Burlington High School students were rattled on Wednesday after local police detectives staged a demonstration to students during which a supposed gunman pretended to open fire.
The incident occurred Wednesday at the Burlington Police Department’s headquarters at One North Avenue. About 20 students in the school’s year-end forensics class had traveled to the police station for a field trip, Russ Elek, a spokesperson for the Burlington School District, told VTDigger in a written statement.
During the presentation, police reenacted a crime and students unexpectedly heard screaming and fake gunshots behind where they were seated, according to an email school officials sent parents and families of the students on Wednesday afternoon. The purpose “was to make a point about how witness statements can be unreliable, and detectives wanted the event to be as realistic as possible,” interim principal Sabrina Westdijk and two teachers in attendance wrote in the email.
But the incident “was startling for many students and may have left some feeling confused and frightened as a result,” the school officials wrote.
Detectives apologized “after they realized that the reenactment did not translate well to high school students,” the school officials wrote. The teachers also expressed remorse and the school offered counseling and mental health support to those in attendance.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the Burlington Police Department apologized to those “who were upset by the specific scenario and crime scene portion of the presentation,” but said that the department had “endeavored to have joint coordination and clear communication before this classroom experience.”
Police said the school district contacted the department about the demonstration in April — and that a similar presentation had been held last fall with the school’s science in society program.
According to Elek, school officials had been aware that a reenactment of a gunshot-related crime would occur, but they “didn’t realize the presentation would happen without warning.”
The police, however, challenged this claim, writing in Wednesday’s statement that school and police staff had communicated about the details of the scenario and had confirmed the incident would involve using fake firearms in a mock shooting.
Police released portions of emails between department and school officials making clear that the demonstration would include “fake firearms in a mock shooting.”
“Do you think that sort of incident would be ok for your group of students? It is about as real life as you can get, and is certainly exactly the sort of thing we deal with most frequently,” police officials wrote, according to their account.
School staff responded by saying they thought students “will be fine with this simulation” and that they would alert students and parents in advance, according to police.
The incident was first brought to light in a social media post Wednesday night. Burlington police said in the statement that the post was made by someone “not in attendance” at the demonstration but “who may have known someone who attended and was reportedly upset.”
The Burlington Police Department said it would meet with students and staff on Friday “to discuss the presentation and its impact. We hope that this can be a reflective growth opportunity for all parties.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Burlington police’s mock shooting exercise rattles high school students.