Isamar Terrazas

There has been an alarming increase in mass shootings across the U-S -- with several occurring on college campuses. In this Bobcat Update, Isamar Terrazas reports on how law enforcement officials prepare for such situations.  

Police call them active shooters. They are people who set out to kill as many people as they can. Active shooters have brought tragedy to the U-S, like 2012's Newtown massacre and this past September's Navy Yard shooting. San Marcos law enforcement officials say they are taking measures to try to stop such events from occurring here. San Marcos is one of the fast growing cities in the country. It's home to one of the largest outlet malls, and it attracts as many as 35-thousand students to the campus at Texas State.
San Marcos is vulnerable, just as any community, to having an active shooter, but local and university officials say they've taken measures to ensure the safety of people.
SB Williams…(15 sec)...We actually rehearse all these things we practice setting up command posts to deal with large scale incidents we train our people to deal with those emergency mass shooting incidents and we equip them to deal with it.
Texas State University has established the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training or ALERRT program for local and university officials. It is funded by the U-S Justice Department and works with the Federal Bureau of Investigations in training officers on how to handle an active shooter situation and avoid mass casualties.
SB Nichols…(15 secs)…Our officers and deputies from all agencies around here have been through our trainings. They're very well prepared and hopefully this tragedy will never strike our community but I think if it did you would find a very swift and effective response by local law enforcement.
Stand-up: With an increase in law enforcement training, some residents and students still don't feel safe if an active shooter decides to strike.
Spades…(14 sec)…I'm not sure they are actually that prepared and I'm not really sure that you can be prepared. That's kind of broad because you don't know whose shooting from where and I don't know if they can actually handle it what if more than one people come in, if they can't handle it either we might all be in trouble at that point.
Government officials say they're confident that enforcement of existing laws will help prevent bloodshed in Texas.
Dewhurst…(15 secs)…We have a very robust concealed handgun license program where some 500 thousand Texans who are at least 21 years of age who don't have criminal background, who've gone through the test are able to have a concealed handgun license and so I hope that some of these massacres will never happen in the future in Texas.
For Bobcat Update, I'm Isamar Terrazas.