I’d be torn between hiding under my (very heavy) wooden desk, and trying to get to the team I’m responsible for, to make sure they were hiding effectively and not trying to do any hero bullshit. Then again, I’m literally steps away from an emergency door, and they are steps away from another, so I would probably bolt, and call the cops from my cell, and hope they had the sense to bolt out the back emergency door.
Well bring plenty of ammo and a few back up weapons. Before I start I’d chain lock the exit stairwells and…
Oh wait, I’m NOT the gunman?
Gee I don’t know.
I didn’t even have to think about it since I’ve had a plan in place for about a year. We let one guy go who had become seriously unhinged, so I was worried he’d show up with a gun. I decided I would close my office door, turn off the light and hide under my desk. That would make it look like I had the day off instead of merely hiding under my desk and risk him looking around the desk for me. If he was far enough down the hall, I’d grab a couple of the admins in the outer office, too.
He never did show up with a gun. Thank god.
Our institution has put an emergency notification system in place (in the wake of Virginia Tech) which sends emails and phone calls with emergency info. I’m not sure how detailed it gets about what we are supposed to do. The only posted emergency instructions are about fires.
I guess I would lock my office door and maybe try to climb out the window. It’s only a three-story drop.
Do you work where I work??
I work in a clinic-type environment, but in the laboratory/research building. Our building is supposed to be off limits to the general public, but we get people wandering in all the time. Our doors have the little swipe access, but they never activated it, so once you are in the main building, you have access to the entire complex, except the animal facility and the human dissection area, these are the only two areas that you need actual pass-card access to.
We have had issues in the past with people coming in to restricted areas, but nothing has ever been done regarding those situations. We are just told to keep an eye out for anything unusual.
In all seriousness, I would arm myself with multiple spray bottles of something nasty and lock myself in my lab, call security and hide. We also have the emergency alert system on campus, let’s hope it works as designed.
The building in which I work has something like fifty stories, so with any luck the madman in question wouldn’t wind up on mine right away.
Absent that luck, I’d either make a mad dash to the stairwell or utility elevator or maybe hide in a document room or something. There’s a lot of space under my desk to hide, but anybody who knows anything about the office would be expecting everybody to do that, so I can’t imagine it’d be too safe.
Actually, it’s possible that there are some cupboards in the supply room I could fit into.
Get away from the windows, check all routes of escape, and encourage my fellow students to do the same. Stay put until the University Police give the all clear.
That’s what I should have done.
Instead I did this:
Walk up to the windows, look across the commons and wonder why all those screaming students are running a marathon across campus. Then realize that University Police are running into the crowd, with guns drawn, and finally realize that something big is happening.
Stay in the Student Center as state, county and local police along with paramedics show up on the scene, and look up at the news helicopters as they circle campus. Turn towards the TV as the local news breaks in to declare that there has been a shooting on campus. Start calling my wife and parents to let them know I’m safe and unharmed. Once the threat is over make my way to the car, drive home, and collapse once I’m there.
Everyone can say what they will do if something like this happens, but until it happens you don’t really know how you’ll react. Luckily I wasn’t in that classroom when the shooting started. I keep telling myself that I would have done something to stop the shooter, but I don’t know. Most likely I would have been on the floor having a conversation with God regarding my future.
ETA: I was a student at Northern Illinois last Feb. 14.
If it happened at my workplace it would be interesting since I work at a police station. Shoot back would be my first response.
Since I am currently working at my part time job in Iraq, same answer.
Well my building doesn’t have a human dissection area, as far as I know (I work for a bank, though, so it’s possible). It’s not exactly that lax here, but it’s still dopey the way they do it.
We need our little magnetic swipe cards to get in any door (front or back, we aren’t allowed in through the side doors), but the thing is, when clients or vendors or any general visitor walks up to the security-locked front door, all he has to do is give the security guy a little head-bob and he’ll buzz whoever it is right in. I suppose this works fine, as these visitors are required to stop at the desk and get a visitor’s pass, but somehow I think if a particular visitor was toting an Uzi he might be able to circumvent that little security measure.
Exactly. I’m headed for, and then through, HR, where they’re fat and slow, and will delay the killer’s progress while I make my getaway beyond.
If the guy is indiscriminately shooting people I’d have to make a tackle for his legs. I’d probably get shot either way, might as well go down fighting.
My current job? I’d probably stand on my desk, start waving my arms and yelling insults about the gunman’s mom.
I would look for a really fat person and hide behind them.
If he’s on my floor, lock the door and do the following:
Only I would curl into a ball under the desk and bring the trash can under there with me, because I would probably vomit. Try to get up the presence of mind to call 911 on my cell phone and remember my office number so I could tell 911 where I am.
If he’s not on my floor, try to sneak out the door (along with anyone else I see on the floor) and go into one of the nearby shops. Call 911 on my cell phone from there. Then call Mr. Neville on my cell phone and tell him where I am.
I am armed with a plastic water bottle, a glass-framed picture of my cats, my cell phone, some keys, some pencils and pens, and my computer books. Your average unarmed six-year-old could probably take me in a fight. I think the worst I could realistically do is throw the water bottle and make the gunman look like he had wet himself. And I probably couldn’t even do that- things I throw generally don’t land in the same zip code that I want them to.
The thing is, how would I know for sure it was gunshots and screams and not just people being stupid? I work on the first floor of an office building. There is a cafe directly across the hall, and there is noise all day long. Unless he came in after 3:30, it would be a few minutes before I realized it wasn’t just the ordinary noise.
Then, I’d probably go to the door. The door has a square glass window set in it. Assuming I immediately figured out what was going on - because honestly, it is NOT one of my fears and I wouldn’t be thinking about it, my dumbass office door only locks with the key, from the outside. If I peeked out and saw the gunman heading this way, the only thing I could do is run for the copy/supply room and shut the door. I think if he had a shotgun, the pellets would most likely go through the door, though. It’s not that good a door.
If I somehow knew, I guess I could lock the door. Then he could shoot out the window, and let himself in by reaching through the glass. :rolleyes: I sit right in front of the door.
(I am currently on sabbatical. Or out-of-work, depending how you look at it.)
Move to the roof and wait for helicopters. If I encounter a gunman en route, kill him. