The sound of blank gunshots and police radio chatter echoed in the halls of Congin School on Thursday. Paramedics dragged volunteers along the floor and treated their simulated injuries, which were marked with orange tape.

Westbrook fire and police departments conducted this intense, full-scale drill to train public safety teams how to respond to an active school shooter.

But conducting the drill only months after the October mass shooting in Lewiston that killed 18 and wounded 13 others added a layer of concern to the exercise.

Westbrook fire Capt. Joe Carroll said the fire, police and school departments started planning the drill weeks before the Lewiston shooting. Afterward, there was concern about whether the drill would be “too fresh” and in “bad taste,” so organizers tried to find “a fine balance” that would minimize trauma to young participants, he said.

“Once Lewiston happened, it made the (active shooter drill) conversation even harder,” Carroll said. “All the more reason to still have the conversation, maybe even more relevant.”

Thursday’s exercise happened about a week after school ended for the summer because it was easiest on everyone’s schedules. But ideally, the drill would have happened earlier in the year so more college or high school-age people could participate, Carroll said. He said he hopes a future drill can take place during the school year.

“The really societal, unfortunate part about this is that for a majority of students, lockdown drills, shooter drills, protect in place measures, are really becoming part of their fabric, it’s normalization,” Carroll said.

A larger turnout would have made it more realistic for first responders, Carroll said, but he was happy with this year’s role-playing volunteers, which included community center camp counselors and vocational center criminal justice students.

Westbrook police Capt. Steve Goldberg said all volunteers were over age 16 and students under 18 needed a parent’s permission to participate. He said officers made sure the role players were comfortable during the simulation.

Westbrook superintendent Peter Lancia said he was not opposed to having the drill while school was in session, but holding it after the year ended “made sense.”

Before the pandemic, Westbrook schools held full-scale drills during the school year in coordination with local law enforcement, although never for an active shooter situation. The schools are confident in their own practices and protocols, which include fire and lockdown drills, he said.

He said Thursday’s drill was more of a tactical exercise for law enforcement.

“It’s not like we’re avoiding having (students) be part of it,” Lancia said. “If they’re a part of an incident, I know that they will be sheltered and they will be cared for. We want to make sure that, because our protocols are in place, our staff and our kids know what to do. So, having it after school made sense so (public safety) really could role play. They know that our kids will know what to do as well.”

Seven school officials attended the drill to observe, including transportation employees, principals and school board members. Lancia said watching how first responders handle an emergency can provide some comfort.

“If there was an emergency, our administrators and I will cede control of our space to whoever’s in charge,” Lancia said. “That’s a hard thing for us to do, but being able to see what’s going on … we have confidence.”

“Emotional first-aid” volunteers from Maine Behavioral Healthcare were also on scene observing and assisting with the exercise.

Dr. Gretchen Pianka, a pediatrician and trauma-informed care ambassador for the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said drills like these can trigger a traumatic response in any student, regardless of age.

Pianka said it would be essential to have a session for both students and adults to process what happened and remind themselves they aren’t in danger. She said parents should also be prepped with information and resources so they can debrief with their children at home.

“How do you allow an experience like that, which feels like adversity, to not land as trauma in kids?” Pianka said. “That’s where (it’s important to) be able to talk about their feelings, be able to talk about it with their families.”

When planning the drill, the school district and public safety departments were concerned about traumatizing students, especially following the Lewiston shootings and several active shooter hoax calls to Maine schools in recent years.

But organizers insist drills like these are a regular practice, not a response to specific incidents.

“This isn’t to suggest that something is unsafe or not working, this is part of our routine,” Lancia said.

DJ Hooks Wayman, an 18-year-old camp counselor who participated in the drill, said the experience taught him how to keep his anxiety down in tense situations when young children may be looking to him as a leader. He said he wishes there was a drill like this while he attended Deering High School, instead of just videos and lectures about active shooters.

“They do a lot of talking at us and stuff like that, it’s never hands-on to actually see what to do.”

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