have any of that apprehension about what's going on.”
- Dr. Lockhart: “This entire event was all done within three minutes. It just shows just how critical three minutes actually is. Saving lives comes down to seconds. And CENTEGIX was able to cut through a lot of the misunderstandings because we knew there was a lockdown, we knew we needed to respond, and we knew where to go.”
This entire event—from the first shot that we heard to the time that law enforcement was heavily on the scene and responding and the threat was over—it was all done within three minutes. It just shows just how critical three minutes actually is. Saving lives comes down to seconds. And CENTEGIX was able to cut through a lot of the misunderstandings because we knew there was a lockdown, we knew we needed to respond, and we knew where to go.
Dr. Craig Lockhart
Superintendent, Valdosta City Schools, GA
Impact Story
Saving Lives Comes Down to Seconds: How Immediate Notifications and Response Prevented Tragedy
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