On Wednesday, November 4, twenty-two (22) seniors in the Crime Scene II course investigated a mock crime from 11 pm - 2 am. This scene modeled a police involved shooting at the crime scene training complex on the Evansdale campus. The road behind the complex was blocked off to all traffic for the night to simulate a real crime scene. University Police also added an aura of realism by establishing a perimeter around the crime scene and providing a cruiser with lights activated during the training exercise.
The night began when the four team leaders were debriefed by Professor Robert O’Brien at 10:30 pm. Team leaders discussed the plan of action with each other and subsequently informed their teams about the plan. Students searched the area for any evidence relevant to the scene.
Students took photographs, collected evidence, processed items for fingerprints, and completed the shooting reconstruction. Zack Weadock, a team leader, gave his opinion on the mock scene. “It was so well done and lifelike that there were times I had to remind myself it was all staged for our class.”
In class the next morning, students evaluated the evidence collected and proposed theories in order to establish the sequence of events that occurred the night of the shooting.
Professor O'Brien stated, “The students did a great job of utilizing their classroom training to employ physical methods and optical projection methods to establish several trajectories at the crime scene. This incident involved multiple crime scenes with the students delegating their time and resources extremely well. This is just another great example of how our program prepares our forensic students for real life situations.”