Vital first aid delayed, and fire and EMS personnel kept sometimes blocks away.
Responses to mass shootings have sometimes led to delayed help for victims because the unarmed personnel who could help were kept far away from the location until police were sure the threats were eliminated.
But under a new training model adopted statewide, EMTs and firefighters are allowed into scenes much more quickly.
5 Investigates got an inside look at the new system in action during a simulation held Thursday inside an empty building at Merrimack College in Andover. It was part of a week-long training for 50 police officers, fire officials, dispatchers and EMTs from around the region who in turn are tasked with going back to their departments and training their own members. Another 50 people will be trained next week in Holyoke.