TROY, N.Y. – An active shooter training drill was held at Troy High School on Friday. The exercise was the first of its kind for Rensselaer County schools. The Troy Police Department, the Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police and a number of other agencies participated.

The goal of the exercise was to allow teachers, faculty and emergency personnel the opportunity to practice what to do if an active shooter is ever inside a school. The drill comes weeks after 17 people were killed by a gunman inside a Florida high school, but Troy Police say planning for this exercise began last summer.

“This whole thing is about saving life and that’s what we’re trying to do. We want to be prepared to, if God forbid anything like this did happen., we'd be prepared and be able to save as many lives as we could,” said Assistant Chief Daniel DeWolf of the Troy Police Department.

“It’s an exercise for us as a school district to practice our safety plan but also an exercise for Troy police to practice all their response protocols,” said Troy City School District Superintendent John Carmello.

Students throughout the school district did not have classes on Friday, and they did not participate in the drill.