Page 5 - TPA Journal November December 2023

Lessons Learned from Mass Shooting Events:

Next Steps

Dr. Perry Gilmore is a reserve deputy with the Randall County Texas Sheriff’s Office

It has been said that there is a mass shooting somewhere in the United States every day where
multiple victims are shot. (1) These mass shootings occur in various places and venues: private parties,
night clubs, public places and public events, shopping malls, businesses, churches, and schools. In the
author’s career in law enforcement, the author has seen our profession develop tactics, procedures, and
training to respond to these ever-more-frequent events. Lessons have been learned the hard way. We all
learn from one another’s experiences.

The author’s research and training are focused on mass shootings in schools. The author was the
incident commander at a mass shooting in a high school in the author’s jurisdiction in which seven stu-
dents were shot and wounded. (2) The author’s training and experience also include hostage negotiation.

Law enforcement has developed excellent responses to active shooter incidents. (3) We have also
done a good job providing the firearms required to successfully engage and stop mass shooters. We have
incorporated life-saving techniques and equipment as part of our everyday law enforcement equipment,
such as tourniquets. Law enforcement has extended our active shooter training to our first responder part-
ners in fire departments and emergency medical services. We have offered this training to citizens who
may find themselves in an active shooter incident, so they will know what to do to increase their chances
of survival.

Schools have also taken note of the advances in mass shooting tactics, incorporating campus-wide
alert systems, improving building access, strengthening doors and access points, encouraging proactive
reporting of threats, and conducting active shooter drills. However, even with all of these improvements
and gains, there is still room for improvement.

In some mass shooting incidents, the shooter has been quickly located in a confined space, some-
times with law enforcement entry into that space made difficult by locked or barricaded doors. Because
of the delayed law enforcement entry, and lack of knowledge of what is happening inside, the situation
may appear to have changed from an active shooter to a hostage situation. The accepted approach to a
hostage situation is to slow things down and negotiate with the subject, rather than immediately physi-
cally confront the hostage-taker.

An active shooter event is definitely not the same as a hostage incident. The standard response to
one is diametrically opposite of the response to the other. Let’s look at the differences in each type of

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