Jackson first responders hold active shooter training

JACKSON, Mich. (WLNS) — Rescue Task Force—that’s the name of the group that performed a public safety exercise at the Optimist Ice Arena Tuesday afternoon.

Hunter Keith, a firefighter for the city of Jackson, says it takes a team working together to fight against an active threat.

“We can get really in there while the scene if unsecured and that extra layer of protection on top of our body armor when we go in really helps us to get in there and solve the problem,” said Keith.

Firefighters from the city of Jackson and Summit Township, as well as the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, are only a few of several groups taking part in the three-day training, which ends Wednesday.

Kyle Ruge, a patrol sergeant with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, says Tuesday’s exercise was designed to have firefighters team up with police to enter a building shortly after a shooting.

The exercise also invited students like Mylah Schell and Meddie Steih from the Jackson Area Career Center to act as victims.

“Basically, the first responders would come by and if they saw if someone was dead,” said Steih. They would put the black tag and then leave them and try to get the people who were able to be saved.”

The students say it’s to make the experience more intense.

“I was a walking injured. It’s gone right now, but I had blood gushing from my leg,” said Schell. “So, I was a hider. They had to try to find me and then guide me out.”

Schell and Steih both hope to work in law enforcement in the future.

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