Lyons police conduct 'Active Shooter Simulation' amid mass shooting incidents

LYONS, Ill. - If you noticed a massive amount of police and paramedics in Lyons on Wednesday – don't worry – it was just practice.

FOX 32’s Dane Placko takes us inside an active shooting simulation, aiming to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

With students gone for the holidays, police and emergency responders in Lyons took the opportunity to conduct a full-scale school shooting drill, designed to be as lifelike as possible.

This afternoon, dozens of police officers and paramedics from Lyons and five surrounding communities participated in an active shooter scenario at the George Washington School on Ogden Avenue.

After initial training on how to clear a classroom, the drill began with a call on the police radio. Officers staged outside the school were instructed to get inside as quickly as possible, bypassing cries of help from injured victims to focus on the sound of gunshots and getting the shooter.

The lifelike drill comes in the wake of last year's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where police were criticized for waiting more than a half-hour to go into the school.

As the drill progressed, police located and killed the gunman, but not before more than a dozen officers and students had been shot.

With the scene still active, paramedics rushed into the school to begin triaging and evacuating those who had been injured.

"Unfortunately, mass shootings have become commonplace in America, and it’s imperative that our police departments or fire departments know how to respond," said Lyons Mayor Chris Getty.

Leaders of the local law-enforcement agencies and the Cook County Sheriff’s Police followed the response inside the school, taking notes on its effectiveness.

"I saw some things that I thought were outstanding, and there were some mistakes that we addressed. But that's in any of these, even in a real situation, an active shooter," said Leo Schmitz, Chief of the Cook County Sheriff's Police.

Once the drill was over, the law enforcement agencies gathered in the school's classrooms to discuss what went right and wrong – just to make sure that if it were to ever happen for real, that they would be prepared.