Time Required: 1 hour

ACTIVE SHOOTER

Mass Casualty Incidents

City of Miami

Close to 1000 people have been killed in the United States

during what has been classified as active shooter and mass

casualty incidents (AS/MCIs) since the Columbine High School

shootings in 1999. AS/MCIs involve one or more suspects who

participate in an ongoing, random or systematic shooting spree,

demonstrating the intent to harm others with the objective of

mass murder.

Source: Mass Shootings

By The Gun Violence Archives

BACKGROUND

• These events may take place in any community impacting fire and police

departments, regardless of their size or capacity.

• Local jurisdictions must build sufficient public safety resources to handle

AS/MCI scenarios.

• Local Fire/Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and law enforcement (LE)

must have common tactics, communications capabilities and terminology

to have seamless, effective operations.

• They should also establish standard operating guidelines (SOG’s)

• The goal is to plan, prepare and respond in a manner that will save the

maximum number of lives possible.

U.S. Fire Administration, Fire/ Emergency Medical Services Department Operational Considerations and Guide for Active Shooter and Mass Casualty

Incidents (September 2013)

BACKGROUND

U.S. Active Shooter Events from 2000 to 2010Texas State University

• 84 Active Shooter Events occurred between 2000 and

2010

• 37% business locations; 34% schools: 17% public

outdoor venues

• Most commonly used weapon was a pistol (60%), rifles

(27%), shotgun (10%)

• Attacks ended before police arrived 49% of the time

FACTS & STATISTICS

An Analysis of Active Shooter Events in the U.S. January

2011 – March 2013New York State Intelligence Center

• 47.7% of assailants had formal diagnosis of mental

illness

• 66.6% of assailants had no criminal history

• In 19 out of 20 cases examined the assailant was a

“lone wolf”

FACTS & STATISTICS

FACTS & STATISTICS

• FBI: U.S. now has one active shooter

incident every three weeks

• In 209 out of 336 days this year, at least

1 shooting left 4 or more people dead or

injured in the U.S.Source: Mass Shooting Tracker

By New York Times

FBI Study of Active Shooter Incidents

• Commercial & educational settings most

common

• 15.6% of incidents involved more than one

location

• 60% of incidents ended before police arrived

• All but 2 incidents involved 1 shooter

(2000 - 2013)

Active Shooter Locations

Open Source Tracking of Mass Shootings

(2015)

Columbine, CO - 1999

• Attackers: 2

• Locations: 1

• Casualties: 13 dead/21 wounded

• Duration: 49 minutes

• Weapons Used: Assault Rifles,

Hand Guns, Shotguns, Pipe

Bombs, Improvised Explosive

Devices (IED’s)

Newtown, CT – (Sandy Hook) 2012

• Attackers: 1

• Locations: 1

• Casualties: 28 dead/2 wounded

• Duration: 11 minutes

• Weapons Used: Assault Rifle, Handguns

Washington Navy Yard, D.C. - 2013

• Attackers: 1 (initially reported as 2)

• Locations: 1

• Casualties: 12 dead/8 wounded

• Duration: 1 hour, 10 minutes

• Weapons Used: Shotgun, Pistol

Chattanooga, TN (Recruiting Centers) - 2015

• Attackers: 1

• Locations: 2

• Casualties: 6 dead/2 wounded

• Duration: 30 minutes

• Weapons Used: Assault Rifle,

Shotgun, Pistol

Colorado Springs, CO - 2015

San Bernardino, CA - 2015

• Attackers: 2 (initially reported as 3)

• Locations: 1

• Casualties: 14 dead/21 wounded

• Duration: 1 hour, 25 minutes

• Weapons Used: Long guns,

Handguns, Pipe Bombs

• Inexperienced attackers

Paris, France - 2015

• Attackers: 8 attackers in 3 teams

• Locations: 6

• Casualties: 130 dead/368

wounded

• Duration: 3 hours, 38 minutes

• Weapons Used: Assault Rifles,

Explosive Vests

• Experienced attackers

Inspired Attack vs. Directed Attack

San Bernardino (2015)

• Inspired by terrorist

propaganda

• Single attack location

• Not suicide – attempted

escape

• Explosives malfunctioned

• Attackers showed no prior

terrorist activity

Paris (2015)

