'You Can Run, You Can Hide, You Can Fight': An Inside Look At St. Paul Police's Mass Shooter Training
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- This is a training session. A look inside a collaboration between St. Paul Police and St. Paul Public Schools to be ready in case of a mass shooting.
St. Paul Police are training, and they have every reason to after 31 people were killed in recent mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. The St. Paul Police SWAT Team was watching the Dayton shooting especially closely.
"When I saw the Dayton accident, I was thinking as tragic as this is, this is why we are training our officers," said St. Paul Police Department SWAT Commander Tim Flynn.
He helps train the officers in scenarios like the one they ran Wednesday.
"You got multiple people inside a building injured. We as police officers need to get to an unsafe scene and somehow contain and make the scene safe while as quickly as possible, get people to a hospital," Flynn said.
He says there's also important information we as civilians need to know, too.
"When it is an act of violence, you can run, you can hide, you can fight," Flynn said.
He says the best option -- if you are able -- is to run outside and find a shield.
"You need to get on the outside of a structure, so if there are gun shots or explosions you don't get hit by that," Flynn said.
One thing he says we can all do is identify a space or door that you can go into so you can quickly shut and barricade, or hide. Fighting back, he says, is the third, most risky option. Mostly, Flynn says it's about spotting the threat.
"Being a good human being, being a good neighbor, keeping your eye out and if you see something suspicious, say something," he said.