When Lt. Gary Spangler heard about the Feb. 14 shootings, the first thing that came to mind was what to do first in the investigation.

One year later, Spangler, head of the DeKalb Police Department’s investigation division, and other responding officers reflect on the call some thought they would never have.

“I just hope it never happens again,” Spangler said, who was in his office at the police station when the call came in. “You always have the ‘it can never happen here syndrome,’ and right after it happened, one thing I thought was, well, it happened here.”

Lt. Carl Leoni, head of the patrol division, was in a downstairs office at the police station putting court notices in his officer’s mailboxes when the station was first alerted. Leoni initially passed it off as someone hearing fireworks, but when the report of an active shooter came in, he dropped the papers and drove right over to the scene.

For Leoni, the day stands as a reminder that no place is free from tragedy happening.

“Until it happened that day, never expected it to happen here,” Leoni said. “I spent very little time in Cole Hall itself, but as far as the mass casualties, it is without a doubt the worst thing I’ve personally witnessed.”

The DeKalb Police Department was the first outside department to respond to the shooting, and also investigated the suspect afterward, said DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen. In the aftermath, the department investigated the shooter and tried to find a motive behind the shooting, Feithen said.

“I think the response went amazingly well,” Feithen said. “Does that mean there isn’t something to learn? No, there is always something to learn in these events.”

Feithen said internal and external communications could have been improved on that day, and this is always an issue in emergency situations.

“The country as a whole is still grappling with improving our communications,” Feithen said. “Efforts are being made to make those improvements.”