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Inventor designs locks to keep school shooters out

Posted at 4:59 PM, Mar 31, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-31 16:59:32-04

NASHVILLE, TN — A Nashville, Tennessee,  inventor has created a product he said will save lives.

Alex Bertelli spent 10 years as an army aviator and now he has come up with a door lock system called Haven Lock Down.

“That gate lifts and emits an audible tone that teachers and students can hear and lets them know, ‘Hey, the lock is engaged,’” said Bertelli as he demonstrated the lock’s capabilities.

Haven Lock Down is made of steel and nylon.

It allows teachers and administrators to lock classroom doors manually with a key fob or a smartphone app.

“Every second counts, so as soon as that lock is interrogated and someone tries to break in, it will send a notification to that dashboard saying, ‘Classroom 105 is being interrogated right now,’ and it gives the police the direct line to go there and try to neutralize the threat,” said Bertelli.

You don’t have to go door to door. If a principal or school administrator needs to, they can lock every door in the building with just the click of a button.

“The lock is built to be 10 times stronger than a conventional lock, so a deadbolt or a conventional lock usually lasts about four kicks. Our product is tested to last upwards of 50,” said Bertelli.

The mount, which was made in Nashville too by another veteran, Bob McAleer, who said bullets won’t take this thing down.

“The truth is, I’ve never been a manufacturer. I’ve never been an engineer, but I’ve been solving problems my entire life,” said McAleer.

Politics aside, school shootings keep happening and McAleer said adding Haven locks to classroom doors is something schools can do to stop it.

“This is a technically feasible, viable, tangible option that can be executed in the next months in any school,” said McAleer.

Haven recently launched a pilot program. They’re testing the locks at 10 schools across the country, including one in Nashville.

They also make locks for homes.