UNCC police chief: 'Our officers definitely saved lives'

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The shooting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte was the kind of emergency that no one wants to go through, but it's one that UNCC police and campus staff have trained for over the years.

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The emergency response seen Tuesday when officials said Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, opened fire on students during the last day of classes, killing two people and wounding four others, was all that training paying off.

[CLICK HERE for Tuesday's minute-by-minute coverage of the shooting at UNCC]

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Chopper 9 Skyzoom was overhead minutes after the shooting as officers rushed toward the shooter and sounds of screaming students.

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UNCC police Chief Jeff Baker told Channel 9 there were 14 officers about to go over their security plan for a concert at the university later that day when the call came in and everyone on the force darted to the Kennedy building.

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"I want to say it was minutes it seemed. I came in behind them. We were actually in a roll call for an event that was going on on campus. We had just broken from that. We were en route to that, so when we heard this call come out we all converged almost immediately," said Baker.

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According to Baker, one of his officers was able to quickly disarm Terrell and take him down.

“Our officers definitely saved lives,” Baker said. “There’s no doubt about that.”

Baker said there's no question that officers saved lives and attributes a big part of that to the training they've been working on for years.

“What I'm most proud of is the response,” CMPD Chief Kerr Putney said. “The training worked. It was immediate. They were there quickly.”

In addition to the officers’ training, the university invested in technology that made it possible to send a campus-wide warning almost immediately on Twitter.

Cox Media Group