Active Shooter

An active shooter is a person who appears to be actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in populated areas on campus.  In most cases, active shooters use a firearm(s) and display no pattern or method for selection of their victims. In some cases, active shooters use other weapons and/or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to cause additional harm and act as an impediment to law enforcement and emergency services responders. IEDs may detonate immediately, have delayed detonation fuses, or detonate on contact.

Content Warning: The video below contains simulations of active shooter situations.

Active shooter situations are dynamic and evolve rapidly, demanding immediate response by the community and immediate deployment of law enforcement resources to stop the shooting and prevent further harm to the community.

Hostage or barricaded subject situations often take place over a longer period of time and usually there is no ongoing injury or loss of life. These situations are often managed through the deployment of specialized units, as time allows. Both hostage and barricaded subject situations can rapidly shift to Active Shooter situations and vice versa.

In general, how you respond to an active shooter will be dictated by the specific circumstances of the encounter. If you find yourself involved in an active shooter situation, try to remain calm and call 617-353-2121 or 911 as soon as possible.

What should I do if I find myself involved in an Active Shooter situation?

If an active shooter is outside your building or inside the building you are in, you should:

1. Remain calm
2. Warn other faculty, staff, students, and visitors to take immediate shelter
3. Go to a room that can be locked or barricaded
4. Lock and barricade doors or windows
5. Turn off lights
6. Close blinds
7. Block windows
8. Turn off radios or other devices that emit sound
9. Keep yourself out of sight and take adequate cover/protection (i.e., concrete walls, thick desks, filing cabinets)
10. Silence cell phones
11. Have one person call 911 and state: “(exact location). We have an active shooter on campus, gunshots fired.”

What additional information will law enforcement be looking for?

• Description of the offender(s): sex, race, height, weight, clothing, type of weapon(s), location last seen, direction of travel, and identity if known.
• Description of any victims: provide location(s) and number of victims.
• If you observed any suspicious devices (IED), provide the location of the device and a description.
• If you heard explosions, provide a description and location.

What else should I look for?

• Wait patiently until a uniformed law enforcement officer provides an “all clear”.
• Do not respond to voice commands until you can verify with certainty that they are being issued by a law enforcement officer; unfamiliar voices may be an active shooter trying to lure you from safety.
• Attempts to rescue people should only be attempted if it can be accomplished without further endangering the persons inside a secured area.
• Depending on circumstances, consideration may also be given to exiting ground floor windows as safely and quietly as possible.

What if the active shooter comes into the area where I am?

If an active shooter enters your office, lab, or classroom, you should:

• Try to remain calm.
• Try not to do anything that will provoke the active shooter.
• If there is no possibility of escaping or hiding, only as a last resort when your life is in imminent danger should you make a personal choice to attempt to negotiate with or overpower the assailant(s).
• Call 911, if possible, and provide the information listed in the previous guideline.
• If the active shooter(s) leaves the area, barricade the room or go to a safer location.

If you are in an outside area and encounter an active shooter, you should:

• Try to remain calm.
• Move away from the active shooter or the sound of gunshot(s) and/or explosions(s).
• Look for appropriate locations for cover/protection (i.e., brick walls, retaining walls, parked vehicles, etc.)
• Call 911 and provide the information listed in the first guideline.

What should I expect from responding officers?

The objectives of responding law enforcement officers are:

• Immediately engage or contain the active shooter(s) in order to stop life-threatening behavior.
• Identify threats such as improvised explosive devices.
• Identify victims to facilitate medical care, interviews, and counseling.
• Investigate.

Law enforcement officers responding to an active shooter are trained to proceed immediately to the area in which shots were last heard in order to stop the shooting as quickly as possible. The first responding officers may be in teams; they may be dressed in normal patrol uniforms, or they may be wearing external ballistic vests and Kevlar helmets or other tactical gear. The officers may be armed with rifles, shotguns, or handguns.

Do exactly as the team of officers instruct. The first responding officers will be focused on stopping the active shooter and creating a safe environment for medical assistance to be brought in to aid the injured.

In case you must flee, do not go to the normal gather site for your building. Get as far away from the shooting scene as possible, and call 911.