CHAMPAIGN – Hundreds of first responders in Champaign trained this week at St. Thomas More High School to practice how to save victims of a school shooting.
As part of the exercise, firefighters and police officers responded to live actors and training manikins representing young shooting victims. The hallways of the Catholic high school were littered with shell casings.
Lt. Sean Ater said the focus of this week’s training was knowing how to get multiple victims treated and transported to a hospital.
Other trainings dealt with responding and stopping a possible shooter. He said they made the training as realistic as possible.
“This is why we have fake blood and this is why we have role players with wounds on them,” said Lt. Ater. “Because if we don’t make it realistic, we don’t want our officers, our first responders, just shutting down when they see all this trauma. We have to have them work through it.”
Every Champaign officer, from recent recruits to the police chief, took part in the training on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of this week. Lt. Ater said other trainings will involve neighboring law enforcement agencies.
Communication between officers and firefighters was a key component of the training.
“We’ve established radio channels and when the teams move together, you now have police and fire moving together and they’re talking on different radio channels and that forces them to then have to talk to each other in the group.”
It’s two different disciplines: law enforcement, fire response, and fire personnel. But when this happens, we’re going to be shoulder to shoulder in the building together, no matter what. So today is part of that communication building and trying to get that response planned.”
According to CNN’s analysis of events reported by the Gun Violence Archive, Education Week and Everytown for Gun Safety, in 2025, there were at least 78 shootings with 32 killed and 124 injured. In 2026, there have been at least 31 school shootings with 22 killed and 23 injuries.