NEW ORLEANS – Two hundred volunteers came out for an active shooter drill at the Audubon Zoo this morning.
Simulated gun shots, sirens, yelling, armored trucks packed with SWAT members, fire trucks, ambulances, and more activity took over the usually calm zoo as the drill got underway.
No cameras were allowed inside while the drill was going on, but the city plans to release video later.
The New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness ran the drill.
Volunteers were assigned various roles to play in the tactical exercise, acting as if they were wounded, dead, or separated from family members to simulate an active attack.
Role-playing with real people allows our city’s emergency teams to fully test their plans, policies, and response.
“I think you hear this from the police department, fire department, from emergency medical services, and our partners from the private sectors: public safety is always our top priority,” Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness in New Orleans Aaron Miller said. “We’re always watching and learning from other events, so we utilize those events to learn best practices to learn how we can adapt and how we can be better prepared for any incident that.”
This drills runs until 2 p.m. Monday afternoon. The exercise was supposed to take place in October, but it was postponed due to Hurricane Nate.