VCU holds active shooter training exercise to help prepare campus for crisis situations

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) held an active shooter training exercise on Wednesday, hoping to better prepare its students and faculty for emergency situations.

The exercise took place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12, in the 900 Block of Franklin Street on the university's Monroe Park campus.

The training was designed to simulate a real-life active shooting situation and featured officers from the Richmond Police Department (RPD), VCU Police Department, Richmond Police SWAT, K-9 units and Safety Ambassador members.

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8News spoke with Deputy Chief Sydney Collier of RPD, who emphasized the importance of such an exercise.

"We can't wait until the day of the critical incident to show up and then to start figure out what we're going to do," he said.

He added that helping everyone better understand what they need to do during such a situation ahead of time can really make a difference.

"If I know what VCU officers are going to do [and] you know what RPD officers are going to do, it makes things flow a little bit easier -- and we can mitigate the situation that much faster," Collier said.

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)'s active shooter training on March 12. (Photo: Nia McMillan/8News)

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)'s active shooter training on March 12. (Photo: Nia McMillan/8News)

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)'s active shooter training on March 12. (Photo: Nia McMillan/8News)

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) held an active shooter training exercise today, March. 12 Photo courtesy : 8news Nia McMillan

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)'s active shooter training on March 12. (Photo: Nia McMillan/8News)

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)'s active shooter training on March 12. (Photo: Nia McMillan/8News)

These drills -- which are held regularly -- differ in location each time.

"Every time we do an exercise, we do try to change it ... we have 200-some odd buildings very similar to the building that we're using today, [but] they're all different, the layouts are all different, and we try to do different type scenarios," said John Venuti, associate vice president for public safety at VCU and VCU Health.

Changing things up is important because you never know when and where a real emergency situation may take place, Venuti said.

"To make the training effective, you have to change the scenarios," he said. "You don't want [people] running on auto -- you want them to constantly have to think if they get presented with a different situation, and that's what makes the training really work well."

The active shooter drill featured individuals with makeup to simulate life-threatening injuries. In a press release issued prior to the training, community members were warned that they would likely hear simulated gunfire..

“Training opportunities like this one take a tremendous amount of planning, resources and coordination to simulate real-world chaos," Venuti said. "This training time for first responders is precious. It allows us to learn and grow and better prepare us for the unexpected.”