Warren County Sheriff’s office holds active shooter training

BOWLING GREEN Ky.-Warren East High School was the training grounds for the deputies of the Warren County Sheriff’s office. The scenario was active school shooters.

The deputies went through various training exercises in the school, including navigating through the halls while communicating with fellow deputies, shooting at targets that represented certain threats that could arise, and how to use teamwork to keep the students and staff safe.

Another goal is to get all the deputies accustomed to how the school is laid out.

“Well for me, I’ve never been in this school. This is the first time I’ve been here. I’ve been in the middle school, but not the high school. For me, it’s getting used to the way the layout is of the school, the classrooms and the hallways,” said deputy Marshall Johnson.

Warren County Sheriff Brett Hightower said this is a great way to make training more realistic.

“One of the things we have to think about is that during an active shooter scenario in a school, we may have multiple other agencies showing up. With that, we have to be prepared to easily recognize and identify one another,” Hightower said.

Hightower said this is a useful lesson on how to stay focused during high-pressure situations.

“Your heart rate’s up, your blood pressure’s up, you’re working hard to try to locate whoever that person is. You want to make sure you’re doing it in the most safe an efficient manner,” Hightower said.

When it comes time for the students to return, deputes say with this training, they’re geared up for anything.

“You have the techniques. It’s just putting them to use, and that’s what we’re doing today,” Johnson said.