Police may have used Columbine tactics

POLICE responding to the deadly Virginia Tech shootings may have been using tactics learned after the Columbine killings in Colorado in 1999.

Police at many college campuses across the nation have trained in so-called “active shooter response” — aimed at quickly isolating attackers at often sprawling educational facilities.

“The first thing is to put the guy in a box,” said security analyst Kelly McCann. Quickly “isolate, contain and control” the threat while gathering as much intelligence on the attacker as possible, said McCann and other security experts.