Active Shooter

Incidents
The community response
 Campus Incidents
14 incidents: 65 dead, 46 wounded
Compiled by The Associated Press
Feb. 14, 2008: A former graduate student at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb opens fire in a lecture
hall, killing five students and wounding 15 others. He then commits suicide.
Feb. 8, 2008: Latina Williams, 23, opens fire during an emergency medical technology class at Louisiana
Technical College in Baton Rouge, killing Karsheika Graves and Taneshia Butler. She then kills herself.
Dec. 13, 2007: Two Ph.D. students from India are found shot to death in a home invasion at an apartment
on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
Oct. 1, 2007: University of Memphis football player Taylor Bradford, 21, who had been rumored to have
won more than $3,000 at a casino, is fatally shot on campus in a botched robbery. Four men are later
charged in the slaying, including one student.
Sept. 21, 2007: Two students are wounded at a late-night shooting at a campus dining hall at Delaware
State University in Dover. Shalita K. Middleton, 17, dies Oct. 23 from her injuries. A student is charged in
the shooting.
April 16, 2007: Cho Seung-Hui, 23, fatally shoots 32 people in a dorm and a classroom at Virginia Tech in
Blacksburg, injures at least 25, then kills himself in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
April 2, 2007: A 26-year-old researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle is shot to death in her
office by her ex-boyfriend. Jonathan Rowan, 41, then kills himself.
 Incidents Continued
Sept. 2, 2006: Douglas W. Pennington, 49, kills himself and his two sons, Logan P. Pennington, 26, and
Benjamin M. Pennington, 24, during a visit to the campus of Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va.
May 9, 2003: A 62-year-old man with two handguns and a bulletproof vest fires hundreds of rounds during
a seven-hour shooting spree and standoff at a Case Western Reserve University building in Cleveland. One
student is killed and two others are wounded. Biswanath Halder, who authorities say was upset because
he believed a student hacked into his Web site, is later sentenced to life in prison.
Oct. 28, 2002: Failing student and Gulf War veteran Robert Flores, 40, walks into an instructor's office at
the University of Arizona Nursing College in Tucson and fatally shoots her. A few minutes later, armed with
five guns, he enters one of his nursing classrooms and kills two more of his instructors before fatally
shooting himself.
Jan. 16, 2002: Graduate student Peter Odighizuwa, 42, recently dismissed from Virginia's Appalachian
School of Law in Grundy, returns to campus and kills the dean, a professor and a student before being
tackled by students. The attack also wounds three female students. Odighizuwa is serving six life
sentences after pleading guilty.
May 17, 2001: Donald Cowan, 55, fatally shoots assistant music professor James Holloway at a dorm at
Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland, Wash., then turns the gun on himself. He leaves a 16-page suicide
note expressing anger at a colleague of Holloway's whom he dated briefly as a teenager.
Aug. 28, 2000: James Easton Kelly, 36, a University of Arkansas graduate student recently dropped from a
doctoral program after a decade of study and John Locke, 67, the English professor overseeing his
coursework, are shot to death in an apparent murder-suicide by Kelly.
June 28, 2000: Medical resident Dr. Jian Chen kills his supervisor and then himself in his supervisor's office
at the University of Washington in Seattle. Faculty say Chen, 42, was upset he'd be forced to return to
China because of his academic shortcomings.
 Training Objectives

Define the term active shooter

List measures that can be employed to

reduce the effectiveness of an active
shooter

Describe actions that can be expected

from responding law enforcement
officers
 The Active Shooter defined

A suspect or assailant whose activity is

immediately causing death and serious
Injury

Threat is not contained and there is

immediate risk of death and injury
 Active Shooter

Considered the greatest terrorist threat

on campuses
Nationally accepted law enforcement
response plans
You need to be informed of law
enforcements response plan so you can
take protective measures
 Mentality of Active Shooter

Desire is to kill and seriously injure without

concern for his safety or threat of capture
Normally has intended victims and will
search them out
Accepts targets of opportunity while
searching for or after finding intended
victims
Will continue to move throughout
building/area until stopped by law
enforcement, suicide, or other intervention
 Active Shooters
Intent is to Kill and Injure

This necessitated a change in tactics by

law enforcement

Losses can be mitigated with

community preparedness training and
response during actual event
 History

Lessons learned from

Columbine and
Virginia Tech.

