WASHINGTON — The woman who created and ran the FBI’s active shooter response program is speaking out about the surge of active shooter attacks in recent weeks.

Katherine Schweit, a retired FBI special agent, is especially critical of the police response to the gunman who killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

“It was kind of like a gut punch," Schweit said in an interview with Spectrum News at her home. "I feel like, oh my gosh, 10 years, it’s the same conversations I had after Sandy Hook,” 

Schweit said she was shocked to learn that law enforcement in Uvalde didn’t follow the training she designed for responding to an active shooter.

“If shooting is underway, you go directly to the shooter, neutralize the shooter, period," she said. "Job one — Law Enforcement 101."

The top public safety official in Texas revealed officers had enough firepower and protective equipment to storm the classroom within minutes, but still waited for more than an hour to confront the gunman.

“I felt that I needed to speak out and say, 'Hey, look, you have the training in the law enforcement world, but maybe you’re not training enough and maybe you’re not executing in the right way,'” Schweit said.

The training Schweit created after the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 occurs both in the classroom and in real-life simulations for law enforcement across the country. She says now is the time for police departments to reinforce protocols and secure the proper resources. 

“Training budget money is the first thing cut," Schweit said. "It is really a challenge to not have the right training for the law enforcement officers, or to have a very minimal amount of training that doesn’t give them the chance to rinse and repeat."

Schweit — author of the book "Stop The Killing: How to End The Mass Shooting Crisis" — said school districts need to re-evaluate how they advise students and staff to react when an active shooter is on campus.

"The federal government adopted a policy of run, hide, fight," she said. "I think we are seeing the hide part trained in schools and not the run part trained in schools. I just don’t think the schools are training to that right now.”

A new FBI report counts 61 active shooter attacks last year, up over 50% in a year and nearly 100% over four years. There has been no criticism so far of the police response to Monday’s shooting in Highland Park, Ill., that killed seven people. Officials said the alleged shooter plotted the attack for weeks, which, according to Schweit, is common.

“Purchasing weapons, ammunition, purchasing gear and weapons that would allow them to go out and be a different person," she explained. "A fatalistic attitude about life — they stop taking their medication, they stop doing their routines, they say things, very common, most of these people do leak, we call it leakage."

Schweit said those closest to the individual are most likely to see the warning signs and admit some may not want to turn in a family member or loved one to the police. However, she warned that the consequences of not reporting the individual have major implications.

“You have to think back to the idea that most of these people might be inclined to commit suicide," she said. "In addition to that, 10% of them kill a family member before they do the shooting."