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Posing as a gunman, Western Texas College Grant Program Director Stacy Payne takes aim during an active shooter training session at the college Friday morning.
You’re in a college classroom. Suddenly, a man with a gun enters.
What do you do?
You’re walking into a Snyder business. All of the sudden, you hear gunshots.
What do you do?
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you’re up against a person with a gun, the all-important question will be: What do you do?
Learning how to deal with such situations was the purpose behind active-shooter drills held Friday at Western Texas College (WTC).
As for the answers to the above questions, the answer is as simple as it is difficult — do something.
“If you’re ever in that situation, you have to do something,” course co-trainer Terry Juarez said. “If you do nothing, you’ll probably get killed.”
With the number of school shootings on the rise in this country, WTC officials decided it was incumbent for them to find ways to counter the threat.
“A group of us on campus went through some pretty intensive training a year ago,” said Ed Albarez, director of student housing at WTC. “The awareness comes from what’s been going on in our country. It’s just preparedness, to get our staff and students in the frame of mind to keep themselves alive if something like that happens here.”
Friday’s training centered around three possible courses of action during an active-shooter situation — run, hide or fight.
Albarez said evacuating the premises during an active-shooter scenario is always the best alternative. If you can’t leave, however, two other options remain: Either barricade yourself away from the shooter or — if that fails — prepare to defend yourself.
“For years, the first option was to lock down the classrooms, but past experiences show we have to get away from that. Now, we want people thinking first and foremost about survival,” Albarez said. “Now, we want them to think about evacuation, barricading or engaging the shooter. I know a lot of people probably don’t want to go the route of having the defend themselves, but we want them to be thinking about it if the situation arises.”
With school shootings become more and more a sad fact of life, Albarez said training sessions such as Friday’s are extremely important.
“It’s not a matter of if (an active-shooter situation will occur), but when,” he said. “That’s the mindset behind this training.”
That lesson got through to WTC Vice President Ralph Ramon.
“I don’t want to think about something like this ever happening,” Ramon said. “But we need to be prepared for if it does happen.”