Crimes in the News

Surviving A Shooting Spree

2009-05-13T15:03:00.000-07:00

The link to the nuts and bolts stuff is at the bottom of the page. But before you go there, there as some things you might want to consider about this subject.

I was watching a documentary on movie director Oliver Stone. They were discussing Stone's movie "Natural Born Killers" and someone mentioned that the movie was misunderstood. If you remember, there was an outcry about the movie glorifying crime and violence. This guy said the movie was not a glorification of violence. In fact, he claimed it had been a condemnation of the media for doing just that. Specifically, it was about how the media makes stars out of violent people, thereby encouraging them to commit more and more acts.

I have some first hand experience with this idea. The first time I was shot at (when I was 14) was from a car. The last time I was shot at was from a car. In the twenty years in between, at least half of the bullets directed at me came from cars. In short, drive by shootings were just a fact of life from where I'm from. While they weren't an everyday thing, they weren't uncommon either.

However, in the '90s there was a drug war going on in South Central Los Angeles. The Crips and the Bloods were the equivalent of modern day cartels and they were busy shooting each other up. What didn't get a lot of media coverage was the drug trafficking angle. What did get a lot of coverage was the carnage. That was when the media adapted a "If it bleeds it leads" editorial policy.

And drive by shootings went through the roof.

Oh yeah, realize that 'drug wars' is a misnomer.They aren't like actual wars with pitched battles between armies. What they are closer to is two sets of insurgents battling each other. Mostly it's hit and run trying to pick away at the other side -- with innocent civilians being the ones who bleed the most. A lot of the people hurt in those drive by shootings weren't even involved, they were -- to use a term from gang parlance of the time -- mushrooms. Like mushrooms that pop up on the lawn, they were just there to get mowed down. It was the innocent bystander dying -- these mushrooms -- that made drive bys 'news worthy.'

And quite frankly, I'm not just talking about callousness of the shooters. It wasn't a gang member, but the news director of a television station who -- upon hearing of a multiple person homicide just blocks away -- exclaimed loudly to the news room "SWEET!" If it bleeds it leads, folks.

I'm not entirely blaming the media for the increase of drive by shootings. After all there WAS a drug war and you are talking about violent dysfunction criminal assholes pulling the trigger. But I will draw your attention to the 'star effect' of the If-it-bleeds-it-leads policy.

After machine gunning a house or business (and killing others than just the target) gang members would rush home to see how many news programs THEIR murdering people appeared on. The more stations that covered it, the more bragging rights you got. And quite frankly, the more 'mushrooms' you got the greater the coverage.

Does this sound sick and twisted? Good.

But you need to realize something, there are sick and twisted people out there who hunger for their '15 minutes of fame.' And these days, many of them don't care if it costs them their lives. See quite frankly, 'what's inside of their heads' is such a dark and twisted snake pit that preserving it isn't all that appealing.

On the other hand, going out in a blaze of glory shows that they are not weak, twisted and useless. This has great appeal. And it has the added benefit of hurting the world they blame for their own screwed up existence.

But I really want you to pay attention to the fame angle. Because going out slaughtering people beats plain suicide hands down. For one blazing moment in time, THEY are going to be all over the media. In their minds, everyone will know who they are and recognize their power. The media coverage the rampage shooter's carnage creates this fame. That is a moment of power and glory that is far more important than their survival.

Incidentally, while this doesn't totally apply to suicide bombers, many of these elements are present -- including the well orchestrated local 'fame' of the bomber. It is done BY the organization sending the suicide bombers. When you see professionally manufactured posters, placards and signs extolling the virtues of the bombers, learn about the financial support of the bomber's family, walls of martyrs and children playing bomber and mourners in the streets, you realize these are not spontaneous acts of rage. They ARE part of a well orchestrated campaign to exploit this kind of personality.

As I've said, to this kind of dark and twisted personality, continued existence isn't that important. Striking out at the world and the ensuing fame is. (In fact I once heard an interesting statement "A serial kills the same person over and over again, a suicide murders the whole world at once. I don't know how accurate that is, but it is worth considering.) It's almost as if the attitude is if you can't do any good for the world, then hurt it. So instead of just shooting oneself one can share one's pain by hurting others and commit 'suicide by cop.'

And you know what? When one person does this and gets media coverage ... odds are another will do it too. That's why these spree shootings, rampage shootings, school shooters and what police call 'active shooters' tend to happen in clusters. One guy does it and another says "Hey, good idea!"

Now the simple truth is that these things are extremely rare. Every day BILLIONS of people go to school, work and shopping without some lunatic opening fire on them. Think about that, it's important.

