If you have an active attacker in your vicinity, follow these key steps: RUN, HIDE and FIGHT
RUN
- Run away to avoid gunfire and get to a safe place. Have an escape route and plan in mind.
- Evacuate regardless of whether others follow.
- Leave your belongings behind.
- Once you are safe and away from danger, call or text 911. Give as many details as possible about what you saw or heard and your current location. Do not assume someone else has called – you may have new information for police.
HIDE
- If you cannot run, hide.
- Lock and secure doors until help arrives; turn off lights, close blinds.
- Create barriers to prevent or slow down the threat from getting to you.
- Stay out of sight and quiet; Silence your phone.
FIGHT
- As a last resort, fight for your life. You must be committed to this action.
- Attempt to take out the attacker however you can.
- Be aggressive, create a distraction, yell and scream.
- Do not fight fairly – Throw items and use improvised weapons.
- Disarm the shooter – solicit help. There is strength in numbers.
Police officers responding to an active attacker are trained to proceed immediately to the area in which shots were last heard. Their immediate focus is to neutralize the threat, stop the shooting as quickly as possible and create a safe environment for medical assistance to be brought in to aid the injured.
Responding officers may be dressed in normal patrol uniforms, or they may be wearing external ballistic vests and other tactical gear. Expect to see different uniforms and officers in civilian clothes because many will be deployed from different departments.
Law Enforcement Objectives
- End the threat.
- Render medical aid.
- Evacuate people safely.
- Investigate.
With the advent of social media and its ability to often push out information faster than university personnel can react, official information from the university must be fast, accurate and honest. Responses flow outward as quickly as possible to stop rumors, minimize misinformation from spreading and restore order and confidence.
Communication to the UNK community and public will be shared on as many communications channels as possible, including the UNK ALERT notification system (text, email, voicemail), social media, news media, press briefings, www.unk.edu, digital boards and TVs within campus buildings, emergency information lines and other personal notifications.
Messages will evolve as the crisis evolves and circumstances change.
In an active shooter / attacker situation, faculty and staff may be requested to assist in the following:
- Make classrooms and other areas safe.
- Notify emergency response personnel as soon as possible and assist them in staging at a safe location.
- Evacuate victims/potential victims away from the incident to a safe area.
- Help, if requested, provide emergency medical care for injured.
- Adhere to all directions given by emergency responders.