Active Shooter

The Columbine tragedy on April 20, 1999 began a new era in law enforcement as it became apparent that the police response to such mass shootings must be drastically altered. By the time the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, outdated police response strategies had been replaced with new, aggressive tactics used by the first officers on the scene. The frequency with which these events occur remind us time and again about the importance of training and preparing for these critical situations before they occur in our own backyards. Active Shooter Events and Response is one of the first attempts to not only discuss historic active shooter events, but also to actually dissect some of them—empowering law enforcement professionals by leveraging the essential knowledge and experience of those who have gone before us. The book also offers insight into the training methodologies and strategies used to prepare our nation’s first responders to address the active shooter threat. In addition, the authors discuss the clear and present threat of terrorist organizations using these mass shooter tactics on American soil—similar to the attacks in Beslan, Russia and Mumbai, India. Written by members of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Center at Texas State University, this book is the culmination of more than a decade’s worth of training and research into active shooter events and represents state-of-the-art, evidence-based best practices.

According to Pinkerton—the leading provider of risk management services in the world—workplace violence is second only to cybersecurity as the top threat faced by organizations today. Incidents involving active shooters in the workplace are on the rise and becoming more violent and deadly. Active Shooter provides the tools necessary to identify potential violent individuals, along with the options and responses needed to save lives, reduce corporate liability, and recover from an active shooter event should it happen. Active Shooter begins with a brief history of active shooters and how they have changed over time. It shows why many perpetrators initiate attacks, what they often are thinking, and some of the indicators that could have been identified prior to the attack. The book shows how to develop an active shooter program in an organization, walking readers through the entire process including training exercises to test the efficiency of the program. With the uniquely private security perspective, Active Shooter illustrates how to communicate with law enforcement, government agencies, and the media in the event of active shooter incident. The book concludes with a discussion of how organizations can recover promptly after an incident, which is crucial for operational survival. Illustrates what businesses should consider prior to, during, and after an active shooting event, including developing business continuity plan Demonstrates the importance of preparedness, an effective coordinated response, and planning all the way down to the frontline employee Addresses the private sector and public sector coordination efforts needed for an effective active shooter program Offers teaching and learning tools such as text boxes, end-of-chapter discussion questions, lists of key DHS, FBI and FEMA websites and resources, as well as training exercises and case studies

An "active shooter" is defined as an individual armed with a firearm who has been shooting citizens, and who continues to do so even in the presence of responding officers. How you respond to an active shooter will be dictated by the specific circumstances of the encounter, bearing in mind there could be more than one shooter involved in the same situation. If you find yourself involved in an active shooter situation, try to remain calm and use these guidelines to help you plan a strategy for survival. HAVE A PLAN!! Unlike a barricaded suspect who tends to stay in a known and confined area, a active shooter is on the move, difficult to isolate, his precise location may be unknown, and there is immediate risk of death or serious injury to potential victims. Since the middle of the last century, their have been thousand’s of active shooter incidents in the United States and abroad. In the public school’s, their have been over one hundred student on student shootings. One of the earliest active shooter school incidents occurred at the University of Texas on August 1, 1966 when student Charles Whitman shot and killed fifteen, and wounded 31 from a school tower in the center of the campus. 1.Active shooter incidents are usually spontaneous. 2.Active shooter behavior is unpredictable; violence may be indiscriminate or specific. 3.Active shooters may be suicidal, deciding to die in the course of their actions either at the hand of others or by self-inflicted wound. 4.Incidents often occur in a target-rich environment. 5.Active shooters usually have some degree of familiarity with the building or location they choose to occupy. 6.Most active shooter incidents are over within 10 minutes. 7.Active shooters may employ some type of diversion. 8.Multiple weapons are often used. ACTION: Respond to active shooter(s). CONDITION: Given a classroom environment, suitable training area, student issue, standard law enforcement equipment, police emergency vehicle, appropriate safety equipment and role players STANDARD: Responded to a simulated active shooter incident. Gathered three to four police officers formed either a triangle or diamond formation and proceeded directly to the location of the shooter(s). By-passed simulated injured personnel in order to find and eliminate the threat. Eliminated the threat(s) by using reasonable amount of force.

