Here you can learn what to do if you find yourself in an active shooting event, how to recognize signs of potential violence around you, and what to expect after an active shooting takes place. 

Remember during an active shooting to RUN. HIDE. FIGHT.

Be Informed

• Sign up for an active shooter training.
• If you see something, say something to an authority right away.
• Sign up to receive local emergency alerts and register your work and personal contact information with any work sponsored alert system.
• Be aware of your environment and any possible dangers.

Make a Plan

• Make a plan with your family, and ensure everyone knows what they would do, if confronted with an active shooter.
• Look for the two nearest exits anywhere you go, and have an escape path in mind & identify places you could hide.
• Understand the plans for individuals with disabilities or other access and functional needs.

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During

RUN and escape, if possible.

• Getting away from the shooter or shooters is the top priority.
• Leave your belongings behind and get away.
• Help others escape, if possible, but evacuate regardless of whether others agree to follow.
• Warn and prevent individuals from entering an area where the active shooter may be.
• Call 911 when you are safe, and describe shooter, location, and weapons.

HIDE, if escape is not possible.

• Get out of the shooters view and stay very quiet.
• Silence all electronic devices and make sure they will not vibrate.
• Lock and block doors, close blinds, and turn off lights.
• Do not hide in groups > spread out along walls or hide separately to make it more difficult for the shooter.
• Try to communicate with police silently. Use text message or social media to tag your location, or put a sign in a window.
• Stay in place until law enforcement gives you the all clear.
• Your hiding place should be out of the shooters view and provide protection if shots are fired in your direction.

 

FIGHT as an absolute last resort.

• Commit to your actions and act as aggressively as possible against the shooter.
• Recruit others to ambush the shooter with makeshift weapons like chairs, fire extinguishers, scissors, books, etc.
• Be prepared to cause severe or lethal injury to the shooter.
• Throw items and improvise weapons to distract and disarm the shooter.

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After

• Keep hands visible and empty.
• Know that law enforcements first task is to end the incident, and they may have to pass injured along the way.
• Officers may be armed with rifles, shotguns, and/or handguns and may use pepper spray or tear gas to control the situation.
• Officers will shout commands and may push individuals to the ground for their safety.
• Follow law enforcement instructions and evacuate in the direction they come from, unless otherwise instructed.
• Take care of yourself first, and then you may be able to help the wounded before first responders arrive.
• If the injured are in immediate danger, help get them to safety.
• While you wait for first responder to arrive, provide first aid. Apply direct pressure to wounded areas and use tourniquets if you have been trained to do so.
• Turn wounded people onto their sides if they are unconscious and keep them warm.
• Consider seeking professional help for you and your family to cope with the long term effects of the trauma.

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Resources

In Person Training

We facilitate training and exercises from discussion based to full-scale.  Following the guiding principles of whole community engagement, we ensure everyone with a real-world role or impact is invited to meet and train together.

Following the Homeland Security and Exercise Program HSEEP, we develop, execute, and evaluate exercises that address the priorities established by an organizations leaders.  Exercise evaluation assesses the ability to meet exercise objectives and capabilities by documenting strengths, areas for improvement, core capability performance, and corrective actions in an After-Action Report/Improvement Plan (AAR/IP).  Through improvement planning, organizations may take the corrective actions needed to improve plans, build and sustain capabilities, and maintain readiness.

In this way, the use of HSEEP - in line with the National Preparedness Goal and the National Preparedness System - supports efforts across the whole community that improve our capacity to build, sustain, and deliver core capabilities for all-hazards.

Online Training

FEMA - IS-907: Active Shooter: What You Can Do

Everyone can help prevent and prepare for potential active shooter situations.  This course provides guidance to individuals, including managers and employees, so that they can prepare to respond to an active shooter situation.

 

DHS - Active Shooter Preparedness

Active shooter incidents are often unpredictable and evolve quickly. In the midst of the chaos, anyone can play an integral role in mitigating the impacts of an active shooter incident.  DHS aims to enhance preparedness through a "whole community" approach by providing products, tools, and resources to help you prepare for and respond to an active shooter incident.  To access the most applicable information, please select one of the provided categories:

Active Shooter Workshop Participant | Private Citizen | Human Resources or Security Professional | First Responder

 

TEEX - Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events (CRASE)

In the past two decades, horrific mass shootings have been thrust into public consciousness.  Mitigating the effects of these events is the responsibility of those who serve in our communities public safety organizations.  The public expects an effective and swift response to these threats. Research has shown, however, that many of the mass attacks, or active attack events, are over before law enforcement responders arrive on the scene.

Civilians who find themselves embroiled in such an event must be prepared to take immediate action to save their own lives before law enforcement arrives.  The average response time for police response to an active attack event is three minutes.  Without effective, preplanned response options for civilians at the scene of the attack, many victims can be seriously injured or killed during these three minutes.

This course was designed in conjunction with Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) to provide first responders and other professionals with a model response program they can deliver to civilians within their communities.

Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events Train-the-Trainer (CRASE).