Surviving Active Shooter Attacks (ASA) “Are you in a SAFE Place or in the Morgue”, and Don't know it.

By Dave Young

When seconds count, decisions made can mean life or death.? That is not the time to ask yourself if I am doing the right thing.? There are many types of programs developed for identifying, preparing and responding to “Active-Shooter Attacks “ASA”.

These programs all have the same goal of managing the safety and increasing the survivability.? However, where these programs all differ, on a few levels, on when and how to prepare, what exactly to do and how it should all be done. Even though there is a fine line between reality and theory, theory will ALWAYS sound better but yield much different results.

We decided to have our program start at the beginning of the attack occurs meaning BEFORE the attacker(s) decides to be an Active Shooter. Not only talk about what will happen, because there are enough facts on that, but show what to do and more importantly how exactly to do it.? Identifying an active shooter starts with understanding the dynamics of how these attacks occur.? What identifies an at-risk person?? What are the common traits they share between all of the active shooter attacks currently on file with the Federal Bureau of Investigations and listed in their Uniform Crime Report?? What other organizations and credible references are on file in helping organizations understand exactly how these “ASA” occur.? Learning how these “ASA'' occur is the first step in preparing.

We have found these “ASA” start with a level of conflict not resolved within the workplace or organization.? Even though there will always be the spontaneous unplanned “ASA”.? The fact is if you have a plan in place to address and respond to the pre-planned active shooter attacks, when the spontaneous attacks occur, you will be on the same page, give or take a few changes, from when the “ASA” is on your property or when the first shot is identified.

We also need to take into consideration that response times are often misleading, not on purpose but in story lines.? Below is an example of the 7 time clocks we have identified, on the back of our framework card and solutions on preparing.

When does the Intruder Enters Property, and when can you Identify Threat?? If this is a former employee this could have been planned for months, maybe even thought about for years.? What is the staff evaluation process like? How are you monitoring staff and identifying at-risk behavior within your own organization?? Without having plans to identify at-risk behaviors, you will never see the attack coming.

The next series of questions are tough:

1. When is the first shot confirmed???
2. Who saw the shooter(s)?
3. Was it reported to them that someone heard a gunshot?
4. Are they reporting something they believe to be true?
5. How is your organization confirming these attacks???

If your plan starts before the intruder enters the property, this puts you ahead of the timeline not chasing it.??

Once you get the answers to those questions we initiate our plan.? The first tactic we recommend, from experience, and after close review of the statistics, is to Escape first.? Getting out of the kill zone keeps you safe and places you in the best position to start helping others. An escape plan has three parts, and provides you with the answer to three important questions:

1. How do I get out of the area I am in?
2. Where do I go once out?
3. What do I do when I get there?

Let's start to expand the first question above. Before you enter a location, there are a series of questions to ask.? What are my escape routes in this building?? What doors do I have to open, how do these doors open, inwards or outwards, and do I go left or right?? Do I have to run in an open or closed area?? How far is my assembly location from where I am?? Can I make it if I am injured? Do I understand how to provide immediate aid, self aid, first aid if needed??

Our second question is just as important.? Have I confirmed beforehand this is a safe place to go when I escape from the kill zone?? It is far from where I am now, am I escaping alone or with others?? Does this location provide me with protection from bullets, am I safe to render aid to myself or others when I get there?? Does this location give me the ability to see danger approaching, escape from and defend if needed??

Our last question is just as important as the other two.? Do I need to barricade this place? Are there weapons to defend myself? Can I call for help? Have I practiced with my escape team on their roles and responsibilities? Once I am out and safe, can I call the police and have I practiced what to say to ensure they are responding?

Have I practiced giving the 911 operator the important information? Giving them the location, situation and my name?? Was my call short, concise giving our location of the shooting, and where we are?? Then follow the 911 Operator? instructions completely.

If I am unable to escape, I have to ensure I select the BEST place to go to Barricade and be prepared to defend if needed.

There is a difference between the time of the actual attack identified and the response times reported and actual time on scene time documented to stop the threat.? For example, most statistics identify these “ASA” are over before the police arrive yet some of these plans have their people waiting inside their location for help to arrive.? These times could range from minutes after the attack started to 20 minutes into the attack before anyone is called. That’s a long time!

This is problematic and concerning, because tactics of hiding and waiting for help contradicts what the facts tell us we should do.? Some organizations are just now starting to see this.? Academics and theorists feel more comfortable with telling others to wait for help rather than stepping up and giving you the tools at hand to take action that is designed, and field proven, to save lives and increase their survivability of all staff, customers and visitors.

The goal for playing the game “Hide and Seek,” – is to hide and not be found.? The goal for “ASA” is to survive and you do this by “Escaping from Danger, and if you cannot Escape it, prepare to Barricade and Defend your life!”

According to some statistics, there has been more active shooter attacks stopped by the victims or with the attacker committing suicide then police arriving and stopping the threat.? My name is Dave Young and I am a Co-Founder of Vistelar, and Director of Training.? I have over 30 plus years of training and experience as a shoplifting agent catching shoplifters in Inglewood, Watts and Compton California, a corrections and law enforcement officer in the state of Florida and a Veteran of the United States Marine Corps who has worked with healthcare organizations? like Aurora, Advocate, Milwaukee Behavioral Health, Black Stone Security for Kaiser Permanente, Centercare, and have served around the world surviving my fair share of life-threatening encounters.? I have trained tens of thousands of professionals over these 30 plus years to identify, prepare and respond to life threatening attacks.

It wasn’t until 14 years ago during a conversation with my wife, who is a teacher from small children to teenage kids, where she shared a story with me on what she was told to by local law enforcement, followed by what I heard from my youngest son when he was in middle school that forced me to look at what is being told to targeted victims of these attacks.

I cannot speak for law enforcement, however I do feel they would agree with me that in regards to Active Shooter Attacks, law enforcement will drop everything they have in our hands to respond as quickly as they could, putting their own life at risk.? I know for myself when responding to life threatening situations my thoughts were in turmoil knowing it will more than likely be over with before I arrived.? I cannot tell you how terrifying this feeling is to know you are the help needed, and it will more than likely be over with before you arrive.

Taking action when these “ASA” occur are the only way to increase your survivability and save the lives of others with you in these attacks.? There are so many unknown factors when you hear the first shot, that every second you fail to do something you; it compromises a life that may even be your own.? Questions that run through your mind may range from:

1. ??? Where are they?

2. ??? How many shooter(s)

3. ??? Exact location of shooter(s)

4. ??? Any explosives planted in the immediate area

5. ??? Possible fires or other booby traps in the area?

Just to name a few.? If we assume there is only one shooter, and hope they are a bad shot, or hope they will run out of ammunition before they get to you.? This is a bad strategy.?

So, regardless of how good or bad the shooter is, a moving target is harder to hit than one hiding under their desk or in a closet.? Some initial steps are:

Stage #1 “Preventing”

Staff and co-workers to identify, manage and resolve conflict before it escalates.? Have protocols in place to help assist you in working through situations on the surface that might seem unimportant now, however when not managed properly means you may have created a smoldering flame that has not yet ignited into an inferno, that could have life alternating results.

Stage #2 “Preparing”

Conduct your Risk and Threat Assessments by qualified professionals. ? This means from professionals who have survived, responded and trained others to survive “ASA”.? I spoke to one organization that shared with me they had an assessment completed by a professional who identified 75 places within their facility to hide.

Initially this was great to hear.? The more we talked, I asked them to review the places identified by your professional on where to hide.? And if they could go to those places and answer these 3 simple questions below, then it is a good place to go..

1. Does it allow you to escape?
2. If it doesn’t, then why go there, or the only place you selected is where you will die!
3. Does it allow you to see danger approaching?
4. If it doesn’t, then you are blinded, you might as well sit in the middle of the room with your hands covering your eyes!
5. Does it give you the ability to defend yourself?
6. If it doesn’t, then you are helpless!

If you cannot answer YES, to all three of these questions then the only thing you have done is select where you will be killed!? This is one of the main reasons why Risk and Threat Assessments are vital before you start developing or initiating a plan for “ASA”.

Stage #3 “Practice”

Develop a field proved, tactically sound plan, not theory based.? If your plan is in theory, this means the only reality you will experience is being killed!? As my close friend, mentor and fellow Co-Founder of Vistelar Gary Klugwiecz says,” Fire Drills over Fire Talks”, means you have to practice your plan...not talk about it!

I feel that we need to break through the myth that preparing for danger will scare your staff and customers.? When in reality, it will encourage them to take the appropriate action to survive!? I travel around the world and I have never witnessed any person on a plane exit the plane when they hear the safety needed if the plane crashes.

I am sure we can add more stages, however if you do not do the first 3 right, you do not have to worry about any more stages!??

This is why we gave this very careful thought to our strategy of Escape first, meaning you know how to get out of where you are and know exactly where to go, then if you cannot escape the immediate area to safety, you will need to Barricade and DEFEND.? Not barricade or defend, but in times of “ASA” you must train yourself to be your first responder!

If you want to learn more of what we do and how we do it.? You owe it to yourself.? There are no guarantees in life, but the one thing we know for sure is, if you hide instead of taking an active role in your own survival during an “ASA”, you are guaranteed to lower your survivability not improve it!

Articles are suppose to create discussions, provoke your expressed opinions. You can reach me at [email protected]. I would love to hear from you. Let's be safe out there!

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