LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — What looked and sounded like a crisis unfolding at the University of Kentucky on Thursday morning was actually just a drill.
Sirens, calls for assistance, and even gunshots could be heard coming from the White Hall Classroom Building on campus, where a team of first responders and volunteers executed a full-scale active shooter training.
The university partnered with the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), which hosts similar trainings across the country.
"We want to come into an area and basically prepare them start to finish for any kind of disaster response," said Desiree Pliler, the designer of the drill with TEEX.
Data from Everytown for Gun Safety shows there have been 13 school shootings in Kentucky since it began tracking in 2013. Four of those took place on college campuses.
Nationwide, there have been more than 1,200 school shootings, resulting in the death of over 400 people and nearly 900 injuries.
While the University of Kentucky has not been the site of a shooting during that time, the program helps prepare responders for the worst in an effort to save lives.
"We feel like it's important to understand what our capabilities are and what areas we need to improve on to respond to a real-world incident that may occur on our campus," said UK police chief Joe Monroe.
Following the three-hour drill, first responders and university leaders met to discuss both their successes and opportunities for improvement.
Monroe said more than 140 first responders, including representatives from UK Police, Lexington Police, and FCPS Police, participated in the exercise.
