Instructor gear lies on a table in the old Evans City Elementary School during an active shooter training Tuesday, Jan. 16. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

EVANS CITY — Evans City Elementary and Middle School, closed since the summer of 2022, came back to life for one week this month to host classes once again. The students are more than a dozen law enforcement personnel who are being trained in how to handle active shooter situations.

The course — administered by Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, or ALERRT — kicked off Monday, Jan. 15, and runs through Friday, Jan. 19. A dozen law enforcement personnel from across Butler County took part, as well as some volunteer scenario re-enactors.

“I'm just one of their role-players. They tell me what to do and then I do it,” said volunteer firefighter Emmett Bishop. “So they say, ‘Hey, you're the bad guy.’ And then I act like the bad guy.”

According to Edward Lenz of the Adams Township Police Department, this training session featured officers from Adams Township, Cranberry Township, Butler Township, the city of Butler, Penn Township, Jackson Township, Zelienople, Saxonburg, the Butler County Sheriff's Office, and Butler County Prison.

The course is called “train the trainer,” because once the officers go through it, they will have the grounding in crisis management to train others in how to handle similar situations.

“Everyone in this room should actually be certified to train other officers in order to instruct them on the ALERRT standards,” said patrol officer Chris Kopas of the Adams Township Police Department. “That way they're not trying to learn this in real time in the event, God forbid, that the situation ever comes up.”

According to Kopas, the old school was used because it was the only suitable location for this course.

“This venue was chosen because we've been given access to use it,” Kopas said. “Unlike any other school that's out there, or commercial building or anything, this was just readily available for our use. Plus with it being a school, it assists us with preparing for this type of structure.”

The classes on Monday featured a mix of classroom instruction and simulation drills in which officers were armed with plastic, colored mock guns. More drills followed on Tuesday, except this time, the drills featured guns which fired “simunition” rounds.

“We've run through various different scenarios,” Kopas said. “Someone that is threatening to harm someone with a firearm in a school … all the way to someone that may have brought explosive ordinance into the building.”

In the last five years, over the course of 58 school shooting incidents, 52 people were killed.

“The fundamentals of what’s being trained can apply to various sites,” Kopas said. “Just because it is directed at a school doesn't mean that the foundations or principles can't be used in commercial buildings, or something along those lines.”

An active shooter response card lies on table at the old Evans City Elementary School on Tuesday, Jan. 16, during an active shooter training event. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

A guide to active shooter response lies on a table in the old Evans City Elementary School during an active shooter training session on Tuesday, Jan. 16. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle