BY ZEV FAINTUCH, SENIOR INTELLIGENCE ANALYST
Updated: July 18, 2024
Active shooter situations are alarmingly prevalent in the United States, demonstrated most recently by the assassination attempt at the Donald Trump 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where an attendee was killed, and several were injured. Each year, in the U.S. and globally, active shooters and mass shooters attack innocent people, and they are doing so with increasing lethality.
The Department of Homeland Security defines an active shooter as: “An individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area; in most cases, active shooters use firearms(s) and there is no pattern or method to their selection of victims.” By some estimates, there have been hundreds of active shootings in the U.S. in the past 20 years alone.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation
Active shooter attacks happen more frequently in major population centers, but they can happen almost anywhere across the nation. Shooters target workplaces, schools, and public areas including businesses, government buildings and places of worship. Political rallies are now no exception.
The rising lethality of mass shootings is of increasing concern. One of the key factors driving the lethality of mass shootings is that, often, many victims are unprepared by design, coupled with extensive planning by the shooter as well as the firepower of their weapons. According to the FBI, attacks typically involve significant planning: 77 percent of attacks took over a week of planning and 24 percent of active shooters (who are 18 and older) have undergone military training. Often, a shooting will take place over the course of just a few minutes, before law enforcement has a chance to arrive on the scene. This means, to give themselves the best chance to survive a shooting, individuals must be prepared to react promptly and properly.
Source: BBC
There are no sure ways to survive an active shooter incident. You can, however, be aware and prepared with best practices, as well as utilize the best security options available to you. Here, Global Guardian outlines steps you can take to help you survive an active shooter incident.
1) Be Proactive: Know Your Surroundings
Whether you are sitting at your office desk, going grocery shopping with your family, or sitting in a movie theatre, situational awareness can help you make life-saving decisions. Active shooter situations are chaotic and rapidly developing, and extreme stress can make it difficult to process information and make sound decisions.
Time is not your friend: The more time you take to determine what is going on and act, the more time the shooter has to target you. A basic knowledge and understanding of your surroundings and a familiarity of the warning signs will help decrease reaction time and enable you to act more effectively.
Keep the following in mind upon arriving at your destination, particularly if you are aware that the situation you’re walking into has a higher likelihood for a potential attack, such as a political event or demonstration:
- Exits: Locate two doors, emergency exits, fire escapes, and windows as potential escape routes.
- Identify Cover: Look for bullet slowing/stopping materials that include: concrete, steel, stone, ceramic, or brick.
- Identify Shelter: Find objects or a place that can hide you from the shooter’s sight (an inner office, storage space, crawlspace, cabinets, etc.).
- Identify Weapons of Last Resort: Be aware of any object in your vicinity that could be used to attack or disrupt an attacker. Look for sharp objects (scissors, knives, pencils, glass, etc.), heavy blunt objects (books, chairs, paper weights, tools, etc.) or other objects that can distract or neutralize an assailant (pot of hot coffee, pepper spray, megaphone, etc.).
- The Profile of a Shooter: Active shooters are mostly male (94%); single, divorced or separated (79%); and often demonstrate concerning behavior within three months preceding the attack. The most common of these behaviors include: a deterioration in mental health; anti-social behavior, increased isolation from coworkers, family and friends; conveying an intent to commit violence (attackers often discuss their intent with others); and suicidal thoughts or planning. However, sometimes there are no warning signs.
- Body Language of a Shooter: People’s body language can often give away the presence of a concealed firearm. Those concealing firearms make subtle contact with their weapon to make sure it is in place and avoid making physical contact with others on the side where the weapon is concealed for fear of exposure. Untrained assailants rarely wear a holster. Pistols tend to be carried in the front hip or small of the back, causing the firearm to shift a lot during movement causing a shooter to continuously adjust it.
2) Take Cover and Evaluate
So, you think you heard a gunshot – now what? The first thing anyone should do when faced with a potential active shooter scenario is to find cover and assess the situation. Take a moment to process the situation and consider the following questions:
Did I just hear a gunshot?
When it comes to gunfire, know what to listen for. All too often, victims conflate the sounds of a gunshot with other more innocuous noises (fireworks, popped balloons/bags, construction, car backfires). Psychologically, we are conditioned to rationalize these sounds and attribute our instinctive fear to paranoia. This makes it even more important to properly distinguish the sound of actual gunfire.
In general, it is quite difficult to distinguish with absolute certainty a gunshot from similar sounds. Here are some ways to try to discern a gunshot from something more benign:
- Listen for cadence of noise: While the sound of gunfire can vary based on the caliber and type of weapon and the acoustic environment (indoors or outside), one striking difference between gunshots and similar noises is that gunshots often have a deliberate cadence. Gunfire typically has a rhythmic pattern, especially if the shooter is using a semi-automatic weapon. These sounds will typically occur in rapid succession with consistent spacing between shots.
- Differentiate from other common sounds: As mentioned above, gunshots and fireworks can sound similar. But while fireworks can sometimes be mistaken for gunfire, they often have a different cadence and may include a whistling or a fizzing sound before the explosion.
- Consider context: Take a quick look around you. Are there any other objects or machines that produce loud popping sounds? Are you close enough to a street to hear a car backfire or are you near an active construction zone? Did you notice anything suspicious about a colleague or a passerby? Finally, screams and sounds of hysteria are obvious and important signs that you indeed heard a gunshot.
