Critical Training for Active Assailant Response: A Personal Account and The Resiliency Initiative’s Mission
I've spent many years in the emergency management field, designing training programs and responding to every type of hazard imaginable—countless fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, explosions, train derailments, and even cyber hacks and ransomware attacks. Yet, there is one type of incident that cuts deep every time: an active shooter situation. For me, these are the most mentally taxing to manage, especially from the vantage point of being in an Emergency Operations Center, where I often watch the tragedy unfold from a distance, helpless to intervene. The harsh reality is that most active shooter incidents are over in less than five minutes. In those moments, all I can do is hope that the training we provided takes hold, guiding those caught in the crossfire to safety.
October 1, 2017, is a date that will stay with me forever. At the time, I was working for the Walt Disney Company as the crisis management duty officer for the week. Around 10:15 p.m., I received a call from Disney’s security operations center informing me that a shooting had occurred at the Route 91 Music Festival in Las Vegas, and several of our employees were attending. We quickly decided to send an emergency notification alert, asking those employees to check in and confirm they were safe. As I started receiving a barrage of news alerts about the shooting, the gravity of the situation began to sink in. I kept refreshing the emergency alert dashboard, anxiously waiting for responses. After five agonizing minutes, I started to see “I’m Ok” responses coming in, but there were still close to seventy-five employees unaccounted for. Then, ten minutes later, I saw “Call Me” selected.
I immediately called, and “Josh,” an employee from Disneyland, answered. All I could hear was chaos—screaming, crying, panic. Finally, I heard Josh’s voice. He wasn’t hurt, but his friend, another Disneyland employee, had been shot. Josh told me he remembered his active shooter training and had used a makeshift tourniquet on his friend’s upper thigh. He was desperately trying to find medical help amidst the mass panic. Josh also informed me that several other employees nearby were injured, and he was doing his best to help them. He gave me everyone’s name so I could alert their families, and I stayed on the phone with him until an ambulance arrived. Josh’s quick actions that night saved his friend’s life and helped get many others to safety.
That night was a stark reminder to me that thorough and effective training isn’t just important—it’s critical. It’s why I started The Resiliency Initiative in the first place: to empower organizations and their employees to become self-reliant in any crisis.
Recently, TRI’s Director of Security and Resiliency, Clinton Preston, became a certified HSI’s Active Violence Emergency Response Training (AVERT) instructor. Unlike other programs focusing solely on Run, Hide, and Fight techniques, AVERT employs a dynamic approach to teach situational awareness, effective reaction during violent situations, and protecting yourself and others. AVERT also emphasizes critical skills like stopping severe bleeding—often the difference between life and death in an active shooter incident.
In September, TRI will start offering two courses: a baseline active assailant training suitable for all employees and an AVERT certification class suitable for your security staff, floor wardens or anyone responsible for the safety of employees. To learn more or to schedule a training visit here.
