The city of Wylie warned parents Friday about a startling scene outside one school.
Guns were drawn and students were loaded into ambulances but it wasn't what it seemed.
This week, Wylie Independent School District, police, fire rescue and emergency management attended the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training course. Friday, they participated in active shooter training at McMillan Junior High School which included sounds of gunfire.
"It just worries me because it's just scary to think that it could happen to me at my school," student Mandy Wilson said.
In the simulation, police responded to a shots fired call inside the school. Officers arrived finding more than a dozen victims with a range of fake injuries.
"We go to the sound of gunfire and they went to the sound of gunfire and they found the bad guy and they put him down,” instructor and DPS Captain Jeoff Williams said.
From there, William says the attention shifts to providing medical attention to teachers and students. He says the framework for the class is taken from real-life tragedies.
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"It's a sad commentary on our society but our first responders need to be prepared to respond to something like this. Our most precious commodity is our children," Williams said.
First responders say the key in these types of scenarios is having all departments on the same page.
"I think the expectation is that we're prepared should it ever happen," Wylie Assistant Fire Chief Brandon Blythe said.
But it isn't just a lesson for first responders. This is only the second time the class has been offered in Texas. Tweaks will be made to the course and the hope is to take it nationwide.
The course is funded through grants from the state and federal government.
