Pop Quiz ... Active Shooter What Would You Do?

NCFubar

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2016
Messages
11,727
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
Keeping it simple ... you’re in the El Paso WalMart yesterday when the shooting started with your family. All you have is you normal EDC stuff. What would you do?

For me my EDC is a compact 9mm (9+1), a 3 1/2” folder, a small flashlight and cellphone. Me personally, I hear shots ... hopefully a can think quick enough ... From what direction? Where is my wife and kid? What’s the nearest exit and is there any concealment/cover on the way? Hopefully, we’re moving away from danger in a smart way and I’m covering the rear. If we make it out, we keep going ... I’m out of it. If we can’t get out I hopefully can get to some type of concealment or preferably cover and get my wife and kid as deep in as possible and set myself to defend them as best as I can with a compact 9mm vs a long gun ... and pray. Sorry, I have no delusions of going Walker Texas Ranger and saving the day ... just my family. Call me selfish or even chicken ... but I remember an old saying that smart people are full of caution while stupid people are full of confidence and I try to be smart.
 
Get my friends and family out of harms way or into deep cover, and hope for the best. If I have to fight, I'll do my best to get away from friends and family, I'll take the incoming rounds if necessary, not them.
Now, no friends or family to try and protect, remind myself I'm a civilian no longer a cop, so I'm out of here ASAP. Unless I can shoot the SOB in the back, then it's game on.
 
First and foremost get my wife under cover. WE WILL NOT TRY TO GET OUT. Exits will be jammed. Excellent place for the shooter to rack up scores. We'll just stay down. If the shooter is coming our way I'll try to move away from my wife and pop up and waste the shithook. If he moves on past us I'll do what OldBear said.
 
Last edited:
Defense. Get out a side or back entrance if possible. If not, find a corner aisle. Easier to check your position on a 90° instead of a center aisle of 180°. Hand on the ready, pistol NOT out, never know when Barney Fife will show up and jump scare a mag into you. Or, don't really know until it happens to me.
 
I make it a point avoid Wal Mart like @JBoyette and @BatteryOaksBilly have mentioned, there seems to be higher probability of stupid stuff going on there.

Regardless of the specific event or environment, a few things are worth considering:

Exits. The more unconventional the better. Loading docks, for example.

Physical conditioning. Be in enough shape to save your own life. Even better, someone else's. Can you run, carry, drag?

Mental conditioning. The body can't go where the mind hasn't already been. Embrace the fact that violent events aren't probable, but they are possible. Mindset is king. Skills are a close second.

Incoming rounds have priority. Are they your rounds or his? Is your gun an effective tool? What is "enough" ammo?

Medical. Bleeding control know how and tools can be useful. I have found an ankle med kit to be a great way to carry some items with long pants. I haven't figured out a set up for when wearing shorts.

Just some of my incomplete musings...
 
Last edited:
.....you have the right to remain silent, anything you say/type can and will be held against you in the kings court........ even on the internet.
 
Last edited:
I'm not a LEO and I wouldn't pretend to be one by going after the shooter. I would just make sure my wife and I have good cover or a safe way out and let the LEO's do their job. But, if the shooter should happen to stumble upon us I would just do my best to take him down. I always carry my Shield 9mm with and extra magazine and I would hope I could make those rounds count.
 
First, you have to have the plan and discussion with your loved ones before the event happens, pinned down by gunfire in the TV dinner isle is a bad time to discuss the plan.

My wife and I (no kids) generally do not separate when we are out in public, if she goes to the bathroom, I camp out near the area, or I am in the area I left her at and vice versa. Both of us are armed 9/10 times.

If the balloon goes up, which is our code between the two of us..."Balloon's Up" means we gotta go or someone sees something that the other doesn't.... generally any phase with "balloons" indicates a problem.

We generally avoid shopping or other activities when activity is busiest as a rule already because we don't like people anyhow.

I make it a habit when we are out to look for the exits and service entrances and access points.


In this scenario I'm going to take the law of averages that the shooter is going to enter from the front or other main entrance and the herd mentality is that the mass of people are going to head for the front door.
Likelihood of a secondary shooter is low, would be more concerned with IEDs

I'm going to head for the periphery of the store, yank the nearest fire alarm pull station that I come across and try to find a exit. If a exit isn't feasible then find a spot to hunker down and wait it out.
Main priority would be avoid, escape, and then engage, not saying I wouldn't take a shot if I could, but my main priority is evacuation of the area. Maybe mean and cold hearted but I'm not going to be stopping to render aid to anyone unless they are with me. Wounding patterns of these types of events are torso and head wounds, all the CAT TQs in the world don't fix this.
I would be highly concerned about collateral damage if I did have to deploy my pistol with a bunch of amped up LEO arriving. If I did engage the shooter, I would try to call 911 or have my wife make the call and give a good description of me.
Going to be a very dynamic situation and lots of moving pieces, going to have to come up with alot of the answers to the problems as they develop.
 
