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Eaton County's first responders get active-shooter training

Posted at 6:19 PM, Jun 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-30 07:42:28-04

The growing number of mass shootings in the United States has forced police to adjust their tactics.

Wednesday, first responders in Eaton County practiced an active-shooter scenario at Charlotte High School.

"We got 3 victims, 2 are able to walk," comes from the scanners during Eaton County's training.

In the event of an active shooter. Every second matters and the way officers respond is critical.

"We have to be proactive in this and not reactive. Our active violence situation training has changed," said Sheriff Tom Reich. "From, now it's first responders, they enter the facility, the school in this particular incident and go after the attackers."

Eaton county sheriff's department , Charlotte police, and dozens of other first responders trained Wednesday on how to react if there was a gunman in a school.

"It's important we try to make this as realistic as possible and it's gonna be excellent training for not only the law enforcement, ems, but also the faculty here at the school," said Sheriff Reich.

Police say they shouldn't be the only ones training for an active-shooter situation. That no matter how familiar you are with a store, mall, or even a school, that you should always know the fastest way out.

"If your awareness level is raised, you're that much likely to be safe and be able to react quickly in the event of some type of emergency," said Charlotte Chief of Police, Lisa Sherman.

She says if you are in an active shooter situation that the best thing to do as hard as it seems is stay calm. Then try to run, hide, or fight.

"That's a hard thing to understand. Everybody's adrenal is rushing but I think taking that opportunity to hide get yourself safe," Chief Sherman explains. "Get yourself prepared to be able to find an exit and then prepare yourself to fight if you have to."

Because police aren't the only ones that need to be prepared.