SHOTS FIRED! Lone Sar PD host active shooter training

“Shots fired.” “Officer down.” On Thursday, July 14, Lone Star officers could be heard over the radio saying these words, as they worked to apprehend a shooter who had entered the Lone Star Elementary building. As what sounded like gunshots could be heard from the school building, Lone Star Police, Morris County Sheriff’s Department, and Lone Star First responders gathered outside of the vacant school
building to formulate their plan. Luckily, this was only a training exercise, to help prepare local officers for an active shooter scenario, similar to that which was faced in Dallas in the past weeks. “Although you can never be fully prepared for something of that nature to happen, we can train to be more prepared,” said Chief
Larry Fleet, prior to the exercise. Using paint-ball style ammunition and special fittings for the weapons they currently use, officers from the Lone Star police force were joined by a representative of Morris County Sheriff’s Department to practice possible scenarios involving an active shooter.
Taking part in the exercise were Lone Star Officers Miranda Harris, Brett Gutierrez, Brian Foster, Ken Downs, and Steven Blythe. They were joined by Deputy Will Henderson, of the Morris County Sheriff’s Dpeartment. Lone Star Police Chief Larry Fleet took on the role as the shooter in each scenario, and waited on the officers to enter the building. Officers entered the building in pairs, and proceeded to secure each room in the building, attempting to locate Fleet. Fleet, from hiding, would fire a “shotgun” warning shot, once he had the pair in sight. Then, the fight for life was on. The officers had a choice: either trust that the shooter was still in the direction of the shot, or follow an instinct that the sound was to draw them in. In all scenarios, the situation was over when either the police officers were down, or the shooter had been “shot.” After each pairing finished their scenario, Fleet debriefed the officers in the scenario. If a grave mistake had been made, then Fleet debriefed the entire group, to prevent the same mistake repeating itself. “Our main objective in this type of situation is that we take the shooter prisoner, not kill him,” said Chief Fleet, adding “And even more than that, probably the first objective, is that the police walk out, and the shooter is drug out.” Fleet acknowledged the fact that in a real situation, there would be no less than six officers who entered the building, searching for the shooter. Being a training situation, there were certain parameters that were set
before the exercise. Officers knew that Fleet would not be down any of the wings on the right side of the building. That left the office area, workrooms, and cafeteria area for the officers to search for the shooter. Also, being a training situation, everyone knew they would all walk out alive. The training situation was not only for peace officers. Members of the Lone Star Fire Department First Responders were also involved. In case of a real situation, it would be up to the first responders to remove any victims from the scene, whether it was a fallen officer, shooter, or a hostage who had been injured. If an officer “went down” in the scenario, Lone Star Fire Chief Jerry Stoermer was right there with a team of first responders to remove that officer from the situation, once it was safe for them to enter the situation. “We are really lucky,” said Chief Fleet, “in that we have a very good relationship with the first responders. They back us up, and we back them up when they need us.” Chief Stoermer added “The police department not only supports us when there is trouble, but on many other calls as well.” Keeping the community safe is truly a team effort, and the area around Lone Star can feel a little more secure following the recent exercises.