The body can't go where the mind hasn't already been.
Mindset is king. Skills are a close second.
Look for this on a Battery Oaks T shirt Soon!!!

I would add the Hackathorn Triad of Survival..Awareness..A Plan..A Weapon.
PANIC is a normal reaction to a problem with No fore thought solution...Cooper

I have a friend who's wife sets his watch to go off Sometime during the day. When it does, he assesses his surroundings, concealment, cover, exits, escape. He is a hard man. He would be hard to take.
 
Last edited:
People in general are creatures of habit. A person will generally shop and the same handful of shops, eat at the same restaurants, etc ... hell I’m even so boring I park in the same general area at those places. Like quite a few mentioned above I pretty much have an idea where possible outs are besides the main one as well as choke points or other possible hazards in my regular haunts.

Side note ... I also look for the location of fire extinguishers ... fires occur way more often than mass shootings.
 
If I can't GTFO, I'd hide and try to be invisible. Not much of a plan, I know.

Years ago a cop boyfriend told me to know where the exits are, where the "alternate" exits are (like going thru the kitchen), where the bathrooms are, so you can go in there and maybe not be seen, and what kind of things you can cover yourself up with, like thick tables you can hide under/behind. I used to think this dude was nuts!

If I can't get out, I'm hiding, and hoping not to be seen. I do check for ways out and "through." But I'm not brave, and so hiding is probably my go-to....
 
I remember reading about a Walmart shooting where a CC citizen went towards the sound of the guns when an armored truck courier was being held up in a store by a male and female robber duo and was shot and killed for his trouble. We want to be the good guy and stop the bad guy but it doesn't work out that way all the time. Best to seek cover and concealment and wait it out.
 
Get family as far away as I can hopefully through an unblocked exit. If that is not an option then hunker down wherever I can find decent concealment. If it’s summer I would probably have my shield with me which means only 11 rounds for defense unless I have a spare mag which I don’t always carry. That’s not much against a long gun but most of these guys are not looking for a gun fight and it might make him turn tail or better yet maybe I would hit him. This would be a last resort unless He had my back to me. I would also be bitching this heat that made me leave my G19 in the safe with its 5 more bullets..
 
Well, I would go to the gunfire.

LEO/MIL have been trained to seek out the shooter immediately. The faster the shooter is killed, the sooner the incident is ended, without unnecessary casualties. Unfortunately, responding LEO will not know who I am. So, that is a risk. I will try to identify myself, but know that I may be mistakenly taken as the adversary. Life is a bitch.

We must be aware of our surroundings and have the will to SURVIVE even unarmed.

I am always armed with a handgun that I am competent with and spare mags. At this point in my life, I am playing with house money because I've lived through so many incidents that I shouldn't have survived.

It should be a way of life for Americans. The Israelis could teach us much.
 
Pop Quiz ... Active Shooter What Would You Do?

Can’t say with 100% certainty; never been in that situation. I have thought about it though and usually do just about anywhere I go....ain’t that I’m paranoid, but I firmly believe that planning leads to an increase in the odds of survivability.

I do not go into any place without scoping out all the exits first. Yeah, doing a lap around the store may add a bit of time to my visit, but it is time well spent. In an emergency, most folks will attempt to exit the building the same way they entered. A good, but sad example of why this may not be the best option is The Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, RI in 2003...100 dead and 230 injured.
Know your alternate exits.


A lot of variables to consider. By myself? That’s one thing; if my wife and/or kids are with me? That’s another. They are and always will be my first priority. In an active shooter(s) scenario, job one is getting them the hell out and as far away from the situation as I possibly can.

If alone, one instinct is also going to be get the hell out...but there’s another one. It’s not a “hero” instinct; far from it...it’s a human, or should I say “humanitarian” instinct. It’s a side of me that says, “What if it were me, watching this unfold on the news, knowing damned well that my loved ones were in the middle of all that chaos? If someone inside the place was carrying, would I want them to shag ass outta there, or do what they could to maybe, give my loved ones a better chance at getting out?”

If one decided to act, there’s a chance that sh*t could go right and folks may be alive due to what you did, but there’s an equal chance sh*t could go sideways.

Hell of a lot to think about and I hope there ain’t a one of us that’s ever in that situation, but it’s something we should all consider, think about and be as prepared as possible.


