Photos: Texas company pitches drone response to school shootings
Texas Tribune
Eli Hartman
(Eli Hartman For The Texas Tribune, Eli Hartman For The Texas Tribune)
BOERNE — 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 — 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.
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 “injured” actors, or distracting and incapacitating a potential shooter.
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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.
Campus Guardian Angel hopes its drones, if dispatched at the right time, could stop a school shooting before it starts.
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.
Running the program costs about $8 per student each month, which includes installation of the hardware on campus, a company spokesperson said.
Texas school districts have begun raising money to install the drones. Parents from Spring Branch ISD, for instance, established a committee to raise $500,000 to launch a pilot program at two campuses. It’s unclear if they’ve reached their goal. A spokesperson for the district directed The Texas Tribune to a statement detailing some of its efforts.
“No district-wide deployment is being proposed at this stage,” the statement says. “The goal is to gather data, evaluate effectiveness, and determine whether the concept has value before any further consideration.”
Campus Guardian Angel’s system is being installed in three schools in Florida and is expected to be live by the end of March.
Campus Guardian Angel pilot Mason “Hyper” Lively pilots a drone during a demonstration of the company’s 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
A drone deploys out of a lock box during a demonstration of Campus Guardian Angel’s 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
Drones search room to room for a target during a demonstration of Campus Guardian Angel. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune
Campus Guardian Angel’s Director of Tactical Operations Khristof Oborski shows the homepage of the company’s 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
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
Tactical Operations Center team members take part in an emergency response exercise at the company’s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune
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’s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune
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
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’s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune
A drone with a glass-breaking tool in a research and development lab at the company’s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune
Drones built to specification in the drone racing league sit on a workbench at Campus Guardian Angel’s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. Eli Hartman for The Texas Tribune
Slow-motion video shows a drone attacking a boxing dummy during a demonstration of Campus Guardian Angel’s safety response capability at the company’s headquarters in Austin on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.
