By Jon Schuppe

When officers in many cities race to the scene of a mass shooting that’s still unfolding, they no longer wait outside for a SWAT team — they often rush in to confront the shooter themselves. This shift in tactics aims to save lives, but it puts the first officers to arrive in enormous peril.

Sgt. Ron Helus followed that training on Wednesday night and paid with his life. He hurried to the packed Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, arriving three minutes after the 911 call. He went in with a second officer and was shot dead while confronting a gunman who killed 11 others. “There is no doubt they saved lives by going in there and engaging the suspect,” Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean said.