Augustana College practiced a live active shooter drill with more than 500 student participants along with police, fire and ambulances from both sides of the river.
This exercise was planned for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday April 26, to increase readiness for Augustana’s students and faculty, as well as the emergency responders in the Quad City area, with police arriving on the scene within five minutes of the simulated shooting.
“This is a major drill done once per year,” said Sam Schlouch, Augustana College director of public relations. “It’s done to practice working on a situation that would impact the campus and bring in resources from the responding areas.”
The active shooter exercise began with 500 students in Centennial Hall attending a mock political rally. As students sat down, a mock shooter opened fire. Thirty students pretended to be wounding and 15 pretended to be fatalities. Students who were not injured were rushed out of the building. The remaining students were evacuated once Rock Island Police and the SWAT team arrived on scene and cleared the building.
“There was a lot of panic inside and people were really frantic trying to get to the door. It was a lot of confusion,” freshman Colleen Barbieri said after the drill was completed.
Alongside the response teams, MetroLINK bus system transported the non-critically injured to the hospital.
Reactions from student’s social media reflect mixed emotions about the drill as it disrupted many activities going on at the time, such as sports and fine arts practices, dining hall availability and campus buildings access.
Can’t even get into my building after getting groceries because of this “drill” thanks Augustana College
— ✖️Tina (@babe_gymnast) April 26, 2016
Some students felt the active shooter drill served a good purpose in bringing further awareness to a potential emergency scenario.
“School shootings occur more than they should,” Barbieri said. “Students should be aware of what to do when they do.”
The lockdown was lifted at 7:24 p.m. for students but, command teams stayed on the scene long after. Augustana and the response teams involved will be evaluating their performance in preparation in case of a real incident.
“Many students took it seriously,” Schlouch said. “We’re very grateful so many took part as this is a very important thing.”
More stories from the active shooter drill, click here.