• Directed by ISIS operatives

• Multiple coordinated attacks

• Suicide attackers

• Combat experienced attackers

• All explosives functioned

• Several attackers were known

to authorities

Mumbai, India - 2008

• Attackers: 10 (initially reported as 12)

in teams of 2

• Locations: 6

• Casualties: 155 dead/600+ wounded

• Duration: 96+ hours

• Weapons Used: Assault Rifles,

Handguns, Grenades

CollaborationThe New Paradigm

Police Fire

+ = Coordinated

Response

Purpose

• Standard operating guidelines (SOG’s) for joint police

and fire response,

• MFR and MPD personnel are currently training with the

new guidelines at the scene of an active shooter

incident.

Rescue Task Force (RTF) Objectives

Use of the Rescue Task Force (RTF) concept for on scene response.

• An RTF is a set of teams deployed to provide point of wound care to

victims where there is an on‐going ballistic or explosive threat.

• Teams treat, stabilize, and ultimately remove the injured in a rapid

manner while wearing Proper Protective Equipment (PPE).

RESCUE TASK FORCE

Operational Concept

Rescue Task Force (RTF):

A unified response team consisting of police

officers and fire rescue personnel

• RTF teams are not based on armed & unarmed

elements

• RTF teams are based on a protective element

& a medical element

Goal:

Two separate elements (police & fire) working

together to accomplish a unified mission to

• Treat

• Stabilize

• Remove

DEPLOYMENT

RTF teams will be deployed under the direction of the Incident Commander (Unified)

This will happen as quickly as possible, but only after the following occurs:

• The arrival of police officers and fire rescue personnel

• Communication channels are identified and communication is established

• Safety equipment is donned

• Contact Team confirms casualties and location

RESCUE TASK FORCE UNIFIED COMMAND STRUCTURE

Provide point of wound care to victims and treat, stabilize, and remove the injured

in a rapid manner.

• Perform victim triage and rapid medical assessment to determine which

casualties are an evacuation priority to a Casualty Collection Point (CCP)

or Triage Group.

• The Hartford Consensus recommends that an integrated active shooter

response should include the critical actions contained in the acronym

THREAT:

• Threat suppression- Protective Element Duty

• Hemorrhage control

• Rapid Extrication to safety

• Assessment by medical providers

• Transport to definitive care

RESCUE TASK FORCE MEDICAL RESCUE ELEMENT DUTIES

• Police officers protect paramedics !!!

• Announce location of threat

• Threat Front

• Threat Rear

• Threat Right

• Threat Left

• Closest police officer addresses the threat

RESCUE TASK FORCE

Emergency Team Egress

RESCUE TASK FORCE

Deployment Concept

• In meeting these goals,

POLICE and FIRE must

constantly evaluate tactics and

techniques to establish best

practices and lessons learned

in order to complete the

mission of “saving lives”.

• The RTF team is based on

police and fire rescue

personnel doing what they do

best everyday at the highest

level.

City of Miami Active Shooter TrainingBeginning with the MRC

Sponsored By

• The Division of Emergency Management

• The Department of Risk Management

• Miami Police Department

• Survival Skills for Active Shooter Situations

• Identifying Signature Behavior of Potential Active Shooters

• Stages of an Active Shooter

• Response to an Active Shooter

City of Miami Active Shooter Training

• A.L.E.R.R.T.( Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid

Response Training) for Miami Police and Fire Officers

(Dealing with an active shooter)

• Medical Kits and training for Police Officers (Tactical

lifesaving course)

City of Miami Active Shooter Training

• Full Scale Active Shooter Exercise “Operation Heat Shield”

(Early 2016)

• Fire and Police collaboration in Active shooter Training

City of Miami Active Shooter Training

• Public Service announcements “See Something Say

Something” Campaign using Video/Signs

• Businesses against Terrorism (B.A.T.) (Helps businesses

with threat assessments and terrorism awareness)

City of Miami Active Shooter Training

SUMMARY

• The greatest benefit will be achieved through a

combined police/fire effort that puts the first

responder at the patient’s side within minutes of

being wounded to maximize life saving efforts.

• The RTF team(s) will operate within a known

Warm Zone while the Contact Team consisting of

police officers (only) will operate inside the Hot

Zone.

Time Required: 1 hour

ACTIVE SHOOTER

Mass Casualty Incidents

THE END