New Airsoft Training Helps Kansas City Police

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City police said SWAT training helped them handle Monday's incident in which a man called and threatened to shoot everyone inside a local Walmart.

The Police Department said the airsoft training was thanks to a donation by an area business owner. The business owner, Brent Lambi, was given a certificate of appreciation. Thanks to a $10,000 donation, the department was able to purchase 36 Airsoft guns and 70 training weapons.

At a Police Board meeting on Tuesday morning, officials acknowledged how updated airsoft training helped them to better handle gunmen in heavily populated areas,

Situations like the Ward Parkway shooting spree in 2007 sparked the idea for the training. When an officer went outside of his normal training to stop a gunman at the Ward Parkway shooting, police said it changed the way they did things and sparked a new shooting course.

Officers said it paid off on Monday when there was the potential for another violent incident after a man threatened everyone inside the Northland Walmart. Police did not find a gunman at the store, but they were prepared becuase of the airsoft guns and training they had.