School shootings can and have torn apart communities. There was the Columbine high school massacre in 1999 that took the lives of twelve students and one teacher. More recently the Virginia Tech tragedy in 2007 that killed 32 students and faculty.
While law enforcement in Columbia County hope they never have to deal with a school shooting, they will be trained and ready if they do. Lake City police officers and Columbia County deputies gathered at an abandoned school. For many, it was their first active shooter training.
Officials say the training was a great bonding experience for the agencies but it is taken very seriously because it is real like and it could happen.