McALLEN — A TK-4 tactical SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) vehicle and a SWAT personnel transportation vehicle were parked outside of Sharyland ISD’s Donna Wernecke Elementary School Tuesday morning.
Inside the school near the entrance, just past two SafeCheck Infrared Thermal Walk-Thru Body Temp Detectors, five McAllen police officers were decked in black tactical gear, their faces obscured by neck gaiter face masks, and carried rifles strapped to their chests.
Just past 10:30 a.m., an air horn — used to signify gunfire — sounded from inside a classroom, and soon the tactical team made their way down the hallway toward the room’s doorway in stack formation with their rifles drawn.
“Breacher, breacher,” one of the officers said once outside the classroom.
One of the officers opened the door and three of the officers rushed in.
The officers called out to the man portraying an active shooter while two of the other officers set up a perimeter outside the classroom.
“Police! Stand up! Turn Around! Get down on your knees! Hands over your head! Don’t Move!”
The apprehension of the pretend gunman marked the conclusion of one of two demonstrations put on by the McAllen Police Department Emergency Services Unit (ESU), otherwise known as McAllen police’s SWAT unit.
The ESU’s four teams spent the day training inside the elementary school. Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said that the training is something that the department does on a regular basis at schools, theaters and retail spaces to help familiarize his unit for real life emergency situations.
“What you’re seeing today is a very simple exercise on our part,” Rodriguez said. “I think the important thing to understand as we go forward is that by the time a tactical team is on here doing something like this, a lot of work has gone into giving them the green light to proceed.”
“A tactical team doesn’t necessarily just come up here like this and do this,” he continued. “Remember, this is the deadliest police officer we have on the squad anywhere, in any police agency.”
The tactical team is only deployed when there is a confirmed threat at a particular location. The chief said that the outcome of the particular threat is dependent on how the individual posing the threat responds to the unit.
“If we go in there and breach a room, and the person lifts a rifle or a gun or something like that, he’s going to be shot at,” Rodriguez said. “If a person — like the type when we stormed that room — puts his hands up, then we’re going to walk away with him and nobody is going to get hurt. The outcome is always going to be contingent on the actors — the bad actor’s conduct.”
There are currently 28 active members on the unit, but that number is expected to go up to 32 in the near future. Rodriguez said that each member was selected to be a part of the unit based on their desire to do their job. He described the position as something that each member must want to do due to the long hours and difficult training.
Rodriguez said that this type of training is typically done in the early morning hours of the day when there is less of a chance of the unit being seen by the public. The chief said that in an emergency situation, the unit will only be called if a tactical end is deemed necessary.
“That’s how we choose to train,” Rodriguez said. “We recognize that Uvalde may have our communities nervous at this point in time. We recognize that. We also understand that the school year is around the corner. Hopefully, by virtue of allowing this information to get out today, we’re able to communicate to our communities that we are working with our school districts in the best way that we can.”
McAllen police works not only with McAllen ISD when it comes to its tactical training, but also Edinburg CISD, Sharyland ISD, IDEA Public Schools, South Texas College, and local Catholic schools.
Rodriguez said that training at different schools helps the unit gain familiarity with the types of doors, walls, and classroom layouts that make up the schools — a familiarity that could save lives in an actual emergency situation.
“Our takeaway is understanding the construction, understanding how doors work, understanding how rooms are interconnected, and understanding where windows are at,” Rodriguez said. “That’s the plus for us. When we walk away from here, we walk away with that information — at whatever facility we are.”
“I cannot tell you we’ve been at every school, but we think that most schools are constructed the same,” he continued. “Today we learned that there are schools with jack and jills (two classrooms that are connected through a shared restroom or common room). We need to know that if we’re going to go into a situation like this.”
Rodriguez described Tuesday’s training as beneficial to both his department and Sharyland ISD. Superintendent María M. Vidaurri said in a statement that the district and its board of trustees are committed to the safety of its students and staff.
“SISD continues to work collaboratively with local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to constantly adjust and improve safety protocols,” the statement read. “This morning our Executive Director of Facilities and Risk Management, Mark Dougherty, helped coordinate a tactical training at Donna Wernecke Elementary lead and conducted by the City of McAllen Police Department. We greatly appreciate the support of McAllen PD and the City of McAllen for this proactive safety initiative, as safety is a priority and complete team effort.”
