Expert: How to spot the active shooter threat before the first shots

FOWLER, Ind. − Everyone's mind drifts off to "what-if" daydreams. Some might fantasize about hitting the lottery. More recently, the daydreams might be nightmares like, "What if I had been at Greenwood Park Mall on July 17?"

Or "What if I'd been at the Highland Park, Ill., Independence Day parade?

Each breaking news alert about a mass shooting gnaws away at our collective sense of safety in public places.

“Nobody has any idea what’s going on around them. We’re all addicted to our phones,” Scott Wealing, a retired Army Ranger, said. “If you see it develop, you can get yourself out of that bad situation.”

Surviving attacks begin with paying attention. Tactically, it's called situational awareness, said Wealing, who has 10 years in private security. He now trains the public and law enforcement at his rural Fowler, Ind., shooting range called Briggs Core Dynamics.

Mass shootings are survivable — and in some ways — preventable, Wealing said last Tuesday, noting that Thursday and Friday, he was training police officers in active shooting scenarios.

The interest in active shooter training isn't just a police thing. Ordinary citizens' interest in firearm protection and tactics has increased, Wealing said of his classes at the range.

Citing statistics, Wealing noted that active shootings happen 25% of the time in offices or businesses, including malls. They happen 15% of the time in schools; 11% in stores; 5% in colleges and 5% in places of worship, Wealing said.

Eighty percent of shootings happen in gun-free zones, Wealing said.

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Step 1: Look around; see the threat

Situational awareness is looking for the anomaly — the person who looks out of place or nervous, Wealing said. It might be a guy in the mall who looks jittery and clutching a backpack, he said, adding that doesn't mean you do anything. You just watch and prepare.

“You’re setting a mental trigger," Wealing said. "If he does this, this is what I’m going to do. The unfortunate thing is the bad guys pick the time and the place to strike."

That mental trigger might be the nervous-looking guy at a mall reaching into his backpack and dropping the bag, Wealing said.

Wealing said whenever he goes out to eat, he tries to get seated at the taller table because it gives him a better vantage point to watch people. Typically, he sees someone tripping over a line on a carpet, but he's looking for the anomaly.

Part of situational awareness includes taking notice of escape routes. At a restaurant, that might be the main entrance, but it also might be the back door in the kitchen or the fire escape door, Wealing said. Worst comes to worse, throw a chair through a window to escape a shooter.

When you go to a restaurant, excuse yourself after being seated to go wash your hands. While walking to the bathroom, look for the exits.

When the anomaly becomes a threat

The question about what to do if the anomaly becomes a threat is as varied as the individual.

“There are people that are trained or paid to run to gunfire," Wealing said. "People like my wife, I don’t want them running towards gun fire. Run. Fleeing is a viable option.”

Know that statistics show that half of the the active shooting situations end before the police arrive, he said, so help from law enforcement officers, while they are likely en route, is not immediate.

Freeze, flight or fight

Those with their faces buried in their phones or not looking around are not going to see the possible threat, and they'll freeze if things go south, Wealing said, emphasizing the need to be vigilant — not nervous or fearful. Vigilant.

“If you forget everything, I say, remember this: Movement is life. Move. It’s harder to hit a moving target than a stationary target," he said. “On foot or a vehicle, movement is life.

“If you have to run, just take off," he said. "Don’t worry about your purse. Don’t worry about your jacket. Just go.

“If you decide you need to fight the threat and you attack the threat, you better fight like you’re the third monkey trying to get on the ark and it’s starting to rain," he said.

Those who have the spark to act like Elisjsha Dicken, the 22-year-old Seymour man who killed the Greenfield Park Mall shooter, are rare. He had the spark, Wealing said.

The 74-year-old retired Army colonel who tackled the man shooting U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had the spark.

“He had that spark," Wealing said of the hero at Giffords' 2011 shooting. “I can teach you to shoot like a ninja, but I can’t give you that spark.”

If you find yourself in a mass shooting situation, your choices are fight or flight.

“A mind set you need to have is: No one is coming to save you,” Wealing siad. “Are the police on the way? Sure.”

But police response is time ticking away, and the shooting will likely be over before they arrive, Wealing said.

Attacking the gunman is not a scene from a Hollywood movie. It's a real responsibility.

