Blog: KPD News & Alerts

Area Agencies to Hold Active Shooter Training Exercise at West Town Mall on Sunday, September 25

Several area first response agencies will participate in a collaborative active shooter training exercise at the West Town Mall on Sunday, September 25. The Knoxville Police Department, Knoxville Fire Department, University of Tennessee Police Department, Rural Metro Fire, Knox County 9-1-1 and American Medical Response (AMR) are scheduled to take part in the exercise, which is closed to the public.

The exercise will not begin until after the mall closes at 6 p.m. In preparation for the exercise, officers will begin closing the JCPenney parking lot area at around 6 p.m. Traffic will still be allowed in and out of the parking lot as needed until 7 p.m., when a hard closure will go into effect. Traffic will not be impacted on any nearby roadways.

The training exercise, which will begin between 7 and 7:30 p.m., will use approximately half of the mall, including the mall entrance between JCPenney and the Cheesecake Factory.

Residents and visitors are advised that they will see a large presence of emergency response vehicles and personnel taking part in real-life training scenarios at the West Town Mall throughout Sunday evening.

The University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) will also be an active participant in the exercise. Visitors at the medical center should expect to see increased activity related to the active shooter training around UTMC’s Emergency Department throughout the exercise.

In the event of an actual on-going critical incident, notifications will be made to the public in a timely and appropriate manner.

The exercise is expected to finish at around 11 p.m.

Posted by serland On 21 September, 2022 at 9:22 AM