Active Shooter Safety Guidelines

What to do:

• If you are in a classroom, room or office, STAY THERE, secure the door and turn off the lights. Remain silent.
• If the door has no lock and the door opens in, a heavy door wedge can be kept on hand and used, otherwise look for heavy furniture to barricade the door. If the door has a window, cover it.
• Depending on the gunmen’s location, you may also exit through windows. Have someone watch as you get as many students out through windows as calmly and as quietly as possible.
• If the windows don’t open, or you cannot break them, or you are not on a ground floor, get out of sight from the door and stay low and quiet.
• If no police units are on scene, move well away from the incident and find safe cover positions (not the parking lots) and wait for the police to arrive.
• When police officers arrive, keep your hands on top of your head and do exactly what the Police tell you to do.

What to do:

If in a hallway, get in a room that is not already secured and secure it.

Unless you are very close to an exit, don’t run through a long hall to get to one, as you may encounter the gunmen or hostage taker.

What to do:

If in a gym or theater area and the gunmen are not present, move to and out the external exits and move toward any police unit. Drop all bags and keep your hands on your head. Do what the police tell you to do.

What to do:

Stay alert and look for appropriate cover locations. Hard cover, such as brick walls, large trees, retaining walls, parked vehicles, and any other object that may stop bullets, may be utilized as cover.

What to do:

If you are trapped with the gunmen, don’t do anything to provoke them.

If they are not shooting, do what they say and don’t move suddenly.

There is no set procedure in this situation. If possible call 911 and talk with a police dispatcher. If you cannot speak, leave the phone line open so the police can hear what is going on.

If they do start shooting people, you need to make a choice: stay still and hope they don’t shoot you, run for an exit while zigzaging, or attack the shooter. If you chose to run, a zigzagging moving target is much harder to hit than a straight runner. Playing dead may also be a consideration.

It is not a recommendation to attack the shooter, but remember that you have a choice to fight when there are no other options. The last thing that the shooter will expect is to be attacked by you.