Run, Hide, Fight: Active Shooter Presentation

By Margaret S. Hamilton

Evendale Ohio Police Sargent Tim Holloway recently gave an active shooter presentation at the Evendale Recreation Center, the same talk he routinely gives to local businesses, school groups, and the Evendale summer day camp staff. At a rapid and forceful pace, Holloway discussed the current rubric for the presence of an active shooter: RUN, HIDE, FIGHT.

RUN:

Evacuate, help others, prevent people from entering the building, call 9-1-1. Central dispatch will radio patrol cars in the Cincinnati suburbs, which will arrive in two or three minutes.

Have a plan. You have three to five minutes to survive. If you are wounded, you need to have a survival mindset. Whitney Austin, who survived the 2018 Cincinnati Fifth Third Bank shooting with twelve bullet wounds, chanted to herself as she played dead: “I have a five and seven-year-old who need their mother.” Austin recovered and later founded the Whitney Strong Foundation to promote a reduction in gun violence.

The 1995 TransContinental Trucking shooting in Evendale still haunts the police. A shooter, angry about his reduced work hours, entered the offices and shot and killed two employees. The receptionist hid under her desk. She could have run away, but hid until the shooter found her. After he shot her, she ran, but it was too late. She was dead by the time she reached the patrol cars.

HIDE:

Barricade the door with tables and chairs. Turn off the lights, pull down the blinds, silence your cellphone, and hide behind a large object. Use a belt or purse strap looped over the double lever open/close mechanism on an exit door to prevent entry. A wooden or metal door will not deflect bullets, but will affect bullet trajectory.

In classrooms, teachers are equipped with a large garbage can containing a trash bag liner, a hammer, a rope, a sheet, an epi-pen, granola bars and bottles of water. A sheet can cover a window. A hammer can break a window and be used as a weapon. A rope can be used, tied to a doorknob, to prevent entry. In lengthy lockdown situations, the trash can with liner can serve as a toilet.

FIGHT:

If the shooter enters a room, make yourself a moving target. Yell, throw things, keep moving. Don’t hide and wait for him to find you. Use physical aggression. Improvise weapons. Attack the shooter with a fire extinguisher: spray first, then beat the shooter with the metal extinguisher. Your objective is to incapacitate the shooter. Use a charging or extension cord to choke the shooter.

If you are with a group of children, help them exit through a door or window and tell them to run to a soccer goal, tree, or jungle gym. Within minutes, enough first responders will be on the scene to care for them.

If you are shot in an arm or leg, apply a tourniquet. You can last an hour without treatment. Treat chest wounds with compression. Pack the wound with gauze or strips of clothing to slow bleeding. You need transport ASAP.

FIRST RESPONDERS:

Their job is to stop the shooter, not administer first aid or help you evacuate. Stay calm and quiet with your hands visible.

Readers and writers, have you had active shooter training?

Sgt. Holloway completed his presentation by showing a DHS and City of Houston YouTube video: Run, Hide, Fight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VcSwejU2D0