Photos: Training to respond to a mass shooting

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First resonders from across Los Angeles County participated in the mass shooting exercise, with paramedics and medical personnel wanting to find better and faster ways to save wounded patients in a chaotic, triage situation. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

First resonders from across Los Angeles County participated in the mass shooting exercise, with paramedics and medical personnel wanting to find better and faster ways to save wounded patients in a chaotic, triage situation. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

This morning the tranquility of Scripps College was broken by gun shots and police sirens. Fortunately, the shots were simulated. It was the first mass shooting response exercise in Los Angeles since the tragedy in Sandy Hook, Conn. The drill was part legitimate disaster response training and part theater for the media (see photos). Los Angeles County sheriff and fire department personnel responded to a fake shooting at the school’s theater. After SWAT team members moved in, medical first-responders took out mock casualties from the building and treated them on the school’s lawns.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says the LASD stages about six mass shooting exercises a year. You can make out one of the mock victims behind the SWAT's teams legs. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)
A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says the LASD stages about six mass shooting exercises a year. You can make out one of the mock victims behind the SWAT’s teams legs. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)

As journalists and campus staff look on, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department SWAT team responds to a mock mass shooting at Scripps College in Claremont. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)
As journalists and campus staff look on, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department SWAT team responds to a mock mass shooting at Scripps College in Claremont. (Photo by Saul Gonzalez)