Seung-Hui Cho
Dylan Klebold Eric Harris
 Public Schools vs. ONU
Unlike the public school system ONU facilities
do not feature:
Intercoms in classrooms
Immediate campus-wide emergency notification
system to initiate Campus Lockdown Procedures
One centralized administrative office
Visitor access points
Similar monitoring and control of students and
other people on campus
 ONU
Features:
Full time trained Security force
(unarmed)
Multiple means for reporting
emergencies and alerting the
community to an emergency
Solidly constructed facilities
Places of refuge
Multiple escape routes
 Your Response

Your actions will influence others

Stay Calm

Assure others that you and the police

are working to protect them
 Your Response
Secure the immediate area whether
classroom, bathroom, or office.
Lock the door. This may require advanced
planning to ensure ability to lock the door key
and type of lock.
Most doors in university buildings are solid core,
and many walls are block and brick. This may
provide some protection
Block the door using whatever is available - desks,
file cabinets, books, other furniture
If the shooter enters your room and leaves,
lock/barricade the door behind him
If safe allow others to seek refuge with you
 Your Response
Treat the injured

Remember basic first aid

For bleeding apply pressure and elevate

Be creative in identifying items to use

for this purpose - clothing, paper towels,
feminine hygiene products, news
papers, etc.
 Your Response
Un-securing an area..
The shooter will not stop until his objectives have
been met, unless engaged by law enforcement
Consider the risk exposure created by opening the
door
Attempts to rescue people should only be made if that
can be done without further endangering the persons
inside a secured area
The shooter may bang on the door and yell for help to
entice you to open the door
Remember the safety of the masses versus the safety
of a few
If there is any doubt to the safety of the individuals
inside the room, the area needs to remain secured
 Your Response
Doors, Windows, Openings, and Noise
Close blinds
Block windows
Turn off radios and computer monitors if necessary
Silence cell phones
Signs can be placed in interior doors, windows, but
remember the shooter can see these
Place signs in exterior windows to identify the location of
injured persons
Keep occupants calm and quiet
After securing the room. People should be positioned out
of sight and behind items that might offer additional
protection - walls, desks, file cabinets, etc.
 Contacting Emergency Personnel

Emergency 911
911 may be overwhelmed
busy signal
multiple rings
419-634-0010 Ada Police
419-673-1268 Hardin County Sheriff
 What to Report
Your specific location
Building name
Office/classroom number
Number of people at your specific location
Injuries
Number of people injured
Types of injuries
Dispatcher may provide instructions on how to
care for injured until medical assistance can be
provided
 What to Report
Assailant(s)
Specific location
Number of assailant(s)
Race and Gender
Clothing color and style
Physical features height, weight, facial hair,
glasses
Type of weapons (rifle/shotgun, handgun)
Backpack
Do you recognize the shooter? Whats his name?
Have you heard explosions separate from
gunshots?
 Unsecured areas
If you find yourself in an open area,
immediately seek protection
Put something between you and the
shooter
Is escape your best option? Do you
know where the shooter is? Is escape
immediately available?
If in doubt find a safe area and secure it
the best way you can
 Law Enforcement Response
Law enforcement will immediately respond to the
area
It is important for you to convey to others that help is
on the way. Remain inside the secure area.
Law enforcements goal is to locate, contain, and stop
the shooter
The safest place for you to be is inside a secure room
The shooter will not flee when law enforcement enters
the building, instead he will have new targets to shoot
Remember the shooters mindset is not escape. His
goal is to kill and injure
 Law Enforcement Response
Injured persons
Initial responding officers will not treat the injured or begin
evacuation until the threat is neutralized
You may need to explain this to others in an attempt to calm
them
Once the shooter is contained, officers will begin treatment
and evacuation
Evacuation
Safety corridors will be established. This may be time
consuming
Remain in secure areas until instructed otherwise
You may be instructed to keep your hands on your head
You may be searched
You will be escorted out of the building by law enforcement
personnel
 The Investigation

Information will be released to ONU

community and media as quickly as possible
The entire area will be treated as a crime
scene
Once you have been evacuated you will not be
permitted to retrieve items or access the crime
scene
After evacuation you will be taken to a
holding area for medical care, interviewing,
counseling, etc.
 Summary
Active Shooter
You should take a leadership role
Seek secure area
Calm, reassure, and quiet others
Report the incident
Treat injured
Law enforcement response
Objective is to neutralize threat
Evacuation
Follow up medical care, interview, counseling
Investigation
 Closing Statement
Historical perspectives of shooters on campuses:
Spill-over crime suspect flees onto campus from incident
in the community. Ex. bank robbery or a shooting.
Workplace violence
Disgruntled employee or estranged husband/boyfriend
Middle aged Caucasian man
Poor social skills
Recent personnel Action
Gun collector, hunter
Early School Shootings
Student
Misfit
Difficulty coping with losses & failures
Bullied or teased
Vendetta
 Closing Statement

We can no longer predict the origin of

the next threat
Assailants in some recent incidents
across the country were not students or
employees
There were no obvious specific targets
and the victims were unaware they
were targets, until attacked