Saint Vincent, EmergyCare hold active shooter drill with Erie police, fire

David Bruce, Erie Times-News
·3 min read

Erie Police Det. Sgt. Ryan Victory sat inside a treatment tent Wednesday next to Saint Vincent Hospital's emergency department.

He had just finished portraying the active shooter during a mass casualty drill at EmergyCare headquarters, 1926 Peach St.

According to the drill's script, police officers had shot and apprehended him. A red stain painted on his t-shirt indicated where his character was wounded.

Erie Police Det. Sgt. Ryan Victory portrays an active shooter during a training exercise inside an EmergyCare building in Erie on Wednesday. EmergyCare and Saint Vincent Hospital conducted the training to better prepare staff for a mass casualty event. Training was conducted on 26 actors as victims, from the shooting scene to the hospital triage area, with coordination of Erie police, Erie fire, EmergyCare EMS staff and hospital personnel.

"I'm not really here," Victory said with a smile as he stood outside the tent. "They admitted (my character) to the hospital and I'm supposed to be getting treated."

Dozens of hospital workers, police officers, firefighters and volunteers participated in the three-hour drill at EmergyCare and Saint Vincent. It was designed to educate first responders and medical workers how to deal with an active shooter and treat the people who were injured.

Though local hospitals have held similar casualty drills dealing with multi-vehicle crashes, disease outbreaks and chemical spills, this is believed to be the first to include someone portraying an active shooter.

"We came up with this active shooter drill during a shift in the ER," said Dr. Scott Ducharme, a Saint Vincent emergency physician and director of the hospital's emergency medical services. "There had been a local active shooter incident and we were talking about whether we were ready for a larger event. The answer was, "We're not sure.'"

It took months to plan and coordinate the drill, according to Ducharme and Erie Police Chief Dan Spizarny.

Erie police have held similar trainings but not with so many medical personnel.

"It also was an opportunity for our officers to train in a building they aren't familiar with," Spizarny said. "And with the reports on the (school) shootings in Nashville, this training couldn't be more appropriate."

Victory, wearing a dark hoodie, jeans and boots, entered EmergyCare headquarters through a side door around 9 a.m. He carried a training weapon that resembled an assault rifle but was incapable of firing live rounds.

Saint Vincent Hospital staff, left, confer with EmergyCare Field Supervisor Jeremy Thompson during an active-shooter training exercise in Erie on March 29, 2023. EmergyCare and Saint Vincent Hospital conducted the training to better prepare staff for a mass-casualty event. Training was conducted on 26 actors as victims, from the shooting scene to the hospital triage area, with coordination of Erie police, Erie fire, EmergyCare EMS staff and hospital personnel.

No real guns were permitted at the drill, Spizarny said.

Walking from room to room, Victory pretended to shoot people. They had already been dressed with make-believe bullet wounds and other injuries.

"We had volunteers from (PennWest) Edinboro's nursing program, LECOM students and Erie High School students," Ducharme said. "They portrayed people with different types of wounds and injuries. Some were seriously hurt, others in between, and others only mildly hurt."

The pretend victims were carried into EmergyCare's garage, triaged and treated. Some were then transported to Saint Vincent's emergency department, where staff had erected two tents outside the ambulance entrance to better accommodate a high number of victims.

Though the drill was scripted, not everything went according to plan. Police reached the officer who portrayed the shooter quicker than expected and apprehended him in a different room than was planned.

"That's OK," Spizarny said. "You want to throw in some changes in training, perhaps catch people off guard."

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Saint Vincent, EmergyCare host active shooter drill with Erie police