Police shot teachers with airsoft guns during active shooter drill: 'This is what happens if you just cower'

Indiana elementary school teachers were shot with pellet guns during an active shooter training drill in January, motivating the teacher's union to lobby for a legislative ban on the practice, according to the Indianapolis Star.

The White County Sheriff's Office was conducting a training at Meadowlawn Elementary School. Teachers who participated in the drill complained of welts and bleeding from the airsoft gun pellets.

"They told us, 'This is what happens if you just cower and do nothing,'" an unnamed teacher told the Star. "They shot all of us across our backs. I was it four times. It hurt so bad."

What do the officers say about it?

White County Sheriff Bill Brooks said the projectiles used were soft and round, and that teachers all knew there was a possibility they could be shot during the training.

"They all knew they could be," Brooks said. "It's a shooting exercise."

Brooks said the department stopped shooting teachers in the trainings after hearing complaints.

Legislative changes?

Republican state Rep. Wendy McNamara sponsored House Bill 1004, which requires that all schools have an active shooter drill once a year. The Indiana State Teachers Association is lobbying for language to be added specifically prohibiting teachers from being shot with anything during the drills.

"What we're looking for is just a simple statement in this bill that would prohibit the shooting of some type of projectile at staff in an active shooter drill," said Gail Zeheralis, the ISTA government relations director.

Sheriff Brooks thinks that is unnecessary.

"We don't need legislation in White County," Brooks said. "We're just not going to do it."