It's officially called "response to active shooter training," and it's designed to prepare police officers for violent stand-off and hostage situations. Even though officers are being trained to deal with extremely serious scenarios, they say it's actually sort-of fun.
North Central Florida police departments have been conducting "response to active shooter training" for the last 10 years. Today, Alachua County Sheriff's Office Deputies ran a training session with High Springs police officers at a soon-to-be demolished Foodway store, and at least a couple of the officers being trained said they felt like they were in a real-life video game.
"You know you get to play video games at home and shoot a bad guy," said Ofc. Michael Coulon, "but this is one time you actually get to put on the gear, go inside and shoot the bad guy for real."
The High Springs police officers were able to use the Foodway store free-of-charge. The owner's demolishing the store anyway so he didn't mind the plastic, paint-filled bullets being used by officers flying all over the place.