A group of Burlington, Vermont, high school students were touring a local police department as part of a forensics class this week. In the middle of a presentation from a detective, the unthinkable happened: a masked gunman burst into the room and seemed to open fire.
The students were terrified. One says she dove on the ground, hurting her knee. Another says she reached for her phone to text her mother.
But soon, the students realized that they weren’t actually being shot at. Instead, they were the victims of a bizarre “demonstration” from the local police.
According to Seven Days, a Vermont independent newspaper, the students had no idea that the presentation would involve a mock shooting. Students were watching a detective speak at the front of a room when they heard screams. Two women ran in, followed by a man wearing a ski mask, who—it seemed—began firing.
“I’m shaking and crying because I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna get shot,'” one student told Seven Days. “It felt so real.”
The students eventually realized that the shooting was fake after police officers in the room failed to do anything to stop the apparent gunman.
While performing a fake mass shooting with high schoolers was obviously a terrible idea, it’s unclear whether high school staff also share some blame for needlessly terrifying the students.
Hellbound and Down 