Texas company touts drones for active shooter response at schools

Flying to the rescue: Texas company touts drones for active shooter response at schools

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Bianca Rodriguez-Mora

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Dallas Morning News

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July 14, 2025

Drones buzzed through the hallways and corridors of Lancaster Middle School on Monday. The three drones, swirling up and down the staircases in the entrance at about 50 miles per hour, weren’t about fun, but safety during active shooter events.

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Austin-based company Campus Guardian Angel demonstrated its active shooter emergency response drones Monday at Lancaster. Campus Guardian Angel CEO Justin Marston said at the demo on Monday that the point of the drone is to distract, keeping the assailant occupied while law enforcement is on the way. Marston said that if the assailant is too busy trying to shoot down the drone, they will spend less time harming people and potentially taking human lives.

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“The thing is, we get shot, we don’t care. We’re just a lump of plastic, so we’re prepared to take any risk that’s necessary.”

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-Justin Marston, CEO, Campus Guardian Angel

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Marston said each drone plays a different role in confronting an assailant. One drone may locate and track every move of the assailant, while another will distract and delay their actions. Each drone is controlled by trained drone pilots. The drones are armed with less-than-lethal pepper balls, designed to disarm the assailant temporarily until law enforcement arrives. They are also equipped with a “punch” that can break through glass if needed to reach an assailant.

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Once law enforcement arrives on the scene, the drones can help them navigate through a school they may not be familiar with, cutting down the time required to locate an assailant and ensuring the safety of responding officers.

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“As far as I’m concerned, we’ve got to protect the children. We have to be able to disrupt intruders. We saw what happened in Uvalde. School resource officers were hesitant to go into that room, and so what you’ve got to recognize is, there’s a danger for them also, but they are there on the front line.”

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-State Senator Royce West (D-Dallas)

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