The controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio enlists action film star Steven Seagal and other members of the Maricopa County SWAT division to train armed volunteers on how to respond to school shootings.
The exercise is scheduled for Saturday at 2:30 pm and volunteers will learn how to handle four different shooting scenarios as well as room entry tactics and hand-to-hand combat, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
The training event will involve six instructors leading 40 volunteers, about 25 teens, ages 14 to 18, have volunteered to act as students, and SWAT deputies will pose as shooters, Reuters reported. The armed volunteers will use semi-auto rifles and handguns fitted for training purposes, i.e. simunitions. And will take place at a campus in Fountain Hills, a suburb of Phoenix.
Seagal, who reportedly lives in the area and is a member of Arpaio’s posse, will lead the exercise. Besides starring in films such as “Marked for Death”, “Half Past Dead” and his most recent hit “Machete”, he has a 7th degree black belt in Aikido, and is also a sworn police officer. He was a reserve deputy for Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department in Louisiana, as seen in the show “Steven Seagal: Lawman,” and was deputized in Hudspeth County, Texas, in 2011.
While we can’t say for sure what techniques and tactics Seagal will teach the volunteers, it’ll probably entail a little of this (we hope):
Seagal and Arpaio have worked together before though. In March 2011 Seagal tagged along with a Maricopa SWAT team — caught on camera of course — in armored vehicles to infiltrate a farm operated by a man who allegedly raised chickens for cockfighting.
This event comes as a response to the Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut last year. While there will be 40 volunteers attending, over the years Arpaio has gathered 3,450 volunteers to join his posse to help the sheriff’s department target drunk drivers, illegal immigrants and chase down parents behind on child support.
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