On Sunday, Sept. 9, Auburn University experienced a shooting nearby that killed one and wounded four others. Of the wounded, three were teenagers. Police say the shooting was not random. Read the full story here.
This shooting is of particular interest because it came after a campus victory in the college football league, and the investigation has yet to yield cause. What if it were related to the game?
As we move forward with college football season, and generally through yet another school semester, this shooting reminds us to look closely at campus safety regarding active shooters.
AEGIS Security & Investigations is proud to offer live and online active shooter preparedness and response courses that are easy to follow and teaches you how to prevent, react, and survive and attack.
The key element for all students and staff at a school is to remember run, hide, fight. Whether you are on or off campus, this technique is the best to save your life.
As soon as you realize are in an active shooter incident, be prepared to run, hide, and fight. Put yourself into a mindset that keeps you calm yet reactive. Your first instinct should be to run away from the situation. Once you can confirm you are safe, locate or call police officers or local security.
If running is not possible, find a hiding place. This can be the nearest space in which you can lock and/or barricade the door and take cover behind dense objects. If there is no room or space readily available, hide behind or under a large dense objects, or a dark space that would be difficult in which to identify a target for a shooter. Keep in mind that if you are hiding, you may need to move to a new space is the threat gets closer and that you may also end up fighting. Wherever you are, fashion yourself an improvised weapon with which to fight.
If you must engage in a fight with an active shooter, you have three key goals: defend yourself, incapacitate the perpetrator, and secure his/her weapon as quickly as possible. Heavy objects from your surroundings that can be thrown at or bashed into the perpetrator are ideal weapons. If there are others with you, work as a team.
Additionally, you should participate in an active shooter training. No matter what your title or role is on a campus, you need to be aware of what to expect in such a situation given today’s world (nearly one reported shooting per week in the US). If your campus does not have active shooter trainings available, advocate for it today.
Active shooter training teaches you how to react in such a situation. Once shots are heard, the typical response for untrained individuals is to scream and, more often than not, stop in their tracks, leaving them open targets for the shooter.
The civilian active shooter training provided by AEGIS Security & Investigations is intended to build on “run, hide, fight,” the long-standing method of saving yourself in these events.
Workshops run from an hour to several hours dependent on the needs of the organization and individuals. Our most highly sought after workplace violence training program is our one-hour plus add-on Run, Hide, Fight Live Fire Demo; participants begin with a lecture and basic training on how to handle the situation and are then exposed to sample scenarios in which they practice those same skills. The effectiveness of this scenario can be viewed on a CBS segment here.
AEGIS’ program is modeled after our one-hour live lecture and live fire demo and has been expanded to include additional information regarding pre-incident indicators, workplace violence and terrorism. It has been adapted for a unique immersive online delivery that challenges participants to make split-second decisions that could be the difference between life and death. Participants learn proven techniques on how to survive an active shooter.
The course is taught by a security expert and professional instructor. This online active shooter training is designed for civilians and aims to increase their personal resiliency and likelihood of surviving an incident before the police arrive. Sign up today for your online active shooter course with AEGIS Security & Investigations.
Some additional notes here about active shooter trainings are likely spaces for such situations and what trainings can prepare you for in such an event.
Participating in active shooter training enhances one’s ability to remember the key element of enduring such a situation: run, hide, fight. AEGIS Security & Investigations offers a real-life active shooter training course in which students learn to ensure their personal safety and help those around them stay clear of danger. The greatest benefits to a course like this are its ability to put trainees into the proper reactionary mindset, its unique approach as a drill to create physical memory of what to do, and its insistence on the need for run, hide, and fight.
AEGIS Security & Investigations is a Los Angeles region company that is licensed and insured in the State of California to provide high-end armed and unarmed regular and temporary off-duty police officers, bodyguards, security officers, loss prevention agents, and event staff.
Additionally, we offer services for private investigation, consultation, people tracing, and background investigation. Our trainings and workshops in the field of security licensure and counter-terrorism have been featured in news media and are renowned for their efficacy. For more information or to contact us, visit www.aegis.com.
AEGIS Security & Investigations is a Los Angeles region company that is licensed and insured in the State of California to provide high-end armed and unarmed regular and temporary off-duty police officers, bodyguards, security officers, loss prevention agents, and event staff. Additionally, we offer services for private investigation, consultation, people locates, and background investigations. Our trainings and workshops in the field of security licensure and counter-terrorism have been featured in news media and are renowned for their efficacy. For more information or to contact us, visit www.aegis.com.
By Chelsea Turner & Jeff Zisner