By: Chinh Doan, KETV NewsWatch 7
OMAHA, Neb. — People from all over the metro – from work managers to church leaders – spent Thursday afternoon at a free seminar focused on “active threat” training.
How would you react if there were an active shooter at your work or church? That question, along with scenarios of workplace violence, were the discussion topics for three dozen people during a workshop hosted at 88 Tactical’s Range and Readiness Center near Highway 370 and 150th Street in Omaha.
Participants came from various backgrounds, from those who have never held a gun to military veterans, and all gained insight.
“I didn’t realize how many incidents there were,” said Doug Ritchie, a former U.S. Marine, who came for training for his church. “They were telling us over the past 16 years how many there have been, and some of those were at churches.”
Even those working in security, like Chris Aldrich, representing Cargill in Blair, said there’s always something new to learn.
“I want to be prepared in case something does happen at our site,” said Aldrich. “We have a big facility, so a lot of different companies, a lot of people.”
The two-hour workshop stressed that in order to be as safe as possible, you must be realist, be self-reliant and be of the right mind.
Trevor Thrasher, 88 Tactical’s chief operating officer, and trainer, used real-life examples from recent mass shootings, like the Orlando night club tragedy in June.
“The more people that are trained and willing to respond and take care of themselves, the better off our entire community is,” said Thrasher.
Penny Majeski and her co-workers took notes to take back to West Corp. in Omaha.
“We’re responsible for the incident response plan, so we will work conjunctively to come up with the best plan and make any additions or edits to our current plan we have in place to make sure we’re doing everything that we can do,” said Majeski.
There’s another free “active threat” seminar next Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. at 88 Tactical’s Range and Readiness Center in Omaha. There are still a few spots available. To sign up, contact Brian Wilson at 402-933-7171.