Police cars, ambulances, and other law enforcement personnel hurriedly made their way to the Petal Upper Elementary School as an “active shooter” took over the school.
The scenario was not real, but a coordinated safety exercise by the Petal School District, which included an active shooter enactment complete with victims, school personnel, road closings, triage, and a SWAT team. PSD partnered with Petal Police Department, Petal Fire Department, Forrest County Sheriff’s office, Forrest County Emergency and AAA Ambulance for the drill.
“Safety and security are a top priority in our school district. It is important for us to prepare for anything we may encounter,” said Matt Dillon, superintendent of PSD. “We have a great plan in place, but it is also very important to execute that plan and practice it.”
The exercise, which took place at Petal Upper Elementary School, was created to help PSD resource officers practice with local emergency responders on how to handle urgent critical situations in a school setting.
“We are going to learn, and I am sure we are going to make some mistakes, and that is why we are doing it – to learn from our mistakes,” said PSD Police Chief Gavin Guy.
An officer played the role of the shooter, while other officers and responders worked to take him down. Guns loaded with sim rounds were used in the exercise. The simunitions are plastic bullets filled with paint used during training exercises.
“There have been many takeaways already from the scenario that we are going to go back and debrief as administrators and as law enforcement officers,” Dillon said after the drill.
