A number of law enforcement agencies will conduct active shooter drill at Tahoma Junior High Tuesday morning as part of a yearly exercise. The goal is to test how students, staff, police and firefighters react to an intruder and to test the school's lockdown procedures.
To make the drill feel as realistic as possible, a deputy will pose as an intruder and a group of student and adults will act as if they've been wounded and need medical attention. The entire school will be in lockdown during the drill.
King County Sheriff John Urquhart recognizes these active shooter drills as a sad reality that are necessary in light of campus shootings around Washington and Oregon.
Since the Columbine school shooting, Sheriff Urquhart said first responders have learned a number of lessons. Police no longer wait to go in the building. Their number one priority is to go inside the building and stop the threat -- the shooter or shooters.
The second priority is to treat the victims. That's where the firefighters and medics get involved.
"What we do now is we will take the fire department in there, into that warm zone and we train with them to extract victims before they die. The sooner we can get to someone's who's injured, the more likely they are going to survive," Urquhart said.
Part of the reason these drills are critical is because they give these agencies a chance to run through a violent situation together.
"They (firefighters) are at more risk but they want to do this. They're just like we are. They're first responders. They run towards the fire, the flames. We run towards the gun fire. Now we're bringing them in with us. We are protecting them; we're keeping them as safe as we possibly can but they're not outside," said Urquhart.