From the Editor: Emergency news team formed to cover a holiday mass shooting

It happened the way most of these things do - out of the clear blue, with no warning.

A week ago, Managing Editor Lisa Miner rang me and breathlessly said, "There's been a shooting in Highland Park. Can we bring in some help?"

I was out of town and not watching the news. She'd seen something on Twitter, less than an hour after it happened.

"What kind of shooting?" I asked.

"Mass shooting," she replied.

As with any huge story like this, it took me a few moments to grasp the scope of the event. I remember the same thing happening when I, as managing editor in February 2019 learned about the mass shooting at the Henry Pratt business in Aurora.

Mass shootings might be commonplace in the U.S. these days, but they grow more incongruous the closer they are to home.

What you need to understand about Monday is that on holidays we generally have one editor and one reporter working during the day, along with a couple of photographers. Coverage on holidays generally entails photo-driven events.

The planned staffing wouldn't cut it for something of this scale.

Fact is, Miner already had jumped in to work - and would work more than 12 hours that day - assisting Deputy Managing Editor Renee Trappe, who had picked the short straw to work the Fourth. Together, they marshaled an emergency staff, directed coverage, did rewrite (fashioning a story with information a reporter or photographer sends you from the field) and guided our presentation.

Assistant Photo Editor Paul Valade immediately rerouted photographers John Starks and Joe Lewnard, who got one-of-a-kind images of the scene, all while the gunman was on the loose and nobody knew where he was.

Then, Paul also scoured websites and wire services for images and video we weren't getting ourselves.

Staff Writer Eric Peterson already was scheduled to work. He interviewed people and listened to cops updating the search for the gunman well into the evening, feeding notes to his editor. Staff Writers Steve Zalusky, Dave Oberhelman and Barbara Vitello didn't hesitate to come in when called.

Caroline Linden, who heads up our community and entertainment news, jumped in with Oberhelman to provide updates to the voluminous event listings when town after town canceled parades or festivals or fireworks.

That may seem like a minor issue, but about as many readers online turned to news of cancellations as they did to news about the shooting itself.

Deputy Managing Editor Travis Siebrass was on call for the Fourth, but he spent the whole day updating the website, improving headlines, sending out text alerts and more.

Melynda Findlay-Shamie, who heads up our trio of North Shore weekly newspapers, jumped in to edit copy and gather information.

Writers Alice Fabbre, Jake Griffin, Susan Sarkauskas and Marni Pyke all volunteered to work part or all of Monday.

When Miner told them she had enough people, they still fed her information from Facebook and other sources all day.

And this was just Monday.

There are plenty of others who played important parts in our coverage Monday and throughout the week.

It's heartening to me as the department head to see the staff rise to the occasion when big news breaks in an effort to tell these difficult stories. And many of these people didn't wait to be called in.

Almost every member of the newsroom played a significant role in creating these stories and photos.

I wish it didn't have to be this way, but they get too many opportunities to prove their mettle and spirit when terrible things happen.