Where am I in relation to the shooter?
If you’ve determined that you have heard gunshots, it’s imperative to locate the source of the gunfire if you can. Locating the shooter will determine whether you should run, hide, or fight. These are the three types of actions you will take next.
3) Take action: What to do during a shooting
You’ve taken cover and now it’s time to act quickly and decisively. But be careful not to panic and follow the herd. In past incidents, we have seen that poor decisions mixed with a herd mentality can be devastating. Based on where the shooter is, you should:
Run
Accuracy is, in no small part, a function of distance. The more distance between you and the shooter, the safer you are. If you have a safe path to an exit, drop everything and run. If you see something that you can use as a weapon, grab it. If there are others around you, encourage them to run too. If you are not directly running through the shooter’s line of sight, putting distance between you and the shooter is the best option for increasing your survivability. Once clear of the imminent threat, call emergency services. If the shooter is between you and the only available exit, take shelter.
Hide
When escape has been ruled out, take shelter. Taking cover or finding concealment can make you a more difficult target. Buy as much time as possible before the first responders arrive. Make yourself difficult to find and, if possible, block the shooter’s points of entry. Simply locking a door; however, is not enough. When sheltering, one should barricade the room, turn off the lights (if alone), gather potential weapons, and call the authorities (use landlines, if possible, as these are easier to track). If you are with others, divide these tasks and prepare to jointly attack the shooter if they breach your place of shelter. Also, be as quiet as possible and mute all electronic devices.
When barricading doors, note which direction the doors open. For outward opening doors, use belts or straps to immobilize the door. For inward facing doors, block them by moving heavy furniture into the path.
After you have barricaded all points of entry, find cover —– any object capable of stopping bullets to hide behind. Objects with layers of materials offer more ballistic protection. If there is no cover available, find concealment — something that cannot inherently stop bullets, but can shield you from sight. Hide behind anything that puts you out of the shooters direct line of sight and stay low to the ground. When taking shelter, one must be mentally prepared to engage the shooter.
After you have barricaded all points of entry, find cover – any object capable of stopping bullets to hide behind. Objects with layers of materials offer more ballistic protection. If there is no cover available, find shelter – something that cannot inherently stop bullets, but can shield you from sight. Hide behind anything that puts you out of the shooters direct line of sight and stay low to the ground. When taking shelter, one must be mentally prepared to engage the shooter.
Fight
Engaging the shooter is your last resort and should only be attempted if you are entering the shooter’s line of sight. When face-to-face with the shooter, disrupting the shooter will do more to promote your survival than remaining passive. Use any means at your disposal. If you are alone, surprise the shooter and pounce on them with any weapon you have. If you are in a group, use your numbers to your collective advantage: buy yourselves time by moving around, generating noise and throwing objects to confuse the shooter. Then, as a group, charge. Your primary goal should be to separate the gun from the shooter or at least to move the muzzle of the weapon away from you and everyone else.
Fight to survive. Go for the eyes and neck, and if the assailant is a man, kick him in the groin. No matter what you do, do it vigorously and do not stop fighting until there is no longer a threat. Your life and the lives of others are on the line.
4) What to do When Help Arrives
It is important to remember that active shooter events are not over until they are over. If you see or hear law enforcement officers entering the premises while the assailant is still at-large, don’t leave your shelter or stop fighting until you are certain that the threat has passed or have been advised as such by law enforcement.
If an officer approaches, it is vital for you to demonstrate that you are not a threat. Keep your hands raised and visible and don’t make any sudden movements or yell. The primary goal of first responders is to neutralize the threat. They will not stop to administer medical aid until the situation permits. Do not get in their way or impede them from finding and eliminating the shooter. Most likely a second wave of officers and emergency medical personnel will follow the initial response team.
Active shooters in a changing world
It’s long been established that a shooting can take place anywhere, anytime. This is especially important to remember in our current political and social climate, and to not take your location or situation for granted. Political division and extreme rhetoric have led to political violence, with everyday people as the victims.
Many Americans across the political spectrum now view their opponents as existential threats to U.S. democracy. A national survey in 2023 revealed that approximately 75% of Americans believe American democracy is at risk in November, though they disagree on which political side poses the threat. Additionally, 25% of respondents believe that “patriots” might need to resort to violence to save the country. Coupled with the mental health and substance abuse crises and the fact that the U.S. has more (and more lethal) guns per capita than any country except Yemen (which is embroiled in a civil war), more politically motivated active shooter situations are possible.
As the shooting at the Trump rally demonstrated, even situations where security is supposedly at its tightest can have lapses that lead to panic, chaos, injury, and death. While situational awareness in nearly any public setting is important, if you are attending a political rally, convention, demonstration, event, or other charged setting in 2024 and beyond, you must take the above under advisement, as well as consider additional security and safety options such as working with providers of security solutions. This should also be considered by employers and leaders at businesses and organizations, as businesses and workplaces are some of the most common locations for an active shooting.
Standing by to support
With world-class security specialists, Global Guardian is poised to provide industry-leading solutions for corporations and individuals. Global Guardian can provide customized security seminars, training, and emergency planning to help keep your employees safe in the event of an active shooter. In addition, we perform security assessments of workplaces to help mitigate the threat of an active shooter. Global Guardian also has extensive experience in facilitating security and intelligence support for corporate terminations to help minimize the risk of violence. For more information, please contact our 24/7 Operations Center.
