DIXON, Ill. — Four years ago, Dixon High School was almost the scene of yet another school shooting.
It was May 16, 2018, when 182 seniors were inside the gymnasium practicing for graduation when police say 19-year-old graduating senior Matthew Milby opened fire in the hallway near the gym. He had a 9 mm semi-automatic rifle.
School Resource Officer Mark Dallas was in the Athletic Director's office adjacent to the gym when he heard gunshots. Dallas later learned he was shooting at strength and conditioning coach Andrew McKay.
"I engaged him immediately. I've been told this was within three seconds," Dallas said. "He ran out of the school. Once I confronted him, I continued to chase him, he turned and started shooting at me, I returned fire, struck him twice and was able to take him into custody there soon after. Our whole incident was done in a minute 20 seconds from start to finish."
Dallas had been part of many active shooter trainings over the years and said that was what he was trained to do. He said he's been training with SRO programs in Dixon since early 2000, following the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School.
"In a school shooting, or any active shooter situation, speed's key," he said. "You have to engage the shooter."
Texas law enforcement is now being criticized for its response to the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
The gunman was inside the school for more than an hour, while 19 officers waited in the hallway for more than 45 minutes, and many more waited outside the building, after the incident commander wrongly believed the situation had transitioned from an active shooter to a barricaded subject. At the same time, authorities say students inside the classroom with the gunman repeatedly called 911.
"It breaks my heart. It makes me extremely sad," Dallas said. "There's no way you would keep me in a hallway when that was happening."
The only explanation he can come up with for the response time in Uvalde is a lack of training.
"It's got to be a lack of training," he said. "Because everybody has been trained in this the same ways for 20-plus years."
He's often thought about what might have happened if he hadn't intervened right away. His son was one of the students in the gym. Fifteen minutes earlier, his wife and daughter were also in there.
"If the training, I hadn't received, if I had hesitated or failed to act, I think we would have probably had one of the massive casualties, shootings in the country," Dallas said.
Four years later, he still keeps in contact with many of those students. His son just graduated college. Others that he coached, he said, are redshirts and will stay and play their sports in college for another year.
"They still reach out to me, quite often, usually May 16 or May 30, I have several messages from the kids," Dallas said. "A lot of them are growing up and they're getting jobs, and it does, it gives me chills kind of just thinking about it. (Brings a) tear to my eye too."
Legal proceedings have been ongoing against Milby in Lee County since 2018. He was initially charged on the day of the shooting with aggravated discharge of a weapon toward a peace officer, aggravated discharge at a school employee, and aggravated discharge of a weapon in a school building. Milby pleaded not guilty to the three felony charges.
In July 2018, Lee County prosecutors filed charges of attempted Murder against Milby.
Since then, it has gone back and forth whether Milby was fit to stand trial.
A discharge hearing was held on May 12, 2021, where a judge found Milby "not not guilty" of attempted murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm against Mark Dallas and Andrew McKay.
Milby was acquitted of two felony charges of aggravated discharge of a firearm, according to a statement from authorities involved in the court proceedings.
At that time, it was decided he would spend no more than two years in the custody of the Department of Human Services.
On Oct. 26, 2021, a judge once again, for a third time, ruled Milby fit to stand trial.
He is currently being held in the Lee County Jail, according to Lee County State's Attorney Charley Boonstra.
Boonstra told News 8 on Wednesday that prosecutors will be moving forward with a trial on the status date of Thursday, July 14 at 3 p.m.
"We can now move forward to trial on all counts against Mr. Milby," Boonstra said in an email to News 8. "We look forward to resolving this case and giving the community some much-needed closure."