GLENDALE, Ariz. — Hundreds of innocent bystanders were in harm’s way when a shooting took place at Tanger Outlets Wednesday afternoon.
Thanks to the quick thinking and, more importantly, the training of store managers, all of those shoppers and store employees walked away unharmed.
Glen Stilson owns and operates Independence Training, a company that teaches retailers and others what to do before, during, and after an active shooter situation. Stilson said the key to keeping people safe is being prepared ahead of time.
“Making a plan for what to do in the heat of the moment is the worst possible time to make a plan,” Stilson said. “We like to say failing to prepare is preparing to fail.”
David Bravo is one of Stilson’s instructors, and he said another key to safety is the trained manager taking control of the situation. Bravo said he noticed that from interviews with store managers after the Tanger Outlets shooting.
“They all sounded pretty confident because they’d had the training, and that’s one of the things we say, that competence breeds confidence,” Bravo said.
The first directive is to run, but even running needs to be planned and orderly. Planning means identifying an escape route well before it’s needed, and orderly means directing yourself and others in the store to that escape route without panicking. That’s where the confidence comes in.
“If you have this little mousy voice and you’re like ‘Please follow me,’ that’s not going to inspire confidence,” Stilson said.
The second directive is to hide. Stilson recommends locking any closing door and finding objects with which to barricade that door.
“What we’ve seen statistically because these people aren’t determined attackers, is that when they’re trying to get into a space, if there’s any type of resistance, they stop,” Stilson said.
The final directive is to fight, but only as a last resort.
“Ultimately, in the end, you need to start looking for weapons,” Stilson said.
Bravo recommends that managers give jobs to those that are willing, which he said helps to calm nervous people.
“If you give them something to do it gives them something to focus on other than what is happening or what might happen next,” Bravo said. Examples include asking one person to take names of those in the group, asking another to pass out water if any is available, and assigning one person to contact 911 so that emergency communication channels aren’t flooded with calls from a dozen or so people sitting together in the same room.
The emergency contact should be able to let the group know when the situation is over and when it is safe to leave the safe room.
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