"Prepared, hope and pray we never use": Law enforcement train for active shooter at RSHS
Aug. 18—ROCKINGHAM — "Bill look to your left! Look to your left! Look!" yelled school resource officer Jan Seagraves at a rapid deployment and active shooter training session at Richmond Senior High Wednesday afternoon. "Look under the table there's a pipe bomb."
"What do y'all do about the pipe bomb?" asked Detective Braxton Greene, providing instruction to the four responding officers who just took down an active threat and were preparing to treat a wounded police officer in the simulation.
Shortly after a quick response to call the bomb squad and safely remove the victim by an officer, Detective Gary Carter halted the training to debrief the scenario.
"Every corner, every room, you have to expect gunfire," Carter said, noting one officer's brief hesitation to take down the threat.
As the officers removed their gear to collect themselves, Carter demonstrated a more effective approach.
"I need you to understand how this has got to go down for you to survive a gunfight," Carter says, calm but stern. "When I'm coming around the corner and I'm on him... (peers around corner and fires four shots immediately without hesitation).
You see what I mean. It must happen then, immediately, and done. It can't be 'Oh God, oh God' (peers around corner, sees threat but doesn't fire). It is too late by then, you got me? It must be immediate. I've got to believe I'm in the shootout, clear. You should be exhausted. You got to be committed. I just want to take that moment to show you, because I want to see y'all come out of this alive."
Members of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, Richmond County Schools Police and the Rockingham and Hamlet Police Departments all participated in the training session.
"It's a good exercise to give people, not being in the real life situation, but as real as it can possibly get," said Sergeant Rucker with the RCSO. "It changes your mindset."
Rapid deployment is covered in the Basic Law Enforcement Training, but Rucker and Carter said that the three-day-training session this week serves as a refresher.
"I know I'm not going to sit around and wait if something was happening inside the school," Rucker said.
Different scenarios that officers encountered including clearing a stairwell, then confronting an active shooter in a nearby classroom. Another scenario involved two officers clearing a hallway, meeting up with two other officers, then together confronting an active shooter in the cafeteria. Gunshots were simulated by an instructor slamming two pieces of wood together.
Simulated ammunition, similar to Airsoft or paintball, was used by the officers.
"They've got to make quick decisions, just like they would have to do in the real world," Carter said.
Each individual law enforcement agency practices rapid deployment, but Carter noted that it's the first time they've been able to practice with different departments at the same time.
"It's repetitive, but it's still good training," said Hamlet Middle School resource officer Tony McNair. "You need to be aware of it with different agencies and see how everyone works."
The training continued at RSHS on Thursday and Friday.
"We're doing this training because we care about the safety of the staff and the students," Carter said. "This is training that we're prepared for and something that we hope and pray that we never have to use."
To support the Richmond County Daily Journal, subscribe at https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/subscribe or 910-817-3111.
Reach Matthew Sasser at 910-817-2671 or msasser@yourdailyjournal.com to suggest a correction.
