San Diego Police and San Diego Fire-Rescue Departments held a joint tactical active shooter exercise to educate members of the Building Owners & Managers Association (BOMA).

Training for the worst case scenario Saturday, San Diego police led a large scale active shooter simulation.

Dozens of first responders participated at a Mission Valley office complex. They role played using volunteers from the Building Owners & Managers Association (BOMA). The property management professionals from commercial buildings across the county, received special effects makeup to apply fake bullet wounds on their bodies as if they were victims of a mass shooting.

“There are a couple of people that will just be wounded, but for us, we don’t make it,” said Carsyn Arvan who was assigned to play dead in the practice drill along with her friend Sigourney Logan. Both of them are in the process of applying to the police academy in hopes of serving actual shooting victims in the future.

“It’s not something that’s easy…it’s never going to be easy for anybody…what they go through is so terrible…the least I can do is put myself in the position to help them and protect them.” 

They and the other volunteers are learning strategies to survive in a crisis situation. Teresa Henning is chairperson of the BOMA San Diego’s Emergency Preparedness Committee. She has learned the run, hide, fight strategy.

“I see somebody, I’m going to run if I can. I will hide if I need to, and if I’m backed into a corner I will fight. You want to do that as a group,” Henning said.

First responders are included in the simulation to experience the feeling of tracking down a gunman.

“(It is) moments like this, and a training like this that allows us to work on things to build that connection, and that cooperation,” Lt. Travis Easter told NBC 7 during Saturday’s training.

The simulation concluded after a couple of hours when the role playing gunman survived and was then arrested.