 
Shoot the sprinkler head over the assailant’s head to distract him...ha, I am not that good beyond 7 yards. I am learning what to do though reading through y’all comments especially about scoping exits beyond the one I entered the store from.
 
Since my wife is currently not a CCW holder our general order for if things go bad is for her to grab the kids and get away from me as quick as possible. This methodology was based mainly on confrontations such as home break ins, robberies, ect. But can apply to these types of shootings.

See, I really hope and pray that should something like this happen around me that I truly am enough of a man to fight for my family.

That said, I will be drawing my carry pistol and going to work. I will be trying to return fire, draw his attention, anything to keep the bullets away from my family.

I really don’t want to get shot, much less die. But a bullet in me is one that isn’t in one of my kids. So if someone is taking a shot I am going to do my darndest to make myself the target and not them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
If I'm close to an exit I'm gone with my wife, if too crowded then I'm hiding and will not engage unless I am in line of fire,
don't want to get shot by LEO, off duty or other concealed or open carry citizen.

Recall the Las Vegas Cici pizza shooting of two deputies, both at soda machine eating lunch, guy shoots both in the head point blank,
then runs into Walmart across the street, fires one round into ceiling, concealed carry citizen follows him and draws but he is
shot dead in the head by gunman wife who also was involved.
 
For me it's all about proximity. If I have to go looking for the shooter, I'm too far away. If I don't I'm too close to do anything else but fight. And if I have to fight, then it will be a fight. No talk. No directions. No commands. One of us will be on the ground in the next couple seconds and I plan on it being them.

I've told my kids that if they are far enough away to escape, get out. I don't care what anyone says to do. Leave. As far as you can. Then Call me. If they are close enough to get to you, fight like your life depends on it. Because it does.

And as always, I also reserve the right to be cowering in the fetal position pissing on myself. But I doubt it.
 
I’d be running towards it. I know that the shooter doesn’t want rounds coming at him, so I’ll provide those. Glock 19 and spare mag in my edc. Not the same volume of fire he might have but enough to work with.
 
Ive said it before, and I'll repeat it now.
Ive been in a situation where a guy with a gun was threatening to shoot/kill (I forget the exact word he used) 'every m-fer in this place'
I know what I did - cowered. My back was to the door, where he was, and as I heard him start talking I was pulled down into the booth by a friend.
From there it was get as small as possible and hope I, or my friends, didnt get shot and killed.
No shots were fired, thankfully, so no one was injured that night.
But it made me realize that when faced with a situation like this that a lot of bravado goes out the dang window.

Many on here are former mil or leo, of those Im sure many have had a bullet shot AT THEM and they dont have that level of fear that I have. Well done. But me, a normal guy, it got real very quick and you'll NEVER hear of me speaking with bravado about it cause I know how it went down before.

If Im doing my Sunday morning shopping and things pop off - Im going to an exit
 
Whenever I'm in Walmart I'm usually in the Sporting Section, grab more .38 for my EDC and pick up a shotgun. Battle field recovery you know.


CD
Yesterday morning I took a look and confirmed what I figured - all their guns have gun locks on them in the case. So it might not be easy to grab a shotgun and use it
 
Probably squeal like a 12 year old girl, and then faint. Actually, I have no idea how I would react. I'm pretty sure few of us here know either. Not until we are in a situation like will we know.
That's the kind of thinking that leads to panic/freeze in the real world. I know how I want to react and I've practiced doing that. If/when the time comes I *at least* have a mental template for taking action.
 
Probably squeal like a 12 year old girl, and then faint. Actually, I have no idea how I would react. I'm pretty sure few of us here know either. Not until we are in a situation like will we know.

Ive said it before, and I'll repeat it now.
Ive been in a situation where a guy with a gun was threatening to shoot/kill (I forget the exact word he used) 'every m-fer in this place'
I know what I did - cowered. My back was to the door, where he was, and as I heard him start talking I was pulled down into the booth by a friend.
From there it was get as small as possible and hope I, or my friends, didnt get shot and killed.
No shots were fired, thankfully, so no one was injured that night.
But it made me realize that when faced with a situation like this that a lot of bravado goes out the dang window.

Many on here are former mil or leo, of those Im sure many have had a bullet shot AT THEM and they dont have that level of fear that I have. Well done. But me, a normal guy, it got real very quick and you'll NEVER hear of me speaking with bravado about it cause I know how it went down before.

If Im doing my Sunday morning shopping and things pop off - Im going to an exit

So what's the plan to improve?
 
  • Like
Reactions: SPM
Back
Top Bottom