Police and first responders attend active shooter training

WESLACO, Texas (ValleyCentral) — High-level command staff from law and fire agencies attended an active shooter training, a three-day management course, to prepare for different types of scenarios.

On Tuesday, captains, chiefs, and lieutenants of the law and fire enforcement departments gathered at Knapp Medical Center to prepare for situations such as an active shooter, a bomb threat, or an explosion.

Assistant Director of Public Safety at the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council, Cesar Merla, says the more cross-collaboration and training there is, the better it will be for the community.

Merla hopes the agencies leave with an understanding of how to respond to a situation on a moment's notice and also on how to recover from it.

Fire Chief and Emergency Manager for the city of Weslaco, Antonio Lopez, says communication is highly important when it comes to making an operation run smoother. Different types of communication, such as radio, face-to-face, were taught in class along with technology and how to run an incident command.

"We need to incorporate hospitals and school districts. That's exactly what's happening here in a controlled setting, where they can stop a scenario, do some teaching points, and then continue the scenario. In real life, we cannot stop the scenario, right? We have to be ready for that," Chief Lopez said.