SPANISH FORK, Utah - Police and students at the American Leadership Academy in Spanish Fork practiced what to do if there is an active shooter in a school.
The American Leadership Academy says they decided to put on the drill because of several school shootings across the country in recent years.
The drill played out four different scenarios with active shooters. One involved a barricaded suspect where police decided whether to fight back or barricade themselves.
In another, Mountain View Hospital developed a "code silver" drill where they pretended they were hosting a health fair at the school when an active shooter entered the building.
"It's like anything, experience is going to help you deal with the realities of these things should they occur. You can talk about incidents happening but until you're actually a part of that, and are around when a gun goes off or see how the police function, it's a completely different set of circumstances," said Ric Johnson, an associate administrator at Mountain View Hospital.
The drill was designed to teach police, hospital officials and school officials how to react and what to do should this kind of shooting ever happened.
"You never want this to happen in your community. Hopefully it never will, but we're training ourselves so we can respond and act accordingly if it happens," said Spanish Fork Police Lt. Matt Johnson.
Teachers said the drill was a good experience for students and it will help them remember what to do should it ever happen.
"We drill with fire, we drill with earthquakes, but we don't get anything like this," said teacher Zac Poulter.
Police will review video from the event and discuss it with everyone that participated.
