This is only a test
Active shooter exercise held at Garrison High School
By JAMES C. FALCON
editors@bhgnews.com
The screams and cries of Sue Caron echoed throughout the halls of Garrison High School as she lay wounded and bleeding on the ground.
“I’m bleeding!” she screamed with a certain degree of credibility as her pleas echoed throughout the empty halls.
Thankfully, at the end of the day, Caron was able to get up and walk away, injury-free.
Caron was one of seven individuals who took part in an active shooter exercise, playing victims of a shooting at Garrison High School June 23. The exercise involved local law enforcement and first responder agencies who practiced what to do should a situation like this ever happen in Garrison.
Garrison has been without any school shootings thankfully, but “we want to be prepared in case it does,” said Travis Tesch, chief of police for the City of Garrison. Once the exercise was over and done with, Tesch noted that the departments worked well together.
Tesch evaluated his deputies and also “watched the highway patrol and Game and Fish when they came in.” He noted that the law enforcement officers worked well together and communicated well. “The only person that had a mark on them was the bad guy,” Tesch said, noting that law enforcement officers had guns that shot paintball pellets. Playing the part of “the bad guy” was Kayla Powers, a deputy with Ward County Sheriff’s Department.
