Active Shooter Evolution

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies an active shooter event as “one in which one or more persons actively engages in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area” (FBI, 2017). All active shooter events in the United States during

“The gunpowder was still lingering in the air as San Bernardino Police Lt. Mike Madden and three other officers approached a conference center where a mass shooting had been reported. Bodies had fallen outside the meeting room in San Bernardino, California,” what these officers experienced on that Thursday evening

The proposal to the problem focus on mass shootings specifically, not gun violence in general, although the potential solutions to mass shootings would do much to prevent gun violence as a whole. Mass shootings represent a mere 2% of gun-related deaths, yet the sheer horror, shock, and scale of carnage tend to capture the public’s attention so much more so than the typical shooting homicide or suicide, which are seemingly ubiquitous in news reports these days. The big issue with solving the problem of mass shootings is the variety of factors involved with the shooters’ motivations to kill.

“Hundreds of students, professors, tourists, and store clerks witnessed the 96 minute killing spree as they crouched behind trees, hid under desks, took cover in stairwells, or, if they had been hit, played dead” (Pamela Colloff). Pamela Colloff stated that the gunman “introduced the nation to the idea of mass murder in a public space.” Charles Whitman had shot a total of 43 people, killing a total of 13 people. An Austin police officer shot and killed Whitman before he could do anymore harm.

Everyday, the biased news media reports another mass shooting. The media reports the cases of “police brutality” and the media reports the tragic accidents. The media doesn’t report the research by David Burnett and Clayton Cramer who track incidents of defensive gun use. The stories include women fighting off would be rapists and senior citizens protecting themselves from robbers. They are stories that prevent violent crimes from occurring, for they are stories that save lives.

Over the last decade or so, the United States of America has been shaken by an epidemic of terrifying mass shootings, devastating slayings of unexpecting victims, and unnerving annihilations of the innocent. There is no specific target, no explicitly sought-out group, nor definite individual. From a classroom of first-graders, to a crowded movie theatre, to a U.S. Naval yard, the location seems at most, random, other than that it is almost always a public place. The perpetrators responsible for these horrific murders also vary, and often surprise those who thought they knew them. However, while the occurrences of mass shootings are unpredictable and always shocking, most have one thing in

Two other egregious mishaps of overzealous SWAT team, Parenti say were a young mother killed as she attempted to run and shield her baby during an early morning raid by a Swat team (she was not a suspect in the case). Additionally, an overzealous SWAT raid lead to the death of a 56-year-old man who was shot as he jumped from his card table during a surprise raid by masked SWAT commandos. (No Drugs were found). (127). Parenti says, SWAT killings of the mentally ill are usually classified as suicide by cop. With their adrenaline going, Parenti says there are even incidents were Swat has shot at and killed

In 2012, the Cinemark Century 16 theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado resulted in one of the highest casualty counts in the United States. The significance of this mass shooting has notable implications from both the behavioral and security management perspective. It’s important to understand, theoretically, the behavior and actions of the shooter, James Eagan Holmes. Because of his actions, both law enforcement and theater security responses needed to be reviewed to detail their response. As result of their responses, there are significant lessoned learned. From the lessons learned, businesses and organizations can apply various preventative and mitigating actions. The Aurora Colorado shooting also had significant ethical and legal considerations. To begin, the background of Holmes is essential for an understanding of his life, upbringing, and behavior preceding the massacre.

We live in a country that is often faced with violent and devastating events that forever stay cemented into our minds. Most stories on the news inform us about the most recent robberies, assaults, frauds, etc. However, one of the most shocking and disastrous types of stories the news updates us are those about shootings. One of the most infamous shootings happened almost 50 years ago in a small town in Ohio where U.S troops attacked protesters on the grounds of Kent State University, killing four students and leaving nine others wounded .

A married couple by the name of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashleen Malik opened fire at a holiday party on December 2, 2015, at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. During this shooting spree, 14 people were killed, and 22 were injured with a majority being county employees and were friends and colleges’. It was approximately 11 a.m. when the couple entered the Inland Regional Center and opened fire. They opened fire in the employee banquet area where Mr. Farook had been earlier as he attended a work holiday party. It was reported that Mr. Farook had left angered after getting into a disagreement with a fellow coworker. Quickly after the shooting they escaped into a black SUV leaving behind three pipe bombs that did not detonate. The televised chase ended in an intense shootout that led to a full muti-agency response, to include the use of MRAPs and it was also reported that 23 officers fired over 380 rounds (Helton, 2015). Ultimately, the shootout resulted in the death of both Rizwan Farook and Tashleen Malik.

From emergency personnel, to retail vendors, to educators and students, to government or military employees and members of the general public, anyone could potentially be involved in an active shooter crisis situation. As active shooter incidents are becoming more frequent in recent years; being prepared to effectively respond when faced with such a crisis situation can save lives and help a city to better prepare for and respond to such crisis situations (FBI major findings, 2014, para. 1-2). According to a recent FBI Active Shooter Incident Study (2014), “individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in populated areas (excluding gang or drug related shootings)” are considered to be active shooters. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the city of Aurora, Colorado handled the active shooting crisis that occurred on July 20, 2012. This paper will explain the crisis situation and discuss the communication responses that ensued on that day.

Non-ideological active shooters are more likely to conduct mass shootings based upon personal grievances, like the two shooters who conducted the mass shootings at Columbine High School. It would be unreasonable to attempt a prediction of which type (ideological or non-ideological) of active shooter is a more relevant threat to an Air Force organization, however, the AFSNCOA is an educational environment where students commonly communicate their grievances. Ideological and non-ideological active shooters can be further analyzed to determine similar behaviors, qualities or characteristics.

My next story takes us to the state of Colorado; more specifically the town of Aurora. On the day of July 20th, 2012 James Eagan Holmes walked into the movie theater, century 16, at a midnight showing for the film Dark Night Rises. A little after the film started Holmes walked out the exit to go and get his firearms and tear gas. It was believed that he was dressed up in tactical gear and a gas mask. Around 12:30 am he reentered the movie theater and began to throw two canisters of gas. Then he threw the gas and began to shoot at people. “Holmes fired 76 shots in the theater: six from the shotgun, 65 from the semi-automatic rifle, and five from the .40-caliber handgun,” (Tenser 1). “The first phone calls to emergency services via 9-1-1

This video on Based Patriot features President Trump’s heartfelt speech on the horrific massacre in Las Vegas. The President specifically focused on the heroic act by both on and off duty officers to save innocent lives. He explained how these on and off duty officers were standing up, in the line of fire, directing others around them to safety. He explained how one officer who was off duty at the time put on a safety vest, stood up, making herself a target, in order to help those around her get out of harm’s way. Below is a small exert of the speech, which is well worth viewing in its entirety:

Firefighters and police get exposed to scarring traumatic experiences and dangerous situations such as facing the possibility of failure in saving everyone in a fire, the distress of stumbling across a corpse, or the horrors of killing someone, intended or not. This brings up the misconception surrounding the shoot-to-kill policy. To start, officers are actually trained to shoot-to-stop or to end the immediate threat. In the United States, deadly force is only granted under the impression they are in danger of significant bodily harm or threat. A common question civilians bring up to condemn this policy is, “why didn’t they shoot to disarm instead?” The reason why is because the concept of shooting to wound is problematic. One reason