Southaven officers trained on active shooter situation just 2 weeks before subduing one at Walmart

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (WMC) - An active shooter training two weeks prior saved lives during a shooting at Walmart, according to Southaven Police Chief Macon Moore.

Southaven Police and Fire Departments participated in an active shooting training from July 17 to 19 at Southaven Elementary School.

“What we do is we set up to where the first responders go in and we have to assess the whole situation,” Southaven Deputy Chief Mark Little told DeSoto Times-Tribune. “The biggest thing is to be sure that everybody’s safe, be sure that we get the EMS personnel in safely so they can assess the wounded, they can triage while they’re on site and we can move the walking wounded out and the ones that aren’t injured.”

The training happened at a key time for Southaven officers. On Tuesday, police say a disgruntled Walmart employee shot and killed two employees.

Officers arrived to find the suspect in the parking lot. That suspect shot one officer, who survived with the help of his bulletproof vest.

A second officer returned fire, hitting the suspect twice. That suspect is in custody at the hospital.

Moore says the training by his officers helped prevent more deaths from this situation.

“Our police really showed their guts today,” said Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite. “If it hadn’t have been for their efforts, there would’ve been more lives lost.”

*Editor’s note: Authorities previously said Martez Abram was a former Walmart employee. He was in fact still employed but suspended at the time of the shooting.

Copyright 2019 WMC. All rights reserved.