Are you a teacher or student? Would you know what to do in an on-campus shooting situation?

Mark Gordon, chief of police at Oakland University (Rochester, MI), recently spoke to the school’s professors on how to handle and survive an active shooter.

According to a report by Laurel Kraus in the Oakland Post, Gordon offered this advice:

First, differentiate between a hostage situation and an active shooter. In a hostage situation, remain patient and compliant while authorities deal with it. If shots are fired, take appropriate survival strategies.

If it is an active shooter, Gordon recommends three responses:

  • Get out. Escape if you can.
  • Hide out. If you can’t escape, hide.
  • Take out. If you can’t escape or hide, fight back.

These strategies are detailed in our Conversations book, How to Survive an Active Shooter.How to Survive an Active Shooter 2nd edition - Jacquelyn Lynn - cover

Gordon also warned against falling for tricks. For example, if you're hiding in a locked room, don’t open the door to someone claiming to be the police. University police have keys to every room and won't ask you to open the door for them. Also, a shooter may set off a fire alarm to flush people out of a building; don’t react unless you see fire or smoke.

In the article, Gordon was quoted as saying, “We deny ourselves the opportunity to create a plan because we deny the fact that it could happen to us. You cannot create a life-saving strategy during a life-threatening incident.”

What is your school’s plan for protecting students, faculty and staff in an active shooter situation? Find out before it happens.

Update: Here's another article worth reading; it's from the New Ulm Journal: “More tools for cases of school shooting”

Jacquelyn Lynn
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