'We want to make sure we are ready': Walton County deputies train in live shooter exercise
Law enforcement and emergency personnel from Walton County converged on Mossy Head School Friday afternoon to participate in a real-time active shooter exercise.
The narrow road leading to the school off of U.S. 90 was lined with the vehicles of emergency responders, which included personnel from the Walton County Sheriff's Office, the DeFuniak Springs Police Department, the Florida Highway Patrol, Walton County EMS and the DeFuniak Springs Fire Department.
"This is the first exercise like this maybe in the Panhandle, if not the state of Florida," said A. Russell Hughes, Walton County's superintendent of schools.
The exercise scenario was based on a troubled relationship between a fictitious Mossy Head School teacher and her estranged husband, who brought a handgun to the school and began shooting.
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The training exercise was held after students had left for the day, but Hughes said all of the school's teachers and staff, as well as administrators from the county's other public schools, participated.
For added realism, the exercise events unfolded in real-time, with law enforcement interacting with teachers and staff, some of whom had mock injuries created from theater make-up.
"It's a shame that we have to practice these kinds of measures," Hughes said. "But we want to make sure we are ready if any kind of event like this happens in our area."
Hughes, Walton County Commissioner Mike Barker and Walton County Sheriff Mike Adkinson spoke during a press conference before the event started Friday about the importance of planning, preparation and communication among all agencies in responding to an active shooter event.
"We're a large organization, so it's important that we all operate on the same protocol, and to do that, you have to work together," Adkinson said. "You have to have these tabletop exercises, you have to have the opportunity to make mistakes and practice. We want to drill that process in place, so that it doesn't matter that if it's Freeport or South Walton or Paxton. ... It's not going to change our response in any way, shape or form."
Friday's exercise was just one part of the security system already in place to protect Walton County students.
"We run ALICE training in every school in the county," said Adkinson, referring to the program used by many schools and organizations that addresses the threat of an active shooter by teaching awareness, preparation, prevention and response methods.
Currently all of Walton County's public schools have a single point of entry system to control campus access, and the sheriff's office has at least one deputy assigned to each of the public schools and the three charter schools in the county.
"There is simply no higher priority than the safety and well-being of our children, period," Adkinson said. "Because a society that cannot protect its children is going to fail."
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Active shooter exercise held at Walton County's Mossy Head School
