School shooting drill held at Ridgeview HS
It was a scary thing crackling over police scanners Thursday morning: “Armed subject at Ridgeview High School” in Redmond, and shots fired. But the first announcement confirmed: It was all a drill to test mass-casualty response, weeks before students head back to school in the fall.
The Redmond Police Department and Redmond Fire & Rescue hosted a multi-agency training exercise, involving numerous public safety agencies from around Deschutes County, said Redmond police Lt. Nathan Garibay.
In an early-morning media advisory, Garibay noted the drill would “include a significant amount of activity at Ridgeview High School located on SW Elkhorn Ave in Redmond.”
“This training exercise is part of our ongoing effort to improve our interagency coordination and response to critical incidents,” the lieutenant said.
In the wake of school shootings from Columbine to Sandy Hook, the scanner traffic was chilling — talking of “confirmed people shot in the library,” and within minutes, “one gunman down,” then “numerous casualties upstairs and down.”
The school was being used for the drill for about two hours starting at 7:30 a.m. There were no road closures for this event, but there was signage informing motorists of the training.
