'Gunmen' attack students on campus in anti-terror exercise

An "injured" student being stretchered off by personnel from the Singapore Civil Defence Force yesterday. A "gunman" taking down students who were attending a campus concert, during an emergency preparedness exercise at Republic Polytechnic yesterday
A "gunman" taking down students who were attending a campus concert, during an emergency preparedness exercise at Republic Polytechnic yesterday. ST PHOTOS: TIMOTHY DAVID
An "injured" student being stretchered off by personnel from the Singapore Civil Defence Force yesterday. A "gunman" taking down students who were attending a campus concert, during an emergency preparedness exercise at Republic Polytechnic yesterday
An "injured" student being stretchered off by personnel from the Singapore Civil Defence Force yesterday. ST PHOTOS: TIMOTHY DAVID

A group of Republic Polytechnic (RP) students were dancing and clapping to the beat at a campus concert before their cheers turned into bloodcurdling screams when four "gunmen" stormed into the venue and fired at them.

Five students and four security personnel were "killed", while five others were "injured" during the mock terror attack yesterday.

The rest of the 193 students at the concert escaped the gunmen's fire and fled from the campus lawn to hide. The polytechnic in Woodlands went into a "lockdown".

Within minutes, eight officers from the Singapore Police Force (SPF) arrived at the scene, took three of the assailants down and arrested the last one.

The shooting was a simulated terror attack called Exercise Heartbeat, which is part of SGSecure's efforts to enhance the community's emergency preparedness in any public place. This exercise, which lasted about 15 minutes, is also the first to be conducted in a concert setting and held a few days before RP's annual student-led music festival, which will start on Friday.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs Amrin Amin, who observed the "shootout", said the exercise was targeted at young people as it was held in a school setting. "Exercises like this bring out a sense of overwhelming crisis… we need to do this so our young people are sensitised and take additional steps to equip themselves with knowledge and emergency preparedness," he added on the sidelines of the exercise.

This was the fourth exercise held this year. The others were in Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital last month, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport in May and 313@Somerset in January.

The exercise was jointly organised by SPF and RP, and supported by the Singapore Civil Defence Force, SMRT Buses and Wee Chwee Huat (WCH) Scaffolding and Construction.

As WCH Scaffolding and Construction is part of the Safety and Security Watch Group within the Woodlands East Neighbourhood Police Centre, five of its staff were deployed to RP to administer first aid to the "injured", while trained RP students also helped them.

As part of the exercise, a video was shown of SMRT bus drivers being directed to divert their routes away from the polytechnic.

Since 2016, RP has been conducting training and education, such as first-aid courses, for its students and staff to familiarise them with emergency procedures.

Second-year student Cecilia Lui, 18, who played an injured concertgoer in the exercise, said her first-aid training would help her react in an actual attack.

"If I were trapped in a room with an injured person, I would know what material to use to stop the bleeding. If I were escaping from the attackers, I would tell others to run away with me," said the infocomm student.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 24, 2019, with the headline 'Gunmen' attack students on campus in anti-terror exercise. Subscribe