What makes it seem like such a pressing danger is a blend of the media and our little emotional brains overwhelming our logical brain. In our little monkey brain (http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/monkey_dance.htm ) we see something as both real and immediate even though it isn't close to us.

Here's a question that most people will -- thankfully -- answer 'none' to. In the last year, how many rampage shootings have occurred 20 miles from where you are sitting right now? 50 miles? 100 miles? Try tweaking the question to 'In the last 20 years...."

See what I mean by saying they really aren't that common? You logically know this. As I write this there have been five shooting sprees and officer deaths
in the last month. NONE of them closer than a 1000 miles from where I
am sitting. And I'm sitting 40 miles away from Columbine High School.
(BTW, notice you can still remember that? That's fame) While our
logical minds know we are safe, I figure a lot of people's monkey
brains are pretty active.

And why not, when you turn on your TV, they seem purdy durned close don't they? Our emotional minds are uncomfortable with the threat of being caught in such a situation.

So maybe we might want to learn something to do about it?

The problem is, I've heard a number of 'policies' about what to do when a shooter shows up. Quite frankly, I'm not impressed. These answers tend to be be more oriented towards the school/organization interests than keeping you from getting shot.

Having BEEN shot at on numerous occasions, I thought I'd offer up some advice based on first hand experience. Stuff that has actually worked to keep my hide from getting bullet holes in it.

You can find the nuts and bolts information about how to survive a shooting spree here
http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/activeshooter.html

Violence Scale

2008-04-23T13:16:00.000-07:00

I recently saw a horrible video of a deranged man sitting on his wife's chest in the Netherlands and stabbing her over sixty times. I should point out that while it was terrible, it was to me, just another day at work. "Yep ... that kind of thing happens ... where's the coffee pot?" (I'm not being cavalier or heartless. Being as I do expert witness work in knife cases, seeing these kind of horrible videos really IS part of my job. Coffee drinking ... well that just helps me do my job).

I run a very busy e-mail list on personal safety, self-defense, et all. What was the source of debate among folks was the ineffective attempts by a few bystanders to stop the attack on the woman. It's not that they weren't trying to save her life (I believe -- amazingly -- that she lived), but they really didn't have a response that was appropriate to immediately end that level/degree of attack. As such the attack continued for a very long time.

A few Americans (who had experience with this level of situations) responded with "I'd shoot him."

This brought a response from a British woman about the knee jerk attitude of killing the man. Being as she had never been in a life and death situation she (as near as I can tell) honestly couldn't understand why other alternatives could not be used to stop him before resorting to blowing his brains into a fine pink mist. The speed that these people came to the conclusion to just kill the guy unnerved her.

While it would be easy to say it is the old "Americans are gun nuts" and "Europeans live in a nanny state" argument coming up again like an encehilda burp, I don't believe it is. Having been to Europe several times and dealing with both the general public and different countries anti-terrorist squads, I can assure you, that while the average European wouldn't have the ability or will to shoot, those units would shoot PDQ. In fact, they would shoot faster than most American citizens -- even those with CCW permits. There are some very seriously hard core Europeans protecting the rest. But this woman wasn't one of them. As near as I can tell, she really didn't understand why these people were talking about killing this man outright instead of trying other options or shooting to wound.

But stop and think about this, how different is her reaction from the American media and 'community' outrage every time a police officer shoots someone? Why couldn't they have used less than lethal force? Oh why oh why did that poor innocent person have to die? (If by innocent person you mean the crackhead with a knife who's threatening people).

In attempting to explain to her, it dawned on me that maybe this information needs to be disseminated to the American public as well. So if you've never understood why the police shoot someone (especially with a knife). Or, if you are yourself a meat eater and have vainly tried to explain to someone why the level of force you had to use was appropriate -- you might want to take a look at the following model.

10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

Each of these indicate a level of potential threat/danger.
Levels 1 to 2 are issues that can be resolved with a stern look.
3 to 4 go so far as a harsh word.
5 to 6 require verbal threat display (yelling screaming, etc).
7 is mild physical intervention ( a slap or 'sitting on someone').
8 is more force required.
9 is serious force.
10 is lethal force, immediately applied and without hesitation

Very few people have any experience with anything beyond level 7. This is important because basically past level 8, you are not playing for the same 'goals' as are common for 7 and below. Therefore you cannot judge level 8 and above by level 7 and below standards.

Below 7 the stakes are usually social status, pride and maintaining social order. Past 8 the stakes are much higher. In fact, level 10 boils down to what Martin Luther King once said:

The question is no longer between violence and non-violence; it is between non-violence and non-existence.

