MU safety officials filming active shooter training video on campus

The University of Missouri Police Department along with MU Operations will be filming an active shooter training video on campus Thursday and Friday.

According to the FBI, between 2000 and 2013, there were 39 school shootings across the United States. Of those shootings, 12 happened on college campuses.

University officials said the video will help educate students, faculty and staff on how to respond to a violent situation on campus.

“We’re trying to get people to learn if you can run and get away from the situation, that’s what you should do,” said Major Brian Weimer. “If not, try to barricade yourself in the area, silence your phones, etcetera. And if that doesn’t work and they break through the door, you’re actually going to have to fight and make that decision.”

Actors will be carrying fake weapons and others will appear wounded. Christian Basi, a university spokesperson, said more than 60 people will be involved in the filming.

Major Weimer said filming areas will be blocked off to the public and signs will be in place to notify the public that a reenactment is taking place.

“That’s one thing we’ve seen in the past is in drills and situations, if someone catches wind of something going on and all of the sudden it gets to social media and the rumor mills get going, then we have a much bigger issue than we had before,” he said.

The campus notification system will be activated if an actual emergency should happen during filming. Major Weimer urges everyone to pay attention to the MU Alert webpage and Twitter for notifications of any credible threats.

The campus police department already offers Citizens’ Response to Active Threats (CRAT) classes, but Major Weimer said this training video will be available to everyone who may not be able to attend the training classes.

“We want to make sure we take advantage of all the different resources that are available to our community to get the information out there. If the text message goes out, something bad has already happened,” he said. “It just gives them a better opportunity to be safe and get through a situation like that.”

Filming will take place all day Thursday near the Student Center and all day on Friday on the Francis Quadrangle near the steps of Jesse Hall.The video will be released after the start of the spring semester.