Gun! Shots fired! Active shooter!Even if you’ve never been involved in a shooting, any of those exclamations should evoke an immediate sense of self-preservation. Hearing those words—or the gunshots themselves—should alert you to a potential imminent danger, and it should keep you on the alert until you know that you and any loved ones are safe.
It’s not just common sense. It should be instinctive.
A situation involving an active shooter occurred at my workplace the other day, and I’m still dumbfounded by how some of my coworkers reacted to it. I know people are stupid, but this went way beyond simple stupidity. This was pathological stupidity.
Certainly not everyone is cut out to confront an armed assailant, but everyone is capable of trying to survive. That should be the number one response. It is instinctive. Save yourself. Then if you can, help others.
If you’ve ever flown on a commercial airline—and you’re one of the few who pays attention to the flight attendant’s safety skit—you know that’s the rule when the oxygen masks drop: put yours on first, then help others.
Altruism and selflessness are admirable, but you’re useless to others if you’re dead.
Before I share my first-hand account of that day at work, I want to provide you with a bit of background regarding what is becoming an all-too-common occurrence.
In 2018, according to one accounting, there were 323 mass shootings in the United States. That’s frighteningly close to one per day. In those tragedies, 387 people were killed, and 1,274 wounded.
Through April this year, 2019, there have already been 105 mass shootings that resulted in 120 people killed and nearly 400 wounded. Just in this country. In the first four months.
These statistics include only what are considered ‘mass shootings,’ where at least four people are shot.
When all other shootings are added to the total, the numbers are staggering. As of this writing, just before Memorial Day weekend there have been over 20,000 incidents of gun violence in the United States so far this year, leaving nearly 6,000 people dead and over 10,000 injured. That’s over 160 incidents per day.
In 2017, over 40,000 people died of gun violence in the US. That’s more per capita than any other developed country on the planet. Coincidentally, and significantly, we have several times more guns per capita than any other country on the planet.
Of the nearly one billion guns in civilian hands worldwide, half of those are in the United States. We have just over 4% of the world’s population, yet we have 50% of the guns, along with a disproportionately huge share of gun violence among the ‘civilized’ nations. Any correlation?
It’s important to keep in mind that these numbers are likely much higher, because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is prohibited from tracking gun violence statistics. This is through an act of congress, whose votes on the matter were (and continue to be) bought by the National Rifle Association. They are afraid that if people knew how many of us are killed or maimed every day by gun-toting nutjobs, the laws would be stricter and gun sales would be affected. For the NRA, it’s all about selling more guns and ammo. For Republicans, it’s all about NRA money in their reelection campaigns.It has nothing to do with the Second Amendment, as they would have you believe.
I work for a local company that employs about 30 people, and we’re housed in a large building in a business park near the airport. Many of us work at desks, spending our days tapping away at computer keyboards, answering phones or having meetings. Many others work in the warehouse, assembling, packaging and shipping the products we produce and sell.
Yesterday, a woman who works in the front of the building came through our area and excitedly announced that there were a lot of police cars just down the street from our building. She told us cops were out on foot searching for the suspects who had apparently fled to our neighborhood from a still-active shooting situation.
There were suspects from a shooting in our immediate area. A local high school was in lockdown. The situation was still active.
Gun! Shots fired! Active Shooter!
The woman hurried on to each department to make the announcement. Although she didn’t specifically say so, I presumed she intended the warning to advise everyone to stay inside and not become potential victims. Isn’t it common sense, after all? Do you have to say it?
When the waiter brings my Mexican combo platter, he says, “Hot plate, Señior.” He doesn’t need to add, “Don’t touch it.” Likewise, doesn’t a “Wet Paint” sign imply “Don’t touch?” Why else would I care if the paint is wet?
Knowing how utterly stupid some people are, what happened next should not have surprised me. As soon as they heard the announcement, a small group of employees rushed outside to see firsthand what was going on. (I wonder how many times that waiter in the Mexican restaurant hears “OUCH!” as soon as he turns his back.)
Honestly, it really didn’t surprise me to see that particular group of people run outside. They run to the windows or go outside every time it rains. We live in Oregon. It rains!
But this wasn’t rain. It was potentially a mass murderer looking for more victims. What could possibly be an easier target than a group of sluggish, out-of-shape office workers standing in the middle of the street looking for a shooter?
What is wrong with people? We hear about another shooting somewhere in our country almost every day. By now everyone knows what happens when there is an active shooter situation: someone is shooting. At people. Actively. Right now. People are bleeding. People are dead!
What is the rationale for rushing outside when you know there is someone out there shooting people? Do you think you’re immune? Do you want to witness someone getting shot? Do you want to get shot?
To be fair, maybe they thought they were going to rush out, confront the suspect, and be heroes. That seemed unlikely. I know for a fact that some of the people who rushed out are afraid of spiders.Besides, we knew the police were already on the scene in force. They are trained for situations like that. For you to be lying out there bleeding all over the lawn would be an unnecessary distraction. For you to simply be out there watching would be an unnecessary distraction and make their job that much more difficult and dangerous.
Imagine how you would feel if one of those cops were to get shot in the face because he looked away long enough to tell you stupid people to go back inside.
And we also know that innocent people are sometimes accidentally killed during the fray by those well-meaning first responders.
