WACO, Texas — Waco police, first responders and students went through a school shooting scenario Thursday afternoon to learn how to react if a Central Texas school is ever under attack.
The Waco Police Department is preparing for the worst in a practical way. The department said the goal of Thursday's scenario was to make it as real as possible.
Officers and their tactical team came in full gear. Students from China Spring Middle School's Police PAL program acted as if they were dead or injured. For the drill, officers, Waco Fire Department firefighters and an emergency medical responder team had to go in to rescue them and bring them to safety.
Students said they appreciate the effort first responders are making with this type of training.
"I think it's very important because a lot of people don't realize how serious it is and don't take our normal training serious," Police PAL participant Hannah Crawford said. "We're just on our phones and we won't really care, but with something like this, we can see how important it is and how serious a situation it is."
Waco police Sgt. Patrick Swanton said handling the exercise like the department would in a real school shooting is the best way to prepare officers.
"We've seen this happen too many times around our country, and fortunately law enforcement is learning," he said. "We're improvising. We are figuring out how to deal with these kind of scenarios and the best way to do that is to train like you fight."
Waco police partnered with China Spring ISD Police for the exercise.
Police said the purpose of the training was to better equip officers, community partners and others with the knowledge of proper reactions to violence in schools.
Thursday's heat did not stop the first responders from going through this realistic training. Some of them were at China Spring Middle School as late as 8 p.m.
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