Approximately 100 emergency responders in the northwestern suburbs took part in an active shooter drill Tuesday afternoon, training for the worst-case scenario at the now vacant Trinity Community Center in Roselle.
“As we see, school shootings are happening nationwide,” Roselle Police Chief Roberto Barreto said. “It’s very important here to train together so we can be prepared for something like this if it were to happen in our community.”
NBC Chicago was not allowed to film as officers deployed into the building for the active shooter drill. Bernetto said the goal was to make everything feel real as possible during the drill, including blood to the victims.
“We’re using what we call force on force, which in layman’s terms, is paintball, and that is as close as you can get to the real thing,” he said. “Many of the victims here have what we call moulage, which is paint and things like that all done up as if they were injured.”
Once officers mitigated the threat, we got a look inside the halls of the building as paramedics tended to the injured victims throughout the building.
“The more real you can make it, the more prepared you feel in the field,” Roselle firefighter and paramedic Tim Ohlson.
As part of the training, paramedics moved all the victims to what’s being called a “casualty collection point.” We learned it’s a central location for the victims before being transported to area hospital.
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“Obviously we knew it was a drill, but still, there’s like the adrenaline rush that you get that this could be real,” a paramedic from Northwest Community Hospital said.
The group of paramedic students from Northwest Community Hospital role played victims. Roselle officials said they received a grant from the federal government to cover the cost of the training.
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“It intensifies every year,” Roselle Fire Department Chief Mark Bozik said. “We want to keep challenging our folks to make it the best that they can.”
While today was just a drill, emergency responders are doing everything they can to prepare.
“I’m happy that we’re having a good day of training,” Barreto said. “However, it’s solemn in that we have to put our mind that if this happens in our community—we have to be ready.”
