Officers from Centre, Cedar Bluff, Leesburg and Rainsville Police along with assistance from Cherokee EMS, the Cherokee County Rescue Squad, Centre Fire Department Cherokee County EMA and the Cherokee County Coroners Office conducted a full scale active shooter drill at the Cherokee County Health & Rehab Center on Wednesday afternoon.

According to Corporal Matt Peek with the Centre Police Department it’s been quite a few years since a training exercise of this magnitude has been conducted in Cherokee County and Peek says this will hopefully become something that’s done locally on a regular basis in the future – because in times of emergency, all first responders need to be at the top of their game, and training is a big part of reaching, and maintaining, that level.

Centre Police Chief Kirk Blankenship offered his thanks to the staff and management at Cherokee Health and Rehab for volunteering to host the training and said that this is something that has been needed for quite sometime.

Chief Blankenship said that Corporal Peek has been coordinating the scenario with the nursing home staff and other emergency services for approximately four months and he walked us through that scenario as it unfolded during the training.