That non-existence is either yours or someone else's. Now slap your hand on the table again, that's how fast non-existence can -- and does -- happen at level 10. (For example, any one of those strikes on the woman could have been the one that did fatal damage). That slap on the desk is the amount of time yours or someone else's non-existence is decided. It is that extreme, and the stakes ARE that high. If you have never faced this level of violence, it is difficult to realize that the immediate application of lethal force IS a rational and reasonable choice given the parameters. It is in fact, the best chance for you not to be numbered among the dead.

Level 10 responses are also based on a whole lot of experience with intervening and having the guy turn on you. NEVER forget this is a very real danger. For example, an old friend of my father's was a patrol cop. They rolled on a domestic violence call and pulled up to see the guy on the porch with his wife on her knees with a shotgun to her head. As they were getting out of the car, he pulled the trigger. Looking up at them he raised the shotgun towards them ...

At the inquest he was asked why he had shot the man six times. He replied "I ran out of bullets."

He told me he'd just seen this guy shoot his wife in front of cops and then point that gun at those same cops ... he didn't figure the guy wanted to talk. That's a level 10 situation.

The last time I got shot at, I was doing bodyguard work. I was escorting the client to her car when I saw the laser site 'paste her' first and travel towards me. I tackled her just before the guy opened fire. Rolling off her, I got my own gun out and I returned fire while charging his car. He floored it and drove away.

Level 10. And it went from walking to a car to a firefight in less than two seconds.

A couple of years ago the Denver PD got a call about a black kid trying to kill his mother with a knife. Upon arriving the first officer through the door encountered the kid, holding a big kitchen knife and standing less than seven feet from him. The officers behind him stopped him from retreating. He ordered the kid to drop the knife, the kid took a step towards him. Level 10, the kid was DRT (dead right there).

Later it was discovered that the kid was retarded. The knife didn't have much of a point, yada, yada, yada. The hue and outcry against why the police had to use lethal force on the poor innocent child went on ad nauseum. I went on TV and radio to explain to people that you can get dead in the blink of an eye at that range with a knife. And point or no, a 10 kitchen knife is a deadly threat. While it was tragic that the kid died, it was still deemed a clean shooting because of the known circumstances at the time. The 911 call stated that the kid was trying to kill his mother, the same kid had a knife, refused a lawful order and approached the officer in a confined space -- with that knife. The vocal community however, didn't want to hear about that. (The city of Denver later crucified the cop to appease the 'community' but they did it on issues not related to the shooting).

My point is, that to people who have never faced a level 10 situation it is often difficult to grasp that immediate lethal force IS the fastest, safest and most effective way to save a life ... and quite often that life is your own. They are still playing for the standard goals of up to level 7. The simple fact is up until about level 7 and 8 there are ALL kinds of other options. From 8 up, there really aren't that many options ... and usually the safest option is to get there fastest and more effectively.

Realize that level 10 situations don't 'just happen.' A lot has gone on before it got to that point. While you may just have come around the corner and found it, the guy who has taken it to level 10 has been working it for a while. He's worked up to full steam and if you have any hopes of either surviving -- or saving someone else's life -- you gotta be able to recognize where you are transport into same mindset without diddly farting around.

If this video were a simple beating, then maybe a less extreme response would have been feasible. If he'd been just sitting on her chest punching her, then the attempts of the people to stop the beating would have been appropriate. But that's not what was happening. He was sitting on her chest with a knife attacking her in a vital target area. The fact that the woman didn't die right there was amazing (he was actually kind of picking at her with the knife). Realize however that with a different style of attack or a lucky shot, even a 1/4 inch wound to the neck area can be fatal. This is why, when you are talking about level 10 situations, the time it takes to slap your hand on the table can be fatal is not hyperbole.

Let me also state that level 10 situations are rare. Having said that, they do occur. And the use of the term 'rare' is relative. Overall they are rare, in other circumstances/lifestyles they are common. In fact, in some lifestyles/circumstances it is a survival trait. It is only in comparison of those circumstances to the myriad of other possibilities that make it rare (e.g. every day a billion people get up and don't face these circumstances, but a few hundred thousand do).

If you're one of those billion of people, it is often hard to understand the conditions that those few hundred thousands have to operate under. This is the source of a lot of confusion and misunderstanding between those who have been in level 10 situations and those who haven't. Those who have never faced these extremes don't realize that degree of force is the logical, rational and most effective option. Remember, that extremes are extremes because they take away other, more palatable options.

So take this idea of a violence scale and next time you hear people going on about a police shooting try applying it to both the situation and what the people are saying. I think you'll be surprised by the difference in your thinking.