To ace this test, 'Terminate The Threat:' Exercise trains officers to take down shooters in school rampages

He said it repeatedly: "Terminate the threat." Mike Ramsey was more interested in adrenaline rushes than fancy techniques from his pupils -- 18 law enforcement officials from surrounding counties -- as he instructed them in developing the "warrior mindset."

"If you get called, you respond without hesitation," said Ramsey, a North Georgia College & State University campus officer leading an "active shooter response" exercise Tuesday.

The goal in the exercise was for officers to get as realistic a feel as possible for a scenario involving a gunman on the loose in a public setting, such as a school or courthouse.

The exercise, which took place at the Lumpkin County Sheriff's Office firing range near the county landfill, was scheduled before a gunman fatally shot 32 students and professors at Virginia Tech last month in what has been called the deadliest shooting massacre in U.S. history.

Since that tragedy, colleges nationwide are re-evaluating and updating security plans and adding equipment, such as cameras and emergency phone boxes, as needed.

"We don't really do enough of this type of training," said Lumpkin County Sheriff's Sgt. Chad Edwards, a firearms instructor at the exercise.

Typically, law enforcement agencies send school resource officers and SWAT team members to the annual training, he said.

"But a first responder could be anyone from a patrol officer to an investigator sitting at a desk," Edwards said. "We encourage all certified officers to attend this."

Those who attended Tuesday faced a physically challenging day.

After 30 minutes of instruction, officers headed to the firing range, where, using live ammunition, they fired rounds at a target from varying distances.

Then, they lined up far from the targets and ran straight toward them, with guns tucked at their sides, and fired their .40-caliber weapons.

For the sprints, Edwards provided the officers with a real-life image.

"The average hallway in a school is how long? About 75 yards?" he said.

Ramsey, a retired U.S. Army Ranger, coached the officers as they ran the sprints.

"Full speed, people, full speed," he said. "If you bust your butt, get up. Remember, you're busting through a door."

As part of his instruction, Ramsey told the officers that the average, untrained shooter can fire off a round of ammo every 2.5 seconds.

"Worst-case scenario: In one minute, you have 24 dead," he said.

That scary statistic, Ramsey added, should put a little extra urgency in an officer's response.

"To go against the aggressor, you've got to be ruthless," he said. "There's no such thing as excessive force when (the shooter is) dead."

Ramsey said that focus is key in pursuing the attacker.

"You must be willing to step over kids who have been killed," he said. "You've got to put that outside your mind. Kids may be pulling at your pant's leg and saying 'Help me' ... but you've got to press the fight."

The officers later went into a "simunition" house, which had been rigged up to resemble a schoolhouse setting, and using soap-filled bullets (they look like the real thing and create memorable pain when they hit someone), they took turns tracking down and killing the gunman.

Officers emerged with a few "injuries" of their own, including one hit in the upper back. He yanked off his shirt as another officer poured water on the injury.

"It was realistic," Forsyth County Sheriff's deputy Ron Tomblin said of the exercise, which also featured two people, NGCSU criminal justice interns Jasmine Vance and Angel Best, portraying a shooting victim and a screaming eyewitness.

The training was especially unsettling "not knowing what was around the corner," Tomblin said.

The group wrapped up the eight-hour day with another simulated exercise at the NGCSU Fine Arts Annex on North Park Street.

Bruce C. Wagar, director of school safety management for Forsyth County schools, described the day as "priceless."

An attacker on the loose is "something that nobody wants to talk about and everybody fears but (for which preparation training) is absolutely necessary," he said.

"... This can happen at anytime in any school system in the nation. You just can't predict it."