Columbia, SC (WLTX) Richland County School resource officer Lt. Verlin Rhodes says Wednesday’s shooting in Florida is a reminder that school’s active shooting drills are more important than ever.
"A lock down situation is when you would actually have an active shooter situation but it would basically be when they would lock all doors and basically secure themselves inside the corners of the classroom and basically not make any noise whatsoever," says Rhodes.
He says that this is an example of why security is so important, "the only way that you can get into a lot of our facilities or are school buildings is through the main entrance. We make sure that all doors are secured and locked."
The FBI recommends three steps in active shooter situations: run, hide, or fight.
According to the FBI, if you have the opportunity to get out, run to the safest location. If that’s not an option, hide and make sure you won't be visible. Your last resort is to fight.
Lt. Danny Brown who works with Richland County’s Active Shooter Training team says this conversation is a necessity.
Brown spends most of his time going out to churches and businesses training groups on how to handle these situations. He says, "you know no one thinks this can happen to them but once we finish the events and with all the recent training people understand wow this really could happen to me."