In the wake of recent public shooting incidents across the United States, Chula Vista residents will have the opportunity to learn about how to remain safe in the middle of such incidents.
On Monday, April 16, the Chula Vista Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) will hold an informational session which will cover safety, first aid, and other potentially life-saving practices to be mindful of in the middle of an active shooter scenario.
The informational session, to be held at the City Council’s chambers, will feature a presentation by Chula Vista Police Department officers about how to stay safe in the middle of an active shooter scenario and a presentation by the Chula Vista Fire Department’s Emergency Medical Services team on the roles and responsibilities that several first responder agencies have in the middle of emergencies.
This is the third informational event held by CERT, with two of these events being held last year, one in during the summer months and the second one in December.
Hugo Bermudez, Chula Vista CERT team program manager, pointed out that such informational sessions are necessary as shootings continue to occur around the country.
“We’re going to be seeing more and more of these (shooting incidents), it is not something that we are able to prevent in my opinion but I do believe there is a lot we can do to teach folks how to prepare themselves and respond in this type of situations,” he said.
The recurring nature of active shooter incidents has lead CERT to consider offering a more informational sessions after seeing the great community response during their first workshop.
“We found that it was even more essential now to get folks on board to understand what they need to do in an active shooter situation,” Bermudez shared. “We have gotten calls from people asking us what they should do and organizing this second event was an appropriate response.”
Chula Vista CERT is planning on hosting another active shooter program in this fall season.
As of the time of publication, there have been 89 mass shooting incidents in the United States, yielding 145 casualties and 289 injured civilians.
