{"id":201185,"date":"2026-03-12T10:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T10:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/201185\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T10:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T10:16:14","slug":"texas-firm-pitches-drone-response-to-school-shootings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/201185\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas firm pitches drone response to school shootings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

BOERNE \u2014 On an overcast day in Central Texas, drones buzzed through the halls of an otherwise quiet Champion High School. In place of students, who were still on winter break, the school was filled with law enforcement officials \u2014 police officers, sheriffs, state troopers, first responders and even federal officials who gathered to take part in emergency response training with a new technology aimed at preventing mass shootings.<\/p>\n

In drills led by Campus Guardian Angel, an Austin-based tech company, first responders participated in a hypothetical exercise to stop an active shooter. Remotely piloted drones flew up to 50 mph indoors, scouting for threats, delivering medical supplies to \u201cinjured\u201d actors, or distracting and incapacitating a potential shooter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The drones can distract with blinding lights and loud sirens, shoot powdered bullets or even fly into a target fast enough to knock a punching dummy to the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Campus Guardian Angel hopes its drones, if dispatched at the right time, could stop a school shooting before it starts.<\/p>\n

The company has demonstrated its technology 25 times across the country, about half at schools in Texas. Two Texas school districts, Boerne ISD and Spring Branch ISD, have indicated they plan to install the drones but are waiting for funds to purchase the system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Running the program costs about $8 per student each month, which includes installation of the hardware on campus, a company spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas school districts have begun raising money to install the drones. Parents from Spring Branch ISD, for instance, established<\/a> a committee to raise $500,000 to launch a pilot program at two campuses. It\u2019s unclear if they\u2019ve reached their goal. A spokesperson for the district directed The Texas Tribune to a statement<\/a> detailing some of its efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo district-wide deployment is being proposed at this stage,\u201d the statement says. \u201cThe goal is to gather data, evaluate effectiveness, and determine whether the concept has value before any further consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campus Guardian Angel\u2019s system is being installed in three schools in Florida and is expected to be live by the end of March.<\/p>\n

\"\"Campus Guardian Angel pilot Mason \u201cHyper\u201d Lively pilots a drone during a demonstration of the company\u2019s proposed on-site safety response capability aimed to respond to active shooters in schools, at Champion High School in Boerne on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"\"A drone deploys out of a lock box during a demonstration of Campus Guardian Angel\u2019s on-site safety response capability aimed to respond to active shooters in schools, at Champion High School. The box is designed to secure the drones while keeping the equipment charged wirelessly in the event of an emergency response. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"\"Drones search room to room for a target during a demonstration of Campus Guardian Angel. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"\"Campus Guardian Angel\u2019s Director of Tactical Operations Khristof Oborski shows the homepage of the company\u2019s app under development at their headquarters in Austin. The app allows teachers and school staff to alert the company of a potential emergency. Operations staff can then investigate and alert first responders while simultaneously activating their drones. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"\"Live video feed from a drone showcases the hypothetical surrender of an active shooter during a demonstration of Campus Guardian Angel at Champion High School in Boerne. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"\"Tactical Operations Center team members take part in an emergency response exercise at the company\u2019s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"\"Nikolas Schieder, a Tactical Operations Command (TOC) team member with Campus Guardian Angel, maps out a projected route to a simulated threat while conducting a virtual emergency response exercise at the company\u2019s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"\"The TOC monitors different information feeds in the event of an active shooter emergency and can relay information to remote-drone pilots in real time to help them better neutralize potential threats. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"\"A view of the software Campus Guardian Angel uses to monitor data feeds and respond to emergencies in the case of an active shooter, seen at the company\u2019s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"\"A drone with a glass-breaking tool in a research and development lab at the company\u2019s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

\"\"Drones built to specification in the drone racing league sit on a workbench at Campus Guardian Angel\u2019s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.\u00a0 Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n

Slow-motion video shows a drone attacking a boxing dummy during a demonstration of Campus Guardian Angel\u2019s safety response capability at the company\u2019s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,437,26123,7913,30311,6588],"class_list":["post-201185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-economic-development","tag-photo-gallery","tag-photography","tag-public-schools","tag-well-c-homepage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}