CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police and the FBI staged a massive, realistic exercise Wednesday to prepare for the possibility of a mass-shooting incident.
The now-empty Statesville Road Elementary School was transformed into the scene of a mass shooting.
Dummies were used to simulate the dead and wounded and shell casings littered the floors.
Deputy Chief Doug Gallant said of the training session, “With everything going on across the country and the world, we really have to be prepared.”
CMPD and FBI agents worked side by side gathering evidence.
Anything found was brought to a central area where it could be preserved. That was a technique employed during the investigation of the Boston Marathon bombing and it later played a role in the prosecution of the suspects.
“I think it's not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when,” said John Wydra, the Assistant Special Agent In Charge of the FBI Charlotte office.
Wydra led the FBI team that investigated the Pentagon attack on 9/11.
He said evidence gathering is like solving a puzzle.
“To understand how what happened, happened, how these people died and what we are doing to stop it in the future," Wydra said
CMPD’s Gallant added, “We are going to be the first responders and additional resources will follow. We have to be prepared for that and this gives us that opportunity.”