WASHINGTON — For NOVA, this is more than just a drill.
Northern Virginia Community College hosted a mock shooting scenario Wednesday to practice a response to a gunman on the loose at the Annandale campus. The drill included more than 100 NOVA, Fairfax County, State Police and local firefighter personnel.
It’s a scenario many colleges are addressing in the wake of the December and the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech, but it’s particularly familiar for this school. A gunman threatened a teacher in 2009 at the NOVA Woodbridge campus.
Among the resources for the drill included testing the new communication system, linked to state and county police and other NOVA campuses.
The result seemed like the real thing, with the sound of gunshots and students fleeing academic buildings, followed by a heavy police response. Wednesday’s scenario involved a dead police officer in a parking garage and more than one gunman.
Hear the on-site report from WTOP’s Hank Silverberg at right.
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