Active Shooter

Response

Police: Call 9-1-1

Emergency Medical Response: Call 9-1-1

OSU-Cascades Campus Safety: 541-322-3110

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

  1. Try to remain calm.
  1. Try to warn faculty, staff, students, and visitors to run away
    • Have one person call 9-1-1 and provide: “this is (name), (give your location) and we have an active shooter at (building on OSU-Cascade campus) gun shots fired.” If you are able to see the offender(s), give a description of the person(s) sex, race, clothing, type of weapon(s), location last seen, direction of travel, and identity – if known.
    • If you have observed any victims, give a description of the location seen and a description.
  1. If you cannot run away, seek immediate shelter.
    • Proceed to a room that can be locked or barricaded.
    • Without drawing attention, lock and barricade doors and windows. Turn off lights. Close blinds. Block windows.
    • Turn off radios and other devices that emit sound.
    • Keep yourself out of sight and take adequate cover/protection, e.g. hide inside a closet, get behind concrete walls, thick desks, filing cabinets, or any other object that will stop a bullet penetration.
    • Stay close to the ground after locking the door and finding a hiding place
    • Silence cell phones.
    • Have one person call 9-1-1 and provide: “this is (name), (give your location) and we have an active shooter at (building on OSU-Cascades campus) gun shots fired.” If you are able to see the offender(s), give a description of the person(s) sex, race, clothing, type of weapon(s), location last seen, direction of travel, and identity – if known.
    • If you have observed any victims, give a description of the location seen and a description.
    • If you observed any suspicious devices (improvised explosive devices), provide the location seen and description.
    • If you heard any explosions, provide a description and location.
  1. Wait patiently until a uniformed police officer, or an OSU official provides an “all clear”. Ask for identification to confirm the responder’s status.
  1. Unfamiliar voices may be an active shooter trying to lure you from safety; do not respond to commands until you can verify with certainty that they are being issued be a police officer, or OSU official.
  1. Rescue of people should only be attempted if it can be accomplished without further endangering the persons inside the secure area.
  1. Depending on circumstances, consideration may also be given to exiting ground floor windows as safely and quietly as possible.
  1. If a lockdown is implemented, no one will be allowed enter or leave the building.

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

  1. Arm yourself with any kind of weapon possible
  1. Fight for your life

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

  1. Try to remain calm.
  1. Move away from the active shooter or sounds of the gunshot(s) and/or explosion(s).
  1. Look for appropriate locations for cover/protection, e.g. brick walls, retaining walls, large trees, parked vehicles, or any other object that may stop bullet penetration.
  1. Try to warn other faculty, staff, students, and visitors to take immediate cover.
  1. Call 9-1-1 and provide the information listed in the first guideline.

Recovery

  • Be prepared to be interviewed by officials
  • Contact your supervisor to seek counseling services

Preparedness

  • Review with staff and faculty how to respond to acts of violence
  • Identify who has the capability and responsibility to lock exterior building doors
  • An active shooter is a person or persons who appear to be actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in populated areas on the campus. 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 harm to the community. Be aware that the emergency phone lines become overwhelmed in this type of situation.
  • Know the response by law enforcement
    • They will by-pass wounded and anyone else as they go directly to the shooter
    • They evaluate every person as a shooter. Keep your hands above your waist, stay on the floor, do not distract the responder from finding the shooter.
    • When directed out of the building, keep your hands empty, keep them above your head and move quickly in the direction responders tell you.

Other Resources

Other Resources

Schedule a presentation:
Contact the OSU-Cascades Campus Safety (541-322-3110) to schedule a presentation by a Campus Safety official. This type of presentation is excellent for a group setting.

 Online and self-education options:
Watch the Run.Hide.Fight video or one of several variations:
Department of Homeland Security Active Shooter video
Alberta Campus shooting incident video
Ohio State Surviving an Active Shooter video
Review content on the OSU-Cascades Emergency Management webpage
Review the monthly preparedness topic Hostile Intruder from main campus OSU emergency management webpage