Clovis Unified school bus drivers train to take down gunman

CLOVIS, Calif (KFSN) -- In just a few days students at Clovis Unified will be heading out to their school bus stops for the first day of class. On Thursday, district officials brought in new training for bus drivers. They were taught skills to protect them and children from an armed suspect.

The school bus drivers are preparing for the worst -- a dangerous gunman hijacking their bus. The drivers learned tactics to get the gun out of the suspect's hands as fast as possible.

On average, bus drivers at Clovis Unified drive 100 miles a day, sometimes with more than 70 children on board. Jeff May, owner of APEX SCF which provides the training, said, "Now, after today they have options and tools on how to protect and save the lives of their children."

Clovis Unified's Transportation Director, Charlie Ott, said, "When I saw the training at a national show I realized we could be potential victims of a similar circumstance. I hope we never are. I pray we never are, but it's possible."

Clovis Unified officials say it's better to be proactive than reactive. On Thursday, the bus drivers learned tactics to take gun away from a suspect. They also learned techniques to bring a gunman down while driving the bus. Whipping the wheel and slamming on the breaks.

Tom Carroll, APEX SCF, demonstrated for us the tactics. He explained, "We're going to barely move here at just a couple miles an hour but you can see how violent that can quickly become."

Clovis Unified bus driver Scott Gardner said, "It was great. Great learning experience and real exciting, to hopefully combat an assertive individual that needs to be taken care of."

All 150 of Clovis Unified's bus drivers and substitute drivers got the day-long training. They hope to never use it but if an emergency situation like this happens, they hope the drivers will be able to protect themselves and students to prevent tragedy.