Fighting For Your Life: What To Do In An Active Shooter Situation
An active shooter situation is a nightmare scenario for everyone involved. We unveil essential tips on what to do in an active shooter situation.
If you’re involved in an active shooter situation, it can be an extremely scary and stressful event. Sadly, many people lose their lives each year due to these criminal acts.
Fortunately, you have a good chance of surviving if you know what to do in an active shooter situation.
Read on to learn about what you can do to remain calm and hopefully, save your life and the lives of others.
Be Aware of Exits
Whether you’re in a familiar place like work or school or you’re in a public building, you should always know where the nearest exits are located. During an active shooter scenario, it’s common for people to want to flee.
In some cases, people can become trapped if they don’t know their way around a building. By identifying the location of exits, you have a much better chance of making your escape.
Getting away from the perpetrator is the best way to stay safe. When you know what to do in an active shooter situation, you have a better chance at remaining calm and escaping possible danger.
Know Where and How to Hide
If you simply cannot escape during an active shooter event, you should at least try to hideand protect yourself. The key is to make a visual and physical barrier between yourself and the shooter.
Some of the best hiding places include closets, any rooms with a sturdy door and a lock, or behind or near any form of a barricade. Rooms located near an elevator are a good option since they’re made using steel or other heavy, reinforced materials.
Once you’re completely hidden, stay silent until the shooter has left. Then, call 911 and speak silently but clearly into the phone, altering the operator of where you are and what has occurred.
Fighting: What to do in an Active Shooter Situation
Unfortunately, sometimes your last resort is to put up a fight in order to save your life. Throw anything you can at the shooter, whether it’s a chair, computer, or another object that will distract them.
While fighting someone with a gun is a last resort, it still may be your last option to save your life. Never try to tackle or physically take down a gunman unless you think you are stronger and can do so successfully.
In most cases, people are not properly trained to fight an attacker, particularly in this situation. However, if there’s no other option, sometimes fighting back is your only choice and your best bet to survive.
Staying Safe
The key to knowing what to do in an active shooter situation is to follow the run, hide, fight motto. First, try to run away from the location as fast as you can. If that is not possible, you should hide or as a last resort, put up a fight to save your life.
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