SEMINOLE, Fla. (WFLA) — First responders in Pinellas County came together to prepare for the worst—an active shooting situation.
A training exercise was held at Seminole Middle School and Seminole High School on Thursday. It was set up to be as realistic as possible. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said it was about putting first responders to the test and pushing the limits.
The training is intended to evaluate first responders and improve their overall preparedness for an emergency event.
In one drill, the middle school was used to simulate an active shooter situation at an insurance company, where a shooter pulled out an AR-15. A 911 call went out, and 300 first responders came swarming in. Sheriff Gualtieri led the training.
“It’s not a question of if this is going to happen again, it is going to happen again,” said Gualtieri. “The question is when and where. We hope it’s not here and we need to be as prepared as possibly we can.”
The drill included live actors pretending to be victims and two active shooters.
“The shooter today, parked in the parking lot, walked across the street to the insurance company where he worked and had been fired, then came across here to the school where he had been a recent student and begin firing. He had an AR-15 rifle,” said the sheriff.
School resource officers confronted and took down the shooters.
The sheriff said anther crucial part of the training involved the reunification site run by Pinellas County Schools.
“Bring the parents in, bring students and offer counseling make sure they have what they need reunify them with their parents and work collaboratively with agencies to move forward,” Superintendent Kevin Hendrick explained.
“Figure out what our vulnerabilities are, train on it, fill those holes so we can be better,” said Gualtieri.
The training doesn’t stop here. Sheriff Gualtieri said he saw improvement from last year’s training, but there’s always something to be learned.
