Daily Press – by Charity Lindsey
VICTORVILLE — San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies, unloaded guns drawn, shouted “Get down! Get on the ground!” as they cleared the Victor Valley College library on Monday morning during an active shooter exercise.
Meanwhile, students with pretend injuries acted as victims of a campus shooting.
Staff and students received advance notice of the drill, in which the VVC Police Department joined the county Sheriff’s Department, Fire Department and American Medical Response.
As the sound of gunshots blared through a speaker playing a looped soundtrack, students of the VVC Corrections, Paramedic and Fire academies were given their assignments in the practice scenario.
About a half-dozen students sported torn and bloodied clothing and some fake flesh wounds. They awaited help until the all clear was given by officials, and students were able to assess and treat their wounds after escorting them from the building.
“Just as if this were a real shooting, what we’re doing now is pulling out everyone who’s not a suspect from the building,” campus police officer D.H. Jones said as the “victims” emerged from the library. They were led to the parking lot behind it, where emergency vehicles waited.
At 9:43 a.m., an electronic alert went out to students and staff: “This is an exercise. PD is advising active shooter on campus. If you are not on campus do not come. If you are on campus, secure in a safe location.”
“This type of exercise is invaluable to us,” Deputy Brendan Mahoney said. “It teaches us how to better respond to these situations, especially with the unfortunate rise in these events.”
In light of the shooting at a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado last Friday, and the even more applicable Umpqua Community College shooting in October, the pressure on VVC’s Police Department may be greater than ever to gear up to respond to emergencies.
“Thankfully, nothing like that has occurred in our county, but it’s a very real possibility, especially as we are the largest county,” Mahoney said.
VVC Police Chief Leonard Knight said the goal of the exercise was to ensure effective response to the college community and increase safety efforts and knowledge.
“You get to see an active performance,” Knight said. “Just to say ‘I know…’ isn’t good enough for dealing with (a) crisis. This allows us to see the options that come up.”
While students were given a debriefing, the campus remained on lockdown until the exercise was complete. After about a half-hour from the first alert, the final message was sent out to give the “all clear.”
Charity Lindsey may be contacted at 760-951-6231 or clindsey@vvdailypress.com. Follow her on twitter @DP_Charity.