Deputies clear a hall at Bunkie Magnet High during a training exercise simulating multiple shooters at-large in the school. Spoiler alert: the bad guy is behind the last door on the right. {Photo by Raymond L. Daye}
APSO deputies subdue the “shooter,” portrayed by deputy Jesse Bordelon. APSO said it would prefer not to identify officers by name. {Photo by Raymond L. Daye}
APSO Detective Randy Norred (left) and retired APSO Capt. Dan Schaub unleash an aerial drone to provide an “eye in the sky” surveillance of the Bunkie Magnet High campus during a training exercise on July 18. {Photo by Raymond L. Daye}
Officers prepare for the unthinkable
It was serious training for what would be the most serious situation a law enforcement officer would face in his career.
There were also moments of “fun” during the search for a “shooter” at Bunkie Magnet School on July 18.
One shot pierced the hot, humid air.
A few minutes later, grim-faced deputies wearing bulletproof vests and armed with pistols and assault rifles entered the front hall of the school.
An instructor tagged along at a distance, far enough away so as not to interfere but close enough to observe for any future briefings on ways to improve.
As noted previously, most of the hour-long training was deadly serious.
There was one incident that would remind one of boys playing “cops and robbers.”
After a burst of gunfire that could very well have rivaled the one that took out Bonnie and Clyde, one of the deputies told the “bad guy,” “You’re dead. You’re dead. I shot you 28 times in the back of the head.”
While deputies were subduing a shooter, one of the deputies involved in the scuffle on the floor told his colleague playing the villain, “You better not fart.”
‘WILL KNOW WHAT TO DO’
Sheriff Doug Anderson said this kind of training is necessary to prepare officers for events everyone hopes never occur.
“God forbid anything like this ever happens here,” Anderson said, “but if it does, our officers will know what to do.”
There is no time for “on the job training” when one or more gunmen are terrorizing a school, courthouse or large office building and lives have been lost or are at stake.
“We use the schools for our training,” the sheriff said, “but what the officers learn can be applied anywhere.”
Anderson said the department has conducted “active shooter” training scenarios for the past several years.
He said APSO will have another training before school begins at Red River Charter Academy, located on campus of the former Mansura High/Middle School.