School Resource Officer Deputy Cody Nelson recounts the day of the Warner Robins High School shooting from the inside

HOUSTON COUNTY — Aug. 12 is a day everyone in Houston County will remember, but for all the wrong reasons. 

A shooting at any school is something no parent wants to hear about, and one happened in our own backyard. 

Warner Robins High School Resource Officer Deputy Cody Nelson was right there in the thick of it when the shooting happened and provided life-saving aid to the victim. He sat down with the HHJ and described what he remembered from that fateful day. 

Who is Cody Nelson? 

Nelson was born in Macon and was raised in Perry. Like Nelson, his father Earl was a first responder, a firefighter for the Perry Fire Department and an officer of the Warner Robins Police Department. His mom Wendy worked under Judge Edward Lukemire. 

Nelson initially wanted to become a member of law enforcement because of his dad. 

“My dad would come home and tell me stories about what he did at work and he would come home and show me all his equipment and he’d let me play in his patrol car,” Nelson said in an interview. “As soon as I graduated [Perry] High School, I joined the Warner Robins Police Department.” 

Nelson was on patrol for about three years, then his wife told him they were going to have a baby, and wanted him off patrol. Nelson said his parents thought he should have been a teacher rather than a cop, so he compromised and became a School Resource Officer, which was a part of WRPD at the time. He said the position was designed as temporary but due to his good work and good relationship with the kids, admin and staff, they kept him full-time. 

Nelson said the main job of a School Resource Officer is to build relationships with the students along with mending the relationships between the community and law enforcement. 

“We are there to be a helping hand to [students and staff], and if they have an issue at home they come talk to us and confide in us,” he said. “At the end of the day, we’re here to help. If they want a shoulder to cry on, by God we’ll cry together.” 

Day of the shooting 

The day of Aug. 12 started as a normal day. Nelson started by making his normal rounds. He said every morning they walk the entire length of the school, check interior and exterior doors to make sure all classroom and gym doors are locked. 

Nelson said they were in the gym lobby during seventh period at 2:05 p.m. 

“I was walking up to D Hall going back towards my office and all of a sudden I heard a bunch of footsteps running behind me,” he said. 

At that moment, Nelson thought it was a fight, then one student said that someone had a gun and another told him someone had been shot. 

The shooting happened in a G Hall bathroom. Once clearing the bathroom, Nelson followed a blood trail coming into a classroom. He found the victim and immediately started to render aid. 

“They train you to identify, locate the wound and start addressing it,” he said. 

Nelson located the bullet wound which entered and excited through the victim’s right leg. The bullet also impacted the left leg. Nelson said he was told the bullet had struck the victim’s femoral artery on the right leg. He then applied a tourniquet to the right leg. The leg was still bleeding after he applied gauze and added pressure to the wound. 

“Sargeant [Chris] Fussell of the Warner Robins Police Department threw me another tourniquet,” he said. “I applied it higher [on his leg], tightened it down, and it slowed the bleeding a lot to basically a slow drip.”

As soon as Fire and EMS got to the scene, they took it from there. Nelson did all that he could and ultimately was a critical part in saving that student’s life. 

The aftermath 

Nelson wants it to be known that School Resource Officers are there to help the students or anyone associated with the school. He said he takes something that happens in the school personally. Everyone was affected by this incident. 

“It breaks my heart when stuff like this happens. I hate it. I felt like if [there] was a problem, everybody knows to come to me,” he said. 

Nelson and staff were back to Warner Robins High School on that Friday. Students returned on that Monday. 

“On Monday, you can tell it was kind of weird as there was some tension and [fear] in the air. A lot of kids were crying and were upset,” he said. “I said ‘there’s nothing I can tell you to make it better. Just know that we are doing what we can do to help you out’.”

To this day, Nelson said the kids still talk about the shooting. He said they have since locked the area of the shooting down and students cannot access those bathrooms unless under supervision from an administrador. 

Overall, Nelson does not consider himself a hero simply because he was just doing his job. He said the real heroes are the teachers and students. 

For our previous coverage on the Warner Robins High School shooting, go to hhjonline.com.