From Cade Courtley’s SEAL Survival Guide, an excerpt of his sections on active shooter scenarios and basic survival medicine. Think and act like a Navy SEAL, and you can survive anything. The world is a dangerous place. You can live scared—or be prepared. “We never thought it would happen to us.” It's difficult to imagine encountering an active shooter situation, but the reality is that modern life is unpredictable and dangerous. Don’t live in fear or rely on luck. Learn the SEAL mindset: Be prepared, feel confident, and know exactly how to escape a life-threatening situation such as a mass shooting. Former Navy SEAL and preeminent American survivalist Cade Courtley delivers step-by-step instructions anyone can master in the illustrated, user-friendly SEAL Survival Guide. Don’t be taken by surprise. Fight back, protect yourself, and beat the odds. Check out this excerpt and then purchase the essential manual no one in the twenty-first century should be without.

This book is written by experienced staff at the G-Square International Training Academy in an effort to address the growing presence of active shooters in houses of worship. The content is intended to offer options and thoughtful guidance to the well over fifty thousand houses of worship of all denominations, beliefs, and sects that exist in the United States. It is also our belief that the content has a global value in addressing this menace. It is our fervent prayer that this publication will bring insight to leadership, members, and visitors who may be entrapped in an active shooter or other life-threatening situation while attending services or other activities in houses of worship. We hope to achieve this by discussing current best practices being developed to combat the active-shooter phenomenon, as well as presenting the best course of action to take when first responders and additional support arrive. This publication is not intended to be an exhaustive accounting of all available options. It is G-Square's God-inspired effort to present the reader with possibilities that can contribute to survival in the demon-inspired actions of an active shooter and other life-threatening events.

Active shooter mass killings have become a horrible reality in our society and no place is immune to them. In this book, Michael Julian, CPI, PPS, CSP shares how essential the appropriate actions you take in the first ten minutes of an active shooting can be for your survival. How every second counts to stay alive. Julian provides simple tools to help you in the event you find yourself in this type of scenario. He teaches you how to prepare yourself using a security mindset, and fight through your fear with a survival mindset so you can evaluate your situation and react appropriately. Specifically, Julian shows you how to: Become more aware of your surroundings, Prepare for such an event by being "proactively reactionary," Evaluate an active shooter situation more quickly and efficiently, Decide and take the best action necessary for your survival, Dominate the attacker, if necessary, using a kill or be killed mentality, Navigate the chaos that comes after the event, and Train family, friends, and coworkers how to do the same. Julian's insight helps you prepare for the worst. This alone could be the difference between life and death in the face of a horrific experience.

When faced with danger you must DO something. The teacher at the Ant Hill School wants her students to be prepared - for everything! One day, she teaches her students what to do if a "dangerous someone" is in their school. "I'll be your shepherd, and you're all my sheep, so you must do what I say. Pretend there's a wolf in our building, and we MUST stay out of his way!" "We need a great plan of action in case we start to get scared. The ALICE Plan will work the best, to help us be prepared." Unfortunately, in the world we now live in, we must ask the essential question: What are the options for survival if we find ourselves in a violent intruder event? I'm Not Scared...I'm Prepared! will enhance the ALICE concepts and make them applicable to children of all ages in a non-fearful way. By using this book, children can develop a better understanding of what needs to be done if they ever encounter a "dangerous someone."

Stop the Killing offers insight into what each of us can do to end the active shooter crisis plaguing America. Written by the former head of the FBI’s active shooter program, Katherine Schweit, shares an insider look at what we’ve learned, and failed to learn, about protecting our businesses, houses of worship, and schools. The book demystifies the language around active shooters, mass killings, threat assessment teams, and more. Never gathered before into one place, readers gain access to evidence-based research and the most up-to-date information as they travel step-by-step through shooting prevention efforts and shooting aftermaths. Beginning with an understanding of how to spot potential shooters, readers learn the many ways to prevent shootings and the role threat assessment teams play. Threat assessment experts provide insight on what kind of information they need, and how they use it to intercept a person on a pathway to violence. The book guides readers through the process of assessing building security weaknesses and shows how to find vulnerabilities in people, programs, and policies. Packed with practical advice for training every age, from preschoolers, to elementary school children, to adults, the book also includes the author’s own teaching outline on how to train people to run, hide, fight. The book gathers together examples to help build individualized emergency operations plans and shows how to tap vast government resources to cover costs to your office and employees, districts and students, and survivors and victim’s families. Hear sober advice gathered from those who have survived and responded to shootings at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook Elementary School, the Aurora theater, Los Angeles International Airport, and more. Their common theme is that it can happen anywhere and has. All the more reason to accept that as each of us better understand what happens and how to prevent it, we can be the ones to stop the killing. The book also features a new preface exploring the 2021 school shooting tragedy in Michigan, especially the groundbreaking use of a domestic terrorism charge filed against the shooter and involuntary manslaughter charges filed against his parents.