Surviving an Active Shooter Event: How to Stay Safe

It’s hard to read the news without seeing reports of the latest shooting by terrorists or the deranged and disgruntled. Few believe that they could wind up in the crosshairs of a gunman’s sight, but it can happen anytime, anywhere. So what would be your response? This article will look at how you can increase your chances of surviving an active shooter event.

What is an Active Shooter?

An Active Shooter is a person trying to kill or attempting to kill many people in a confined area. Their weapon of choice is some type of firearm(s). While they have typically carefully planned the event, their choice of victims has no pattern or method.

Our Natural Response to an Active Shooter

The natural response for most people is not to do anything.

It’s sad but true.

You’ve heard me talk about “normalcy bias” before. That’s the tendency for people to believe that everything follows a pattern and that each day will proceed normally; they’re usually right.

However, when a terrorist event breaks that pattern, the unprepared brain takes time to process the new situation. As a result, people will think that the sound of gunfire is fireworks or anything less threatening than an assassin out to kill them.

Another thing most citizens believe is that law enforcement and homeland security are on the case. While these agencies do their best to counter situations like this, most mass shooting events end within 10 to 15 minutes. There is little or no chance that help will be there when you need it, so you should have a plan of action.

Don’t Wait Until It Happens: Plan NOW!

A person without a plan of action follows the herd.

If fifty people around you drop to the floor, your natural tendency is to do the same. However, cowering in fear under a table in plain view of the shooter isn’t a recipe for a good outcome.

You will have a better chance of getting out of there in one piece by having a plan.

For example, if you’re at the mall, what would your plan be if you heard gunfire nearby?

What would you do first?

Run? If so, where?

If you couldn’t run, what would you do?

These are things you should be thinking about, calmly and rationally, whenever you’re in an area where there are many people. It may seem extreme to have to think of these things, but that’s what I call the “New Normal.”

What You Do in the First Few Seconds is Critical to Surviving an Active Shooter Event

What you do in the first few seconds may determine your final outcome with an active shooter.

Give yourself a head start by always knowing what’s happening around you. We call this situational awareness.

• Know where exits are,
• Know where the gunshots are coming from,
• And know who appears nervous or suspicious in your immediate area.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

But in this era of people immersed in their smartphones, few are situationally aware and are, therefore, easy targets for the active shooter.

For example, have you ever seen a patron enter a restaurant through the door marked “employees only” or a movie theatre through the fire exit? This is a person you’ll want to observe. In most cases, it means nothing. In rare instances, though, it could be someone that’s up to no good.

By the way, those same little-used exits might save your life: Most people will be trying to leave by the front door, just where the gunman expects them to go. So find an exit away from the direction of gunfire.

READ MORE: Make yourself less of a target by becoming better at spotting danger before it spots you.

How to Survive an Active Shooter Event

Run / Escape

Most people will hide as their first course of action.

You, however, should run away from the direction of gunfire as soon as you hear it, leaving through those exits you’ve been mentally marking. This will make it less likely you and the shooter will cross paths.

Also, forget about collecting your stuff; it will only slow you down, and, face it, it’s just stuff.

If you’re in the shooter’s line of sight, run away at an angle or zig zag to make yourself a more difficult target. I know it’s not a natural action you’d think of doing, but most shooters aren’t marksmen and will miss a moving target.

A good citizen would yell for others to follow and prevent others from entering the kill zone.

However, don’t try to move or otherwise help the wounded, despite your natural tendency to want to do so. You have to get out of there, and becoming the next casualty does no one any good. Even the police will neutralize the shooter before tending to the injured.

(One critical note: If you see law enforcement, don’t run up and hug them. Instead, get your hands in the air, fingers spread, where officers can see them. They need to know you’re not the threat. Then, follow any instructions given and leave in the directions the officers came from.)

Once you’re in a safe area, call 911 if rescuers have not yet arrived.

Hide

Running might not be an option if there’s only one exit and the shooter is standing in front of it. So your next choice is hiding.

You first want to get out of the shooter’s line of sight. We call this “concealment,” but it isn’t necessarily “cover.”

If you’re concealed, you can’t be seen, but a bullet might penetrate to hit you.

If you have found cover, you are both hidden and protected from projectiles hurled your way.

Foliage is good concealment, but a thick tree trunk might be a better cover.

In a building, hiding under a table in the same room as the shooter is a death sentence. Instead:

• Get into another room, preferably one with a door you can lock.
• If there is no lock, put together a barrier with desks and chairs.
• Turn off the lights, silence your cell phone, and stay quiet behind an additional barrier like a table or in a closet.
• If you can quietly alert authorities, do so.
• Don’t respond to voice commands unless you’re sure the danger is over; sometimes, the gunman will try to lure you out of a safe place.

By accomplishing the above, you’ve just made yourself a more challenging target to acquire for the shooter, and he wants to do his damage as fast as possible. As a result, he’ll likely pass you by to find easier targets.

READ MORE: Prepare your kids for an active shooter and other scenarios with these drills.

Fight

What if you can’t run, and there is no good hiding place?

First, don’t panic. It will likely take every ounce of willpower you possess to remain calm, but it is imperative you do.

Once you panic, you’ve lost the capacity for rational thought and your chances of survival drop drastically. In addition, you may also further endanger anyone with you.

If possible, dial 911 to advise authorities of the shooter’s position. If you can’t talk, let the 911 operator listen. They may glean helpful information to pass on to the police.

If you want to survive an active shooter event and you can’t hide, you might have to fight yourself out of there. However, this strategy isn’t always doomed to failure. You still might be able to subdue an attacker even if unarmed.

Three young and unarmed men were able to do it to a shooter on a train in Paris. It’s the last resort, but it can end without a fatality as it did there.

If you don’t fight, the shooter will have a clear shot to your head, and death is likely. On the other hand, it might just be harder to be hit with a fatal shot if you fight.

Of course, it would be great if you knew martial arts, but any type of aggression against the gunman would disrupt their “flow” and possibly put you at an advantage.

If you can, approach him from the side or rear, and go for his weapon. If you have help, all should attack simultaneously from different directions while hurling objects that he has to dodge.

This guy is probably not James Bond: he’ll be disconcerted and unable to handle multiple threats at once.

If you’ve disrupted the shooter or, better, get the weapon out of his hands, inflict damage on him until he is dead or has stopped moving. Harsh, I’ll admit, but these are tough times; commit to your actions.

READ MORE: Here are 10 lessons we can learn from the Aurora Theater mass murder in Colorado.

Conclusion

Luckily, few people will find themselves in the midst of a terrorist attack like the one at San Bernardino, but I honestly believe that more are coming. Having a plan for surviving an active shooter event is galling to some, but it’s part of life in the New Normal. Those with a plan will have a better chance to survive this event and many other disasters in the uncertain future.

What will you do in an active shooter situation?

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by Joe Alton, MD of www.doomandbloom.net, co-author of the 3 category #1 Amazon Bestseller “The Survival Medicine Handbook“.  See their articles in Backwoods Home, Survival Quarterly, and other great magazines. For over 600 articles on medical preparedness in wilderness, disaster, or other austere settings, go to their website at www.doomandbloom.net.

The opinions voiced by Joe Alton, M.D., and Amy Alton, A.R.N.P. are their own and are not meant to take the place of seeking medical help from a qualified healthcare provider. 

This article was originally published on December 26, 2015, and has been updated.