At the March Carbon County Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Carbon County Emergency Manager Justin Needles gave a presentation on mass casualty and active shooter incidents.
The presentation began by explaining that an active shooter incident is one in which there is the intentional or systematic shooting of multiple victims and the shooter’s intention is to continue the deadly behavior until stopped by law enforcement or until their objectives have been met.
Mass casualty incidents are not a new phenomenon, with the earliest recorded school killings occurring in 1764 in Franklin County and 1927 in Bath, Michigan. From 2000 to 2018, there have been 277 incidents. An average of 14.5 incidents occurred annually and an average of 19 occurred within the last eight years alone.
According to Needles, 70% of the incidents occurred in either a commerce/business or educational environment. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, 60% of the incidents ended before police arrived and 44 incidents were over within five minutes. Within the 277 incidents aforementioned, there were 2,430 casualties as 884 were killed and 1,546 were wounded.
There have been 160 incidents from 2000 to 2013 and 56.3% of them ended on the shooter’s initiative while 13% of the situations ended after an unarmed citizen restrained the shooter. Law enforcement suffered 21 casualties within that timeframe with nine officers being killed and 28 of them being wounded. In three of the incidents, armed security personnel were killed.
Needles continued with the presentation, explaining that 80% of shooters are males under 40 years old. They often lack social skills and they tend to be the victims of bullying. Furthermore, shooters typically do not take criticism well, blame others, are unaccepting of responsibility and have an interest in weapons or guns.
The presentation urged all to conduct crisis rehearsal, especially within local businesses. Those in an active incident are urged not to engage a shooter or be a target of opportunity. Hiding is greatly encouraged if safely exiting is not an option. In the event that the shooter enters the room, everyone is encouraged to attempt to incapacitate the shooter and use improvised weapons.
In terms of law enforcement response, the presentation explained that law enforcement must assume that everyone is a threat to their safety. All people, including victims, must be prepared to have guns pointed at them, be searched and possibly be handcuffed to ensure safety.
It is encouraged not to have anything in hand, as officers are trained to look for empty hands. Complying with all instructions, spreading fingers and raising empty hands high in the air are all instructed. The entire area will be treated as a crime scene and those involved will be checked for injuries, identified and possibly interviewed.
In summary, those in the workforce are encouraged to have a plan, remain calm, run, barricade and hide before fighting, report the incident and be prepared for law enforcement’s response.