By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Hillsboro police gave county employees quite a fright Friday when they roamed the halls of the courthouse firing a rifle and sending workers scrambling for safety.

The incident was an active-shooter training to teach employees how to protect themselves in case a gunman entered the building.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve been here to the courthouse, but there are a lot of new employees,” Hillsboro Police Chief Jessey Hiebert said. “I think the veteran employees helped the newer employees with things like, ‘this is where we hide.’”

Officer David Funk fired a .223 caliber rifle on every floor of the building, starting in the basement and working his way up to the courtroom floor.

“It’s a very loud firearm,” Hiebert said. “When you want to hear the gun go off in a three-story building, you need something loud.”

He noted he was impressed with how all employees reacted, tucking themselves into vaults if they had them in their offices and taking other actions to protect themselves and each other.

“People like to say that men are better at responding to crisis situations, but I disagree with that because they were all good at it,” Hiebert said.

Hiebert said county employees told him their hearts were pounding when they were confronted by Funk.

“We want to get them to that level of stress where they still function, and they did,” Hiebert said.

He recommends employees take what he taught them and learn more on their own.

“Sadly, not a lot of people do that,” he said. “We can take every measure to make sure we are safe and our loved ones are safe.”