About ten minutes after our initial warning, an announcement was emailed to the employees that our building was being locked down. That was ten minutes too late. Ten minutes was plenty of time for all of us to have been shot already, beginning with the ones who went outside and volunteered for it.
And it was announced in an email! Not everyone in the building has email, and those who do aren’t monitoring it constantly. The people who had already rushed outside didn’t see it.
We have a paging system in our building that everyone can hear. “Mountain Man Candy salesman is here.” That gets a page every time. Everybody hears it.
“It’s raining. Make sure your car windows are rolled up.” Every time.
We’re on lockdown because of an active shooter, possibly right outside the door. That gets the equivalent of a post-it note on the fridge in the break room.
Here is the actual text of the email:
There is an active shooter in the area and there are cops all around us looking for him. We have taken precautions and have locked our building down until we feel it is safe to reopen. Please keep this in mind when leaving the building.
What? “Keep this in mind when leaving the building?” DON’T LEAVE THE BUILDING! If it’s really locked down, you shouldn’t be able to go in or out anyway. It is not optional. Someone is shooting at people outside the building. Stay inside the building. That’s why it’s locked. Well, that and to prevent the shooter from coming in.
We all hate tragedy, but we cannot look away. I honestly think some people are disappointed when the spectacle is over. “They caught the bad guy? Already? Too bad, that was exciting!”
People are rubberneckers. Gawkers. When there is an accident on the road, even if it does not directly affect traffic in any other lanes, everyone slows down to look at the carnage. “Can you see any bodies?” “Is that blood?”
I’m reminded of an incident I experienced several years ago that illustrates this phenomenon. I was on the freeway in Los Angeles during the morning commute. There were ten lanes in each direction. All ten lanes of traffic going my direction suddenly slowed to no more than three miles per hour. On the other side of the freeway, traffic was still flowing smoothly.I imagined a horrific pileup ahead, the kind you see on the news but hope never to experience. Or perhaps a 747 had made an emergency landing, blocking all the lanes.
After about ten minutes of that slow crawl we finally passed a car that was on the shoulder to the right, completely off the road, not blocking any lanes. It was simply parked there. Steam was billowing out from under its partly opened hood, apparently from an overheated radiator. The driver was in the car, on the phone, probably calling for a tow.
The moment we passed that stalled car, everyone quickly accelerated to the normal 90 miles per hour.
Not everyone wanted to look at the tragedy, but when half the drivers slow down, everyone behind them is forced to comply. Once satisfied there was no grisly scene to behold, we resumed our morning commute.
Boy, did we have a story to tell our coworkers! “You should have seen it! The radiator was steaming. It was AWESOME! Check YouTube. I posted a video.”
I have seen it time and time again. Mechanical problems, flat tires and minor fender-benders are not uncommon, but they never fail to garner a large, drive-by audience.
It’s Los Angeles, California, the entertainment capital of the world. Swimming pools. Movie stars. There is more to do there in one day than anywhere else on the freaking planet in a week! Is that what it takes to entertain you?
Of course, a shooting is a completely different situation than an overheated radiator, or even an actual traffic accident. It demands a completely different response.
So, what should do you do when you hear the words, “active shooter?”
Every situation is different, of course. Do you hear the shots? Do you see victims? Do you see the shooter? Will you run away? Will you try to hide? Will you help any victims? Will you try to disarm or disable the gunman? The situation—and common sense—will probably dictate your response.
Perhaps you feel you are far enough away that you can just grab a lawn chair, make some popcorn, and settle in for the show.
In our situation, no one heard shots. We became aware only because someone noticed the activity outside, then went online to find out what was happening. The actual shooting occurred some distance away and the shooter had fled to our area. As far as any of us knew, the gunman was still at large and still shooting.
That first announcement to the employees in my office should have been: “Active shooter in the area. Police are on the scene. The building is locked, stay inside, remain alert and away from the windows.”
At no time did anyone announce, “Go outside and see for yourself!”
Although I am bewildered by that group’s choice to go outside, it did benefit me. I stayed inside and continued to work. I felt safe, knowing that I would likely be alerted to any personal danger when I heard the gunfire as my coworkers were being shot at, or when they came running back into the building, bleeding, and screaming in terror. That would give me time to make my escape.
My desk is in a room where there is really no place to hide. I did have several possible escape routes, and depending upon which route I took, there were more options once I was out of the room. I was ready.
Thankfully, it didn’t come to that.
The ordeal soon ended when the suspects were located, apprehended and placed in jail…again. If history can predict the future, they will soon be out doing it again; this wasn’t their first time.
Thankfully, no one was injured in the initial shooting, and there were no injuries to the people who foolishly went outside to watch. They can only be described as lucky, because they did nothing to protect themselves from becoming victims.
They went out of their way to be spectators, and even if they did nothing beyond that, they were still involved. They were volunteering to be victims. Sure, they probably weren’t out there waving their arms shouting, “Shoot me, shoot me.” But they became easy, available targets as soon as they went outside. They were not innocent bystanders by any definition.
“Don’t let life pass you by. Get involved. Participate.”
Noble philosophies, but not this time. There are some things I would prefer to just watch on the evening news.
Scott Wright © 2019