TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)– Around 40 school protection officers for the Vigo County School Corporation took part in active shooter training on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The training simulated responding to an active shooter and eliminating the threat. In a course they set up in Top Gun, officers went through and shot targets in what Top Gun instructor Eric Cunningham said was “as real as they could make it.”
“What we’re doing is running guys through a scenario of a shooting that occurs in a school, we have several targets that are bad guys, their object is to go towards the gunfire, and to take out the threat,” John Hopper, the administrative school protection officer for VCSC, said.
Hopper said the shooting in Uvalde, Texas was a catalyst for the training.
“Since Texas, it’s been more brought to the forefront of everything, so we wanted to keep up, and make sure that we’re doing what we need to do to stay proficient and on our game,” he said.
Cunningham said training with live shooting was important.
“Shooting is an extremely perishable skill, if you don’t get out and practice that skillset, it will degrade on you,” he said.
Hopper said the training was to make sure officers had some preparation if a situation ever occurred.
“We hope that it never happens here, but if it does, we want to be prepared,” he said. “Training is paramount, we’re hoping we can get as much training in as we possibly can.”
