Cops Used Target of Arab Man With AK-Style Rifle During School Shooter Drill

A target of a man wearing Middle Eastern clothing and holding an assault-style weapon was used in some North Carolina schools as part of a school shooter drill.

The Transylvania County Sheriff’s Office held active shooter training at Rosman Middle School and Rosman High School held active shooter training with using a target that appears to show a man wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh (checkered headscarf) and holding an AK-style rifle, according to a report published by WLOS ABC News 13 at the end of August.

“The training was for any kind of active threat, though school leaders know the threat of a gunman is what they're most worried about,” says reporter Kimberly King in the report as the shooting target is shown on screen. 

In a statement released Monday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, raised concerns about the “inaccurate and harmful use of the stereotypical image.”  

“The segment included footage of a law enforcement poster that depicted an Arab shooter despite the potential risk to Muslim and Arab-American students, as well as the fact that most mass shootings in the United States are not perpetrated by people of color,” the statement read. 

In an email to VICE News, Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney said the target was donated by a local gun range. 

“For the purpose of this scenario, our instructor needed a target that depicted a full size person holding a gun. The target seen in the video was the only target in the box that depicted that. It was not selected for any other reason,” Mahoney said. 

“I did not hear any comments from the participants that would indicate Islamophobia or that negative stereotypes were reinforced. That certainly was not our intention. With that said, I understand the concern shared, and for that, I apologize for any misunderstanding.”

VICE News has reached out to Rosman High School and will update this story with a response when we hear back. 

According to The Violence Project, the largest database of mass shootings (in which at least four people died) funded by the National Institute of Justice, no Middle Eastern shooters targeted K-12 schools between 1966 and 2021 and only one targeted a college or university in that same time period. Conversely, the data showed that 11 of 13 K-12 shooters were white, and three out of nine college or university shooters were white. 

As VICE News previously reported, the Violence Project’s research shows that K-12 mass shooters are often white males with a history of trauma while college and university mass shooters tend to be non-white males who are current students and have a history of trauma.  Shooters that target places of worship tend to be white men in their 40s, often motivated by hate.  

CAIR recommended that law enforcement use neutral target images and take cultural sensitivity training. 

Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR’s deputy executive director, said he participated in and conducted active shooter trainings as director of CAIR Georgia from 2016 to 2020 but has “never seen law enforcement officers or even private trainers use this sort of stereotypical, racist image.” 

But similar controversies have cropped up, with law enforcement agencies conducting training exercises featuring fake mosques or “enemies” dressed in clothing common in the Middle East. 

In June, a police department outside of Detroit apologized for using shooting targets of Black men wearing hoodies and backward baseball caps. The images were discovered while a group of Boy Scouts were touring the Farmington Hills Police Department.

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story named the incorrect sheriff’s department based on a letter sent by Council on American-Islamic Relations. Those references have been removed. VICE News regrets the error.