SEGUIN, Texas - The Seguin Police Department hosted the Civilian Response to Active Shooter Event training session Wednesday. Police said the public needs to be prepared to act quickly and intelligently in a mass attack situation before law enforcement arrives.

  • Seguin residents learn what to do in an active shooter situation
  • Participants are provided with an action plan for a mass attack situation 
  • Another class is available on October 27

Guadalupe County resident Danna Kurzmann said she'll take what she learned in the class and apply it in her everyday life.

"We’re prey. We need to remember that we’re not just walking complacently blindly through world. We need to be aggressive and it’s OK to defend yourself," Kurzmann said.

She said her church in Marion took action recently by creating a "Safety Team" which she's a part of.

"We want to make sure that the congregation is safe, we have a secure place to worship. We need to be ready to be able to have our safety team in certain key areas to be able to move the masses out quickly enough so that lessens the amount of damage done to us that folks get out safely and nobody gets hurt," Kurzmann said.

Seguin police used the acronym A-D-D" to give citizens a plan of action in mass attack situations. It stands for Avoid, Deny, Defend.

"Get out of there, deny them the access, lock the doors, barricade. Then when it comes down to it, defend yourself. Don’t be afraid. You have the right. Get angry. Defend yourself," Kurzmann said.

While Seguin hasn't experienced this type of attack, police said they've trained for it.

"Every month we're doing some sort of in-service training because we want our officers to be prepared. Now we want to push that out to our community and have our community be prepared as well," Sergeant Marcos Martinez said.

Seguin police said Wednesday’s class was completely full so there will be another class offered to the community on October 27.

"The need has been there. We look at anywhere through the last several years, active events have continued on and on. With this class, we give our citizens in our community the tools that they need to protect themselves and how to respond in these situations," Martinez said.