Police rush to mall for a drill

MURRAY — A drill reminiscent of February's Trolley Square shootings drew dozens of police and fire personnel to Fashion Place Mall Sunday evening.

Officers quickly chased down two "shooters" who were firing blanks, paramedics cared for "wounded," and a helicopter and several ambulances took "victims" to hospitals. Since the mall closes at 6 p.m. on Sundays, shoppers and merchants were not inconvenienced.

At the north side of the mall, officers huddled near a command post, reviewing the drill's details. Some wore orange vests, others uniforms. Several wore civilian clothing.

Murray police detective Kenny Bass said this was a training session and officers knew it was a drill. They went into the mall without loaded weapons and were issued weapons that were safe to make sure no actual shots were fired.

During the drill, "we treated it as an active shooter," he said.

Two "gunmen" were in the mall firing blanks. SWAT teams went inside looking for them, homing in on the shots.

"The idea is basically ... to get in there, locate it (the shooting scene), get there as quick as possible, as safe as possible, and then resolve whatever situation" was going on, Brass added.

They were to order the "shooters" to lie down or to fire at them if they were in the act of shooting.

"From what I heard at first go, when they entered, it was fast. It was really quick."

The drill was not based on the Trolley Square shooting, Brass said.

"We've been training like this for several years in different locales, businesses, schools, medical businesses, that kind of thing. ... Just unfortunately, Trolley Square occurred. But we've been training for it for several years."

Russ Groves, Murray's deputy fire marshal, said the department and other fire responders from the vicinity had the responsibility to triage the injured first, he said.

They acted to "treat the patients who needed immediate care first, get them out of harm's way and get them transported."

Groves summarized the drill: "Everything went fine."

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