All departments of local law enforcement participated in a full-scale active shooter training exercise at Coronado High School on Thursday .
Lubbock Police, the Sheriff’s Department, Lubbock Fire Rescue, the Department of Public Safety, LISD police, and other local first responders followed procedure as if this was a real life situation at a local school. LISD faculty played witnesses and parents of children who may have been inside the school. Media was placed behind police lines.
“They do training where you actually go into the school and have to eliminate the threat,” the Department of Public Safety’s Lieutenant Bryan Witt said. “If there’s somebody in there hurting kids, we’re going to go in, we’re going to take care of that threat, eliminate it as quick as possible.”
Each department had a specific role in this exercise. Witt said they’ve all been trained on these situations. However, this allows them to come together and stimulate a real life scenario with everyone involved.
Superintendent Berhl Robertson said this scenario was real for him and he found out what he needs to learn and improve upon if this situation were to happen at a Lubbock school.
“Information is coming in from everywhere,” Robertson said. “And so you learn a lot about, you know, don’t go to the bank about certain information until we know all entities have joined together and that we have good accurate information before we report it to the parents and the media.”
The training exercise ended with a briefing for all departments to review their performances.
LPD’s Lieutenant Ray Mendoza said they can’t reveal information on their work because they’re treating this as if it actually happened at Coronado High School. However, he said they feel prepared if this situation were to happen in the future.
