This article has been updated since it first appeared in print.
Chesterfield Police, along with firefighters, sheriff’s deputies, state police and other first responders, undergo active shooter training at the old Fulghum Center in Chesterfield on March 18. (Photo courtesy Chesterfield County)
Forget, for a moment, about the politics and the partisan stalemate over gun control. Maybe the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York; Uvalde, Texas; and the Fourth of July parade shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, will spur some kind of impactful government policy response, maybe they won’t.
If recent history is any guide, a mass shooting will happen again — through July 4 of this year, there had already been 315 of them, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.
So, what does it take to stop a gunman once the shooting starts?
“We don’t know how someone is going to react when they get into a gunfight,” says Lt. Jason Powers, the lead active shooter instructor for the Henrico County Police Department. The department teaches officers to prepare themselves mentally, using tactical breathing exercises for remaining calm under stress, but it’s impossible to simulate an active shooter firing a military-style weapon directly at them.
The first officers on the scene of an active incident are instructed to “go find the threat, go to the sound of gunshots and stop that person,” Powers says.
It’s the same policy in Chesterfield and Richmond. Most police departments across the country adopted this approach after the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 that left 12 students and one teacher dead. The police were slow to respond and enter the school, similar to what happened in the Uvalde shooting.
“The key is time,” says Maj. Dave Shand, operational support bureau commander and police emergency response team coordinator for the Chesterfield County Police Department. “First officer there is the first officer in. We don’t wait for backup.”
“First officer there is the first officer in. We don’t wait for backup.” —Maj. Dave Shand, Chesterfield County Police Department
How do the police train for active shooters? There’s the tactical approach, which is honed on the shooting range, or group exercises at schools, malls or office complexes. Most officers also undergo some form of “simunition” training to get used to the sights and sounds of a gunfight. Almost anyone can head to a range and fire a gun at a paper target, Powers says, but how do you respond when the bullets start flying your way?
“People expect what they see on TV. That is far from reality,” says Amir Khillah, a mixed martial artist from Michigan who fought professionally and now trains police recruits. Training under extreme stress, Khillah says, is the only real way to prepare for violent confrontations. If he could wave a magic wand, every officer in the country would spend 20% of their workweek in firearms or force-on-force training.
“When somebody’s trying to knee you in the face or you are taking rounds downrange, you won’t have the luxury of time to logically and consciously take in the information and then formulate and execute a plan,” says Khillah, who also works as a police officer. “That is only achieved through numerous hours of training.”
The training is key, agree Shand and Powers. And it needs to be recurring, says Lt. Gary McGregor, who heads up the tactical operations unit in Chesterfield.
“It’s one thing to learn how to shoot a weapon,” he says, “but [it’s another to] then be confronted with someone who’s holding one, pointing back at you.”
