Kirk Evans, President, Texas & U.S. Law Shield:
Here with a quick summary of what to do in an active shooter situation is Trent Lozano, a 15-year law enforcement veteran and former Swat Team Member.
Trent Lozano, law enforcement veteran:
What I want to talk about tonight is some things that you can do, what your options are, if you happen to be involved in an active shooter event. Now, the first thing that we can do — and it’s going to sound overly simplified, but I assure you nothing is simple when bullets are flying at you. So, the first thing that you can do, is evacuate. Run.
I recommend if you cannot escape or you have some sort of limitation or barrier that keeps you from being able to escape, the next best option is to hide and barricade yourself in a position.
Obviously, evacuation is preferred. But if you can’t evacuate, then you want to hide and barricade. If hide and barricade didn’t work and the shooter actually makes it back around to you, you’re down to your last option now, and that is fight. Fight.
Now, again, real world talk here. Are we really going to be able to save everyone? No. If there was a way that we could save everyone, we would have figured it out by now.
So, one of the things that we have to really look at is our goal has got to be to minimize the number of casualties. Okay? One of the things that we can do will actually begin before an event even starts.
So, you go into this place. One of the first things that you can do is start looking around and seeing what is there, seeing what’s available, seeing what’s there, seeing what’s not there. There’s three main things that I recommend paying special attention to. Pay attention to them especially.
Number one, alternate exits. Always look for alternate exits. Everyone in there is going to know where the main entrance is because they all used it. And if an active shooter event occurs, they’re all going to go right back out the same way they came in. It will be very beneficial for you to know where some other options are that maybe will have less competition to use them.
The second thing is, where are the restrooms located? And do they have an external lock on them? Many current buildings or modern buildings will have an external lock on the main door to the restroom. If they don’t have one, do they have a family restroom?
A lot of times there will be a family restroom where you can actually go in and lock the door. That will come into play later, but you can actually fit quite a few people in there, lock the door and still be able to deny access to a threat.
The last thing that I recommend everybody look for is a fire extinguisher. Pay attention to where those are. That can come in real handy later, and I’m going to touch on that in just a little bit. But if you can at least know where those things three things are, that will give you a little bit of an edge if a worst-case scenario actually occurs.
Kirk Evans, president of Texas and U.S. Law Shield:
From Columbine to Sandy Hook, from Virginia Tech to the Navy Shipyards, and from Orlando to San Bernardino, the phrase ‘Active Shooter’ has become all too common. On behalf of Texas and U.S. Law Shield, I hope that we have provided you some insight that can help you through one of these tragic situations.
For more information on our Active Shooter series or how to join the more than 200,000 law-abiding gunowners we protect, visit TexasLawShield.com or USLawShield.com. Thank you.
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