How to respond to an active shooter situation
by Mary Wilson
As part of the hospital’s ongoing commitment to community
education, St. Joseph Medical Center last Thursday hosted the Kansas City
Police Department for free active shooter training.
KCPD Sergeant Steve Schramm presented to around 50
participants, focusing on recognizing and protecting oneself from an active
shooter situation in the workplace or in other public settings like malls,
stores, restaurants and churches. Schramm has worked for KCPD since 1995, and
has worked with tactical response teams to train his department on active
shooters.
“Six or seven years ago, charter schools in Kansas City
reached out to us wanting some type of plan,” said Schramm. “They needed some
type of guidance for active shooter response. We put a presentation together
that has since evolved three or four times. At this point, I now give this
presentation about a half dozen times a week to businesses, schools, and
churches, you name it. Anyone that asks for it, we’ll come out and provide at
least an hour-long training.”
The department started doing active shooter drills for the
charter and public schools to help develop their plan, which is no longer
offered to the public. City Hall, the health and water departments, and other
Kansas City organizations also receive the shooter drill trainings.
“There are numerous programs out there for active shooter
training,” said Schramm. “They’re all pretty much the same. They might be
called something different, but I guarantee 90 percent of them are identical
with maybe a different twist.”
Schramm said that while most of the time people know what to
do for a fire or tornado drill, there has not been formal training for an
active shooter situation. He added that each individual has to take ownership
when it comes to active shooter training, because if the situation arises, no
one will be telling everyone what to do or how to respond.
“You have to know what your options are,” said Schramm. “Our
program is 100 percent options-based. At the beginning, schools and businesses
used to just strictly have a lockdown. While that is great and very effective,
it misses some key elements.”
KCPD focuses on Flee.
Fortify. Fight. for their active shooter training. Similar to a lockdown,
it provides an option to escape from a threat. The definition of an active
shooter, according to Schramm, is an individual actively engaged in killing or
attempting to kill people in a confined or populated area; in most cases,
active shooters use firearms and there is no pattern or method to their
selection of victims. Active shooter situations are unpredictable and evolve
quickly.
“These take place in 10 minutes or less, but more often they
occur in less than five minutes,” said Schramm. “It can happen in two to three
minutes, depending on where you’re at. The trend right now is more open-air
environments or venues. There’s a lot of concern with churches, and that’s a
valid concern. But the reality of active shooters inside churches is very
small.”
About 25 percent of active shooter instances are happening
in school environments, according to Schramm. Half are occurring in the
business world, including stores and restaurants or businesses that are not
open to pedestrian traffic.
The number-one option, according to Schramm, is to flee, or
run away from the threat of an active shooter, if possible. If fleeing is not
an option, fortifying, or hiding in a safe, secure location where one can
barricade oneself is best.
“We all do the same thing. We walk through the entrance of a
building, and we walk out the same way we came in,” said Schramm. “We walk
through the front door, and that’s our exit.”
Schramm said that it is important to know where the exits
are in every building one enters. Familiarizing oneself inside of a structure
can provide for easy and quick exits, which could potentially save lives. In
restaurants, specifically, Schramm added that there is always an exit door
through the kitchen.
If fleeing or fortifying are not options, Schramm said that
the only thing left to do is to fight, or disengage, the threat. Using whatever
is available as a weapon or distraction, including chairs, aerosol sprays, or
objects that can be thrown, the goal is to stop the active shooter from
creating additional harm.
“Suspects will not stop until they are stopped, run out of
ammunition, or are faced with direct law enforcement,” said Schramm. “Sometimes
they then commit suicide. The most important thing to take from any training
you may have is to always be aware of your surroundings, and listen to your
intuition. If something is telling you that things aren’t right, get out of the
situation and seek help.”
The Kansas City Police Department offers their active
shooter training through its Crisis Intervention Team. To find out more
information about the training, contact the department at 816-234-5000. St.
Joseph Medical Center provides free community education classes regularly. To
find out more information, visit stjosephkc.com, or follow the hospital on
social media.