SAN ANTONIO — The Bexar County Courthouse shut down its regular operations and underwent active shooter training on Friday.
Civilian employees got to feel what it’s like when gunfire goes off inside the building and what to do next.
Bexar County Deputy Christopher Garcia is a Marine Corps veteran who has served as a sheriff’s deputy for 17 years. He’s taught active shooter training for 10 years and says most companies don’t get this type of experience.
“What if you’ve never heard gunfire? What if you’ve never been to a gun range? What if you’ve never been in the military? How do you know what gunfire sounds like? This [training] is going to eliminate that question,” Deputy Garcia said.
In the County Commissioners' courtroom in front of all civilian employees—Deputy Garcia teaches them about the protocol in active shooter situations: avoid, deny, and defend.
Avoiding a threat, denying when getting away is difficult or maybe impossible, and defend if you have to fight for your life.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 85 mass shootings through February 22, 2023.
Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai says after this is reality-based training.
“We have people who are angry, people who have been grievanced, we have people who are mentally imbalanced who may pose a threat to the courthouse. So my responsibility as county judge is to protect all county employees, visitors and any other people,” Judge Sakai said.
He credits Judge Tony Arteaga for helping organize Friday’s training.
“We need to know what flaws, what weaknesses, what criticisms we have in regards to the process,” Judge Sakai added.
In this exercise, employees watched a 90-minute instructional course from Deputy Garcia. During the training, he covers what did and did not work in mass casualties such as the Virginia Tech shooting and the Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island.
After the course, Deputy Garcia fires one shot on each of the six floors in the courthouse and pulls on doors, simulating an active shooter situation.
He says employees will get 15 to 30 seconds after hearing gun fire to implement their training.
“In the military and law enforcement, we start slow and build up…We don’t want to rush them because then you lose training value, you might get bad habits. So, take the time, do it properly, build good habits,” Deputy Garcia said.
As the deputy walked down each floor and fired a shot, fire alarms went off inside the courthouse.
He hopes the sounds and sights will stick with those who took the training.
“It adds to the intensity of it and makes them realize it's going to be chaotic, it's going to be stressful," Garcia said. "But we’ve seen it and experienced it."
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar recognizes some people may come out of the training a little upset, but says that’s part of the training.
“Let people understand the psychology behind an active shooter event, not just the psychology of what’s going on in that shooter’s head, [but] what is my mind going to do just by human nature?” Sheriff Salazar says it’s the first time he can remember shutting down the courthouse for this training, but hopes it won’t be the last.