Preparing for Active Shooter Situations and Terrorist Attacks

Private security firm SSA Security Group, Inc., has provided the following tips to help you survive an active shooter situation.

Being Aware is Paramount to Your Survival

Knowing your environment is key to being able to protect yourself in an active shooter situation. It starts with knowing what is going on around you in any event or area. Before entering any public place, you want to view the entire area and look for things out of place or persons that appear to be out of place. Pay attention to your instincts and if you are at all worried, notify authorities immediately and/or depart the area.

Upon Arrival to an Event, Locate the Quickest Exit Locations

Part of being aware of what is going on around you also means knowing how to get out, quickly, when things go awry. The first thing one should do upon entering any event is look for the escape routes and exits close to where you are seated or standing. It is the same as flying when you find the exit doors of an aircraft. If an incident does occur, use these exits immediately without hesitation to flee the arising situation.

In the Tactical world we term this as “Giving Yourself the Tactical Advantage”

While predicting an event of this magnitude is impossible there is a one thing one can do to avoid such an incident. If your inner self tells you things don’t look right, they probably are not.  

Target rich environments include movie theaters, public gatherings, concert venues, award shows, sporting events and amusement parks. Terrorists who commit these acts look for these type of events or location to inflict the maximum number of causalities possible.

DON’T MAKE YOURSELF AN EASY TARGET

If you do go to a large event such as a movie, a concert, or some sort of rally or sporting event, if at all possible, choose seats that are near an exit. Although sometimes unavoidable, the last place you want to be during a shooting, is stuck in the middle of a crowd, or in the middle of a row of seats.  Location is an imperative feature in staying safe.

Surviving an Active Shooter Situation

Should the unimaginable happen, and you find yourself in an active shooter situation, there are three words that optimize survival:

RUN; HIDE; FIGHT

RUN –FIRST OPTION

This is first and MOST IMPORTANT of the options.  In an active shooter situation, the first thing you want to do is try to escape. The last place you want to be is anywhere near the shooter.

Ideally, upon entering you found the exits. If you can safely make your way to an exit, do so without hesitation and without attracting attention from the shooter. Once you have exited the event keep running.

Remember, law enforcement and or military will be responding. They are unaware of who you are; a suspect or a victim. When encountering authorities, RAISE YOUR HANDS, shout you are a victim and FOLLOW THEIR INSTRUCTIONS TO THE LETTER. You may be treated initially as a suspect but will soon be properly identified and taken care of properly.

HIDE (BARRICADE)

There is a difference between cover and concealment. Simply put COVER is hiding behind a brick wall; CONCEALMENT is hiding in bushes. What you want to do in this option is COVER.

Hide under or behind anything that will give you protection from bullets or explosions. Taking COVER also means moving away from the existing threat. If you can’t safely remove yourself from the situation, Shelter/Cover in place behind or under is the best option available.

As we learned from other incidents of like nature, including the recent incident in Paris, many persons survived the incident also by “playing dead”

LAST RESORT; FIGHT

Many critical ‘experts’ of this option discuss that one should never attack a man with a gun. However, with no place to Run or Hide it may be the only option available to possibly survive. Being frozen with fear may occur but it does nothing to increase your chances of survival. This option needs to be well calculated and must be done under the utmost commitment that a human can muster. If the suspect is reloading it is the best time to advance. If you can muster others to assist the possibility of survival dramatically increases. Use anything available to you as a weapon, even if it is only bodily force. When using this weapon, do so as if you are fighting for your life; because you are.

The fact is, in an active shooter situation you often have very few options. Laying their frozen in fear does nothing to add to your chances of coming out alive. If you have no other options, you need to act quickly and decisively to try to take out the shooter.

If you have a weapon, then hopefully you have trained for this type of situation. I’m not going to go into tactics and proper response, because nothing I can write will properly prepare you for this situation. Only proper training, both physically and mentally, can prepare for this type of encounter. Please don’t underestimate the need to properly train yourself in the ways of self defense.

After the fight, get to safety and escape.

The two most used tactics, RUN and HIDE have demonstrated the best results. Remember that when a shooter has started a shooting spree, only those near the shooter are initially at immediate risk. That means, in most cases, more than 90 percent of people involved can escape. These incidents normally are short lived in time frame. The Paris incident was longer than most but history has told us the events last between 5 and 8 minutes. The Terrorist(s) want to affect the maximum number of casualties possible in the shortest amount of time and then escape; however, remember in terrorism, these radicals do not hold life in the same vein as we do. They are willing to die for their cause.

Although this is a frightening thought and hard to even imagine and deal with, these tactics have helped individuals survive tragic terrorist events, but if we don’t prepare and pay attention we are not being realistic.

Synopsis

• Prepare; pay attention to your surroundings and persons at an event
• Inform authorities if something seems out of place
• Upon entry to a venue, plan an escape route or plan a location to hide, obtain cover and barricade yourself.
• Prepare to fight if necessary

If suspicious activity is observed, immediately call L.A.P.D.; 911 (emergency) or Suspicious Activity at 1-877-A-THREAT.    If you are a subscriber to SSA Security and this occurs within the confines of the neighborhoods we supply security, contact both L.A.P.D. and your SSA Security patrol officer on the SSA officer’s mobile number, that has been previously provided you.