Local experts conduct active shooter seminar
Apr. 21—RUSSELL — A local hospital official and police officers reminded dozens of community members that, at this point in time, mass shootings are inevitable.
"It's not a matter of if it'll happen, it's a matter of when it'll happen," said Scott Hill, Executive Director of Community Engagement at King's Daughters.
Hill took the lead in conducting a free, six-plus-hour Active Shooter & Workplace Violence Response and Prevention Seminar on Friday in the King's Daughters Pavilion Auditorium.
"It's better to have these plans and not need them than to need them and not have them," he said in front of about 125 people representing various businesses and organizations.
Hill said these plans must be RAD — reasonable, appropriate and defendable.
Featured topics (and speakers) were as follows: School safety and preparedness (Bryan Tackett, Flatwoods PD, and Troy Patrick, Ashland PD), police training and response (Ryan McDavid and Dakota Gilkison, Ashland PD), emergency management training and response (Tim England and Greg Priddy, Boyd County Emergency Management; and Buford Hurley, Greenup County Public Safety), role of 911 dispatch (Matt Saunders, Boyd County 911, and Buford Hurley, Greenup County 911), and business/church security and technology (Scott Hill and John Miller, King's Daughters). Kentucky State Police put together a special presentation, and there was also a question-and-answer session.
McDavid was very matter-of-fact as he and Gilkison described characteristics of an active shooter.
"If people want to kill, they will kill. We cannot prevent this from happening," he said.
This is why, he said, while he understands the importance of not glorifying the perpetrator in these incidents, it's a priority to familiarize yourself with red flags and attributes of those who commit these senseless acts.
Oftentimes there are motives, but there are exceptions, such as Stephen Paddock. He's the man who took several trips to his 32nd-floor hotel rooms at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, toting a total of 47 assault rifles in preparation for the largest mass shooting on record in the United States. Paddock killed 60 people and injured more than 800 on Oct. 1, 2017, during a music festival in which Jason Aldean was performing at the time.
They talked about Omar Mateen, who murdered 49 in Orlando, in 2016. He was on the FBI watch list twice prior to committing the act.
They also mentioned Devin Patrick Kelley, Seung-Hui Cho and others. In most of these instances, plenty of warning signs were present.
Gilkison emphasized the importance of "early reporting" on some of these strange behaviors such as those shooters exhibited.
McDavid and Gilkison shared statistics such as locations of these mass shootings. Perhaps surprisingly, the most common setting for mass shootings — which is when at least four people are wounded — is the workplace (30.8%). About 17% occur at retail establishments, 13.4% at a restaurant or bar, 8.1% at a residence, 8.1% outdoors, 7.6% at K-12 schools, 6.4% at places of worship, 5.2% at a college or university and 3.5% at government buildings.
As for demographics, roughly 97% of mass shooters are males (average age is 34 years old). About 65% have had a criminal history.
About 77%, according to Hill, spent at least a week planning their attack.
Common motivators: disgruntled employees, radical religious beliefs, bias against social groups, pride/fame, and relationship/family issues.
Hill said it's important for workplaces (or schools, churches, etc.) to conduct de-escalation training, know times of increased risk, be aware of escape routes and position, have a safe room and go through drills.
There are five elements to preparation, he said, including management commitment and cooperation, policy/procedure, training, drills and response.
From 2017-19, an average of 370 mass shootings happened in the U.S. annually.
In 2020, 610 occurred. The number jumped to 691 in 2021. In 2022, there were 646. So far in 2023, the tally is 200.
Visit gunviolencearchive.org for more information.
(606) 326-2664 — asnyder@dailyindependent.com
