By Elizabeth Bowman
The ringing of gunshots echoes through the tiled hallways while the smell of gunpowder fills the air. As panicked students run for the nearest exit, doors automatically close. Men dressed in camouflage with black masks and large guns crouch through the hallways yelling 'Get down!' A second team clad in similar uniforms enters the building. Students yell for help as the men pass over them, madly patrolling the hallways.
This scene depicts the active gunman training exercise done by the Orem-Provo-BYU SWAT team at Timpanogos High School Wednesday. It was the team''s first practice of this magnitude, although they do other monthly practices. Officers and volunteer students were placed throughout the school while the SWAT teams tried to track down a staged gunman running rampant through the halls. The team hopes practices like this one will result in better preparation should an attack of this degree occur.
'It''s a test for everyone, a test to see if we all can communicate in this type of situation,' said Sgt. Bud Walker of the Provo Police Department. 'It is a good way to train our resources to be prepared for small or big instances.'
Other police officers wore orange vests and coached the SWAT members through their exercises. The SWAT members were instructed to avoid any distractions and stick to their main focus: finding the shooter. Some students acted injured on the floor and yelled for help from the SWAT members.
'It was really scary,' said Jordan Schwitzer, a senior at Timpanogos High School who participated in the exercise. 'I didn''t know what was going on, but I''m glad they did this because we now know what to do if this ever happens to us.'
The directors of the training exercise wanted to create the most realistic situation they could. After the gunman was captured, the teams made another sweep through the school. A paramedic followed and checked students, reassuring them everything would be fine and help was on the way. After the classrooms had been cleared, the SWAT team, students and officers gathered for a debriefing meeting.
'In this situation everything is rather chaotic at the beginning,' said a police officer during the meeting. 'In a realistic situation we would have 1,700 students using their cell phones and 1,800 parents outside while we try to respond and stop the attack.'
The school and police department officials gave advice, concerns and praises for how various aspects of the exercises had been carried out.
'Today was very successful,' said John McCombs, a sergeant for the Orem Police Department. 'Our intent was to create a school environment for the SWAT team by combing the school and police and I think we achieved it.'