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Yonkers police invaded the Riverdale Avenue building with wooden guns, while paramedics from Empress Emergency Services and city firefighters were on standby to treat some 21 “victims” of the attack.
The morning drill was part of an “active shooter” training exercise, a run-through of procedures for emergency responders and medical personnel to prepare in the event of an actual attack.
“Unfortunately in this day and age these instances do occur,” said Nicholas DeRobertis, medical director at St. Joseph’s Hospital. “The only that we are prepared for it is to train as a group.”
The scene unfolded like this: a distraught man with a handgun shot two children outside the Riverdale Avenue YMCA. He entered the building, shooting a staff member in the lobby and firing his weapon at several children.
After receiving reports of the incident, patrol officers and members of the police department’s Emergency Services Unit stormed the building, taking down the attacker. Shortly after, paramedics and firefighters rushed in, treating the victims and taking them by ambulance to nearby St. Joseph’s hospital.
Once the “victims,” played by teenage volunteers, reached the hospital, medical personnel rushed them to treatment in the emergency room. Outside, firefighters set up inflatable tents where overflow patients would be treated.
For Yonkers police, it was the third active shooter exercise they have performed this year. Paid for with a federal grant from the Department of Homeland Security, over 100 city police officers have been trained in various shooter scenarios.
That’s important, Police Commissioner Charles Gardner said, because unlike in the past, when patrol officers would wait for a tactical response team in similar situations, officers are now expected to immediately enter the building to confront a threat.
“It’s an opportunity for us to practice our active shooter response and it gives us an opportunity to expand on our training,” Gardner said.
While hospital staff and emergency personnel receive regularly training, officials said there is no substitute for the hands-on approach.
“Reading in protocol call book and doing it are two different things,” DeRobertis said.
Wednesday's exercise also gave the various agencies an opportunity to coordinate and work with one another in a drill as they would in an actual emergency situation.
After it was over, officials said they would review the results of the exercise, noting potential areas for improvement or any perceived weaknesses in their response.
"It's like a checklist, to make sure everything is in place for what we need," DeRobertis said.
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