“Everything is my responsibility (until police arrive),” Wealing said. “Save who need to be saved; if you have to, kill who needs to be killed. Always be working.”

Working is looking around, helping while remaining vigilant after the threat is down, he explained.

Part of working is communicating with those who witnessed the attack.

“Immediately, you need to let the people know you’re the good guy,” he said, explaining you yell for someone to call 911. “When law enforcement gets there, the person in uniform, they’re in charge. Do whatever they say.”

Run, but to where?

Video of the July 4 shootings during the Highland Park, Illinois, Independence Day parade showed people running in all different directions.

Outside, the sound of shots echo off buildings, making it confusing as to which direction to run.

Tod Langley, CEO and founder of Crisis Response Leader Training in Lafayette, Indiana, is a former special-ops soldier and works with Wealing at the range. His company creates video simulators of mass shootings in clients' specific buildings. From these videos, they plan a response.

“If you can identify where you think the potential shooter is coming from or where the casualties are at, breaking the line of sight between you and the shooter is the first thing that is going to save you," Langley said.

“Do not run linear in any direction," Langley said. “If you can break the line of a sight in an urban outside environment by going in opposite angle.”

In other words, zig-zag between buildings, he said.

Wealing said if you're outside when a shooting happens, get inside behind cover that will stop a bullet, if you can.

Wealing said, “If the threat’s inside, you get out.

“If the threat is outside, and your building is hard enough to keep it outside, then you lock down.

“If you’re in a facility or a building and the threats in there, you want to get out," Wealing said. “You don’t want to hunker down unless you absolutely have to. You don’t want to hide.”

Langley disagrees with Wealing's recommendations not to hide unless you have to.

Hide behind a locked door, turn out the lights and make sure you are hidden beyond the line of sight of the gunman.

“When there is a threat and you’re already inside, you would lock down," Langley said. "Locks, lights and out of sight.

“There are very few cases in American history of a successful breach by an active shooter to a locked door. They’ll shoot through the door.”

Outside or inside, if you are unfortunate to be in the shooter's sights, immediately act.

“Certainly, if you are in direct line of sight with the threat, and you need to do something, run and run as fast as you can and find cover — something that will stop a bullet. Then continue to advance away.”

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Stopping an attack if possible

Every mass attacks begins with the attacker observing, choosing his target — typically who he perceives as the most vulnerable and weakest. The attacker will stalk the person or reconnoiter the site, then he closes in and strikes, Wealing said.

Interrupt any of these, and the attack is foiled, Wealing said.

Confront the person while he recons the location, and the attack ends before it begins, Wealing said. Not appearing vulnerable or interrupting the would-be attacker as he begins to close in disrupts the attack, Wealing said.

In May 2018, a Nobleville Middle School teacher disrupted a shooter who came into his classroom by throwing a basketball at the boy with the gun then charging him. That teacher, who had the spark, foiled the active shooter as the attacker was in the strike phase of the attack.

“Those present themselves the same way every time," Wealing said. “Knowing how the threat presents itself buys us time to break that threat.”

Our future

Is America changing? Or is it reverting back to a more primitive time in the country's history.

“It’s a difficult societal question," Langley said. "I think some of it goes into trust and resiliency at the community level.

“We have to put emphasis and trust back into our law enforcement," Langley said, acknowledging his support for police and admitting that officers make mistakes. "If we don’t, we’re not going to have that greater sense of security.”

A step to a peaceful future falls on the public. If you see something, say something, Langley said.

Unfortunately, there is a stigma with mental health issues that causes those close to the ill person not to report them, Langley said.

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The public — and families — need to recognize common signs of potential active shooters, including suicidal behavior, which is a large indicator, Langley said.

People should not shutter away from society and should not be fearful, Langley said.

“There’s no way to go forward .. in society if we’re scared," Langley said. "It will just have a domino effect in so many different ways.

"We’ve got to increase our communication. We need to increase our situational awareness as people," he said.

The myth that it won't happen here

Everybody thinks mass shootings happen somewhere else, Wealing said. Or they hope that.

“Hope is not a plan. It’s not a strategy," he said. “You can prepare for the worst and hope for the best. But at least you’re prepared."

Don't stop living your lives. Just be aware of the surroundings and look for the anomalies before they become a threat.

“Be vigilant," he said. “Always think through potential problems.”

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: How to spot the mass shooting before the first shots are fired