North Johnston students, staff act out active shooter drill to prepare for growing threat

School officials said most students have never been a part of an active shooter drill before and might not know anyone who has. But the experience might be overwhelming for some of the students who might not know what to expect.

Students who participate in the drill will play key roles, like the shooter or victims. Law enforcement officials want teachers and students to start the exercise in classrooms to make this as close to a normal school day as possible.

"We're going to treat it as if it were just a normal situation," said Kristy Wheeler, a North Johnston teacher. "We'll be in our classroom, lesson planning or teaching lessons to our volunteer students, doing basic activities, and really you're trying to keep things as normal as possible because when something like that happens you're not going to know it's going to happen."

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The drill is voluntary for teachers and students, but classes will be dismissed early to allow time for the two-hour activity.

North Johnston junior Oscar Verduzco said the training will help students understand what will happen in the event of a shooting on campus.

"I'm expecting a lot of screaming, a lot of yelling," Verduzco said. "But this is training for us, the students that we need."

A district spokeswoman said the last time the school district did active shooter training was five years ago at Corinth Holders High School. But teachers and students said times have changed, and the training has become necessary as mass shooting have affected more schools.

Johnston County Emergency Services received a $13,000 grant to put on the exercise. More than 100 agency volunteers from the Johnston County Sheriff's Office and several other departments will also participate in the drill.