Local Police Prepare to Deal with Live Gunman

MOON–It's all about being ready for the worst, Findlay Township Police Capt. Mark Joyce said.

Police from Findlay, and other local law enforcement agencies yesterday trained to respond to a gunman opening fire in a building or public space.

"What would you do if you were a high school student or a college student and a shooter entered a building?" said RMU Police Chief Randy Mink. "You'd probably want to run. This is going to teach law enforcement to handle that situation."

The active-shooter training exercise at  included police from more than a dozen different agencies as well as personnel from the United States Air Marshals, 911th Airlift Wing and 171st Refueling Wing.

"This also includes the military and Air Marshals," Joyce said. "We want to train everyone to respond the same way to a situation.

"It's so important that first-responders are ready to handle that situation," he said.  

Joyce said law enforcement trained by acting out real-life scenarios, using paintball guns to simulate ammunition.

Collier Police also offered a presentation on the 2009 shooting at a township L.A. Fitness Center that killed three and injured nine. The gunman killed himself before police could enter the building.

Joyce said the two-day training sessions, which will be held in three more installments this year at the RMU campus, will prepare 161 law enforcement personnel to deal with an active-shooter.

Officers from RMU Campus Police, , Coraopolis, Green Tree, Robinson and , among other departments, took part in the sessions, Joyce said. 

This is the second year in a row that first-responders in Western Allegheny County have trained together to deal with live gunmen. 

"We look back at things like the Northern Illinois [University] shooting or Columbine and during those incidents, officers didn't know how to respond," Mink said. "We want to know how to respond."