What To Do In A Public Shooting

Should You Run, Hide or Attack?

Public shooting continue to be a source of fear and danger. It seems like every few months there’s a public shooting reported on the news. These public shootings have taken place in schools,  malls, Campuses, theaters, the freeway, government facilities, churches and more.

We talk about a lot of different kinds of emergency preparedness situation but I don’t think very often we address the issue of what to do in the case of being where there is a public shooting.

This would indeed be a very very tense & dangerous situation. What are some of the things you should think about before that situation in order to prepare yourself for such a horrific situation?

• Accept that you could be in this type of situation
• Always be aware of your surroundings. Know where you are if you’re in a building. Know how to get out of the building. Basically just look around and be aware all the time of where you are and what’s going on around you.
• Go through some scenarios in your mind so that you know what options that might be available to you. Should you run, hide or attack? (see the websites below)
• Prepare yourself to stay calm.
• Know the rules for when police arrived on the scene and what your responsibilities are at that point.
• Be responsible if you hear a rumor of someone talking about doing this even as a joke – report it.

The two websites listed below are excellent resources for information on what to do if you are in a situation where there is a shooter. They both give examples of when to run, hide or attack. They are good to be familiar with.

Department of Homeland Security: Active Shooter: How to Respond

WikiHow: 5 Ways to Survive a School or Workplace Shooting (be sure to watch the video at the end of the post)