Awareness needed to survive an ‘active shooting’

A key to surviving an active shooter event is “situational awareness,” a security consultant told about 150 Five Towners on Sunday morning.
The speaker, retired NYPD Detective Chris Zaberto, emphasized that victims have only three options once shooting starts: “Run, Hide or Fight.”
“A fourth option, if you choose not to do any of the three, is die,” he told his audience at Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi in Cedarhurst.
Zaberto, chief operating officer of the Ten91 security group, said escaping danger by running is the preferred option; hiding, “barricaded in a room away from the visual line of the shooter” or behind whatever obstacle is available, is next best.
When fleeing or hiding, strongly encourage others — who may be confused or frozen by fear — to follow you, but don’t let their hesitation delay your movement, he said.
Fight only as a last resort and only when your life is in imminent danger, he cautioned, but once a decision is made to fight, total commitment to the fight is required and it’s an action that’s best taken as a group. Act with physical aggression and throw things at the active shooter in a bid to incapacitate him — for instance, spray the shooter’s eyes with the contents of a fire-extinguisher, or hit the shooter with the device. “Utilize anything you have to try to surprise and disorient the shooter,” he said.
Zaberto said that when emergency responders arrive, their objective will be to neutralize the shooter — which means that the evacuation of survivors and caring for the wounded will wait; they may even step on the casualties during their assault. Additionally, since responders may not yet have identified the shooter, they may consider everyone as a possible suspect, and so it’s important to fully cooperate with every police order and to keep one’s hands in view at all times, he said.
Zaberto said there is no single “profile” of an active shooter.