SAN ANTONIO -- Days after a mass shooting at a school in Florida, a local church hosted an active shooter training led by the Austin Police Department.

St. Albert The Great Catholic Church along with the Austin Police Department are teaching them ways to survive an active shooter.

Father Matt said that the training is a way to keep his congregation safe.

"It is important for people not only to get information that might be helpful for them to protect themselves and to protect their community," Father Matt said.

Hundreds registered to attend the event planned months in advance. Officer Frank Creasey said many who attended registered after the Parkland, Florida school shooting.

"We were already planning on this training we already had probably 150 people registered prior to Wednesdays event," Creasey said. "Unfortunately Wednesday increased the interest in this event and so the numbers have grown very big."

The Austin Police Department teaches civilian response to an active shooter event, what they call CRASE Training.

"Our goal is to make people more aware of their surroundings when they go somewhere," Creasey said. "A mall, a business office, a bank."

As these tragedies become the new normal, Austin Police said treat the threat of an active shooter as you would any other emergency.

"Why do we have fire drills? Well because we know if we have fires we're giving ourselves an option to go another direction away from the fire. The same concept here," Creasey said.

Church leaders say it isn't enough to be ready for active shooters. They're committed to using their values to help end these tragedies for good.

"Each person is created in his image and so there is value to life and we must be taught to respect life," Father Matt said. 

Father Matt said he plans on creating an active shooter emergency plan for St. Albert’s using the training from Austin police.