North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre in Chula Vista conducts large-scale mass casualty attack response drill

CHULA VISTA (KUSI) – Agencies throughout the county staged two terrorist attack drills today.  The exercise takes place every other year, but this time, the idea was to really stretch resources.

A sign of the times:  A large venue, thousands of people, multiple terrorists.  But what is also a sign of the times is the reality that terrorists have attacked more than one location in a coordinated effort, which is what we’ve seen in Europe.  More on that in a moment.

Here at the North Island Credit Union Amphitheater in Chula Vista, the scenario was  a van plowing into a crowd of concert-goers, then the armed terrorists shooting their way into the venue and taking hostages. Police and firefighters from all over the area are responding, but as we mentioned earlier, there were two locations.  The other:  Legoland in Carlsbad.  The idea:  Agencies need to be cautious.  You can’t send all of your resources to the first attack.

Dan Peak is a lieutenant with the Chula Vista Police Department.  “We want to make sure we’re as prepared as we can be throughout the county,  that we can respond to multiple events.  The scenario was  the van and hostages.  But then, you have the same group of terrorists up in Carlsbad with an active shooter event.”

Both scenarios included volunteers playing the victims.  They included local college students.  Much of the focus over several hours was about communication– again, many departments, including fire and paramedic first responders. Making the coordination of taking down the bad guys while saving as many lives as possible as smooth as possible, considering the chaotic situation.