RICHMOND, Va. — Shafer Court Dining Center on the Virginia Commonwealth University campus was staged for an active shooter situation on the Richmond campus Wednesday morning.
A longtime VCU Police detective served as the active shooter as officers responded wherever they were stationed in the city.
One exercise was scheduled for 10 a.m. until noon, and officers will return to the dining center again at 10 p.m. through midnight Wednesday.
The simulations included the use of realistic weapons, training weapons, a significant law enforcement presence and volunteer actors with makeup mimicking realistic injuries.
VCU Police Chief Clarence Hunter said planning for the exercises started in September.
The trainings happened following the fatal shooting of two students at Brown University in Rhode Island.
“I think it's an unfortunate reality of the world that we live in, that we have to be prepared for these in case they do come up,” Chief Hunter said. “One thing that we like to do is make sure that as realistic as it can be. We like to make sure that we're testing our alert system, because the way that we communicate in or during an event will primarily be through that alert system.”
Chief Hunter urged the community to sign up for VCU Alerts to be notified of any events that happen on campus.
“What we're going to evaluate is our alert system to make sure that the alerts go out in a timely fashion. We're going to look to see that our policies and our procedures and how we respond are in effect and are correct. We're also going to look to make sure that our relationship with the Richmond Police Department, our state partners — all of that lines up to make sure that we can mitigate these incidents as best that we can when they do occur,” he added.
While most activity related to the training will take place inside Shafer Court Dining Center, community members traveling through the Monroe Park Campus will see law enforcement and emergency management personnel staging outside the main entrance during the two timeframes.
Shafer Court Dining Center was closed to the public on Wednesday and VCU Police said there were no sidewalk or road closures related to the exercise, except for the area immediately adjacent to the front entrance of the center.
VCU Police remained fully staffed during both drills.
Community members can always report emergencies by calling 804-828-1234 or using the LiveSafe app. The VCU Police non-emergency line is 804-828-1234.
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