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Police, firefighters use drill to prep for campus shooting at ISU
By Michele Steinbacher
msteinbacher@pantagraph.com
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NORMAL -- Police and firefighters swarmed an Illinois State University dorm on Thursday in a mock drill that tested how best to respond to a scenario involving a campus shooter. | Photo gallery

Squad cars from five area agencies were on the scene, a Department of Homeland Security mobile unit parked nearby, and yellow tape cordoned off onlookers.

The shootings in February at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and a year ago at Virginia Tech have emergency personnel wanting to practice in case they ever face such violence.

“If you look at everything going on in our nation, identifying what we can improve becomes important,” said Keith Gehrand, a retired ISU police officer who now works with the state’s Illinois Campus Security Task Force.

ISU’s plans to raze Walker and Dunn-Barton Halls this summer, so these dorms were a perfect place for such training, said Gehrand.

“They’ll be filling the halls with smoke and that would damage a building, as would the ‘simunition.’” Simunition is an ammunition used in drills that is comparable to paintball ink.

Large traffic signs posted on Walker Hall’s lawns — along Main, Hale, University and Dry Grove streets — alerted motorists and pedestrians that the situation was only a drill.

In all, about 100 law enforcement, emergency response and university workers and volunteers took part in the drill, said J.C. Crabill, director of environmental health and safety for ISU. He called it the largest scale drill ISU ever has conducted.

“The whole point of bringing all the agencies in is to get a better idea of how plans can be integrated,” Crabill said.

The groups have trained to use the same terminology, the same response tactics and more. The drill allows the professionals to put tabletop lessons to the test, he said.

Normal Assistant Police Chief Rick Bleichner said some of his officers and officers from other departments in the area, planned to take part in the drill.

“It just makes us more prepared if and when the real thing happened,” Bleichner said.

Across the street from Walker Hall, Shanitra Frison of Normal stood in the parking lot of a beauty salon, watching the drill with other curious onlookers.

The 18-year-old is a nursing major at Aurora University, a campus about 15 minutes from NIU. Watching rescue workers carry a mock victim — bloodied with theater makeup — Frison recalled the NIU incident and how it made colleges in Illinois realize a tragedy like that could happen again.

ISU student Carrie Pruett, who played a victim, also connected the event to NIU’s tragedy. “I’m glad they’re practicing,” she said.

ISU spokesman Jay Groves said the university made sure the public was aware this was only a simulation.

“This is a drill of an actual event on a college campus,” Grove said. “So to look at it without knowing beforehand might be a little nerve wracking.”

Police, firefighters and other investigators will use the decommissioned dorms for a variety of training exercises through June.

Greg Cima contributed to this report.



Disaster training



Walker and Dun-Barton residence halls will be razed this summer to make way for the construction of Illinois State University’s planned Student Fitness and Kinesiology and Recreation Center. But before the halls come down, police and fire agencies have been training there. Earlier this week, ISU police, the FBI and county emergency response teams conducted sessions in the halls. Following are some upcoming training sessions.

Friday — Bloomington Police Department

Saturday — Illinois search dog training

Tuesday and Wednesday — Normal Fire Department arson investigation training

June 23 through 30 — Normal Fire Department emergency response training

SOURCE: ISU Media Relations office

Take a look
Normal firefighters carry a mock shooting victim to a triage area to be assessed for severity of injuries during Thursday's drill outside Walker Hall at Illinois State University. (The Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
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