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PARKERSBURG — West Virginia University at Parkersburg officials and emergency responders Tuesday attempted to see how they would react to the worst possible scenario a college can face.

A 5 p.m. drill at the school pitted school officials and emergency responders against a “gunman” who used explosives and firearms to “kill” students at the school.

The “gunman,” a disgruntled student, entered the school, “shot” other students, staff and faculty and “detonated” improvised explosive devices before taking hostages and barricading himself in the school library.

The school’s theater department provided “victims,” who even had injuries created by make-up to heighten the realism of the drill.

Connie Dziagwa, WVUP spokesman, said the drill’s objective was to evaluate the school’s response procedures for such an emergency. An armed gunman in the building is a worst-case-scenario for schools, she said. The mass killings at Virginia Tech are a startling example of that.

“The point is to take our security plan from paper and put it into practice,” Dziagwa said. “It’s also to give area emergency response agencies a chance to practice their procedures and strategies as well.”

The drill involved law enforcement officials from the Wood County Sheriff’s Department, the Parkersburg Police Department, the Vienna Police Department, the West Virginia State Police and West Virginia University campus police. In addition, medical responders from Camden-Clark Memorial Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital participated along with area volunteer fire departments, including Lubeck, Mineral Wells and East Wood.

S.W.A.T. team members stormed the facility and hostage negotiators from the Parkersburg Police Department and the sheriff’s department attempted negotiation tactics.

Medical responders and firefighters practiced prioritizing and removing the victims and setting up a triage area outside of the school.

Dziagwa said she was pleased with the drill. A debriefing will be held at a later date to evaluate the exercise and determine if improvements need to be made.

“You can never be too prepared for a situation like this at a college campus,” she said.

Dziagwa said she was especially pleased with how well the school’s emergency paging system worked. The system allows communication among classrooms, hallways and the main offices.

“That in and of itself is something that worked very well,” she said.

 

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