NORTHEAST TALLAHASSEE, FL — April 17, 2025, started as a typical Thursday for Leon County EMS.
"That Thursday was just like a normal day here for us in Tallahassee, responding to calls in the community and providing service just like any other day would have been," EMS Chief Chad Abrams said.
That’s before gunfire erupted on campus, leaving two dead and multiple people injured.
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EMS Chief Chad Abrams and his team were among the first medical units on the scene.
"We had units on scene in under a minute. We had a total of 14 ambulances," Abrams said.
“They very quickly got on scene and started providing care, setting up places to pick up patients, as well as creating rescue task force or forming rescue task force with other first responders go into areas, to warm areas, to get patients that are injured and bring them out.”
Nearly 70 people were on the ground, moving victims from casualty collection points on campus and working to get them to Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare.
"For this incident, we had enough resources on scene. There was no delay in, you know, having to hold patients or triage them as much,” Abrams said.
Trauma Surgeon Matthew Ramseyer was waiting at the hospital.
"Anytime there's a mass casualty event, we mobilize as many people as we can. We let the ORs [operating room] know. We close down any elective procedures and hold ORs so that we can triage the situation and determine what resources are required," Ramseyer said.
“Everything is well organized, and everyone is calm, and there's a directive in place. Everyone has a job, and the assignments are clear.”
By 1:00 p.m., medical staff received some of the first victims, according to live updates TMH posted that day.
By 4:30 p.m., they had six.
"What I remembered specifically about the day, I was the on-call trauma surgeon that day, so it was my primary responsibility to take care of any incoming trauma patients. There were patients that we received that I did take to the operating room," Ramseyer said.
All six victims survived, and five of them were released just five days later on April 22nd.
As Friday marks a year since the shooting, Ramseyer and Abrams credit the outcome to years of mass casualty training.
"The exposure can happen as early as being a student, and then it goes into surgical training as well, so that you have an idea of how this goes," Ramseyer said.
"There's lots of plans and training that goes along with that to make sure that we're prepared to triage people and provide care to those that are hurt the worst," Abrams said.
Because of this preparation, there wasn’t a need to make significant changes to the protocol.
Instead, the focus is fine-tuning a response that has already saved lives.
"We've taken a look at all that... just minor, you know, improvements that we think will help with communicating that better," Abrams said.
"In this particular situation, the procedures that we follow here at TMH were affirmed," Ramseyer said.
Once the adrenaline from that day faded, healthcare for the medical personnel themselves became an important focus.
“With surgery and trauma, we really have to compartmentalize the emotional aspects of things,” Ramseyer said. “Oftentimes the emotional impact of these things happen later when everything is said and done and is settled.”
Ramseyer is an FSU alumnus; he attended medical school at its Sarasota campus.
“It's depressing to know that this sort of thing can happen in our town, and it's saddening to have students and other people through the community that are victims of violence. “
Abrams says many paramedics who responded to the shooting have graduated from FSU or were currently attending, prompting an emotional response from his team.
“We have resources available. We're prepared for that, for those major events. We instituted those immediately that day, and, you know, our team's done really well with working through that and being ready for the next incident,” he said.
Ramseyer says that one positive outcome was seeing the community come together.
Since the shooting, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare and EMS staff have received messages of support from the community for their work.
They want their response to be a reminder that they are prepared to handle anything in the Capital City.
“I think specifically here in Tallahassee as the Capital City, we have to be prepared for these types of events because there are multiple scenarios that can play out here,” Ramseyer said.
“Just know that we're prepared for any kind of incident anywhere, you know, any place at any time, and so, you know, you should have confidence in the response system that's here in this community for our citizens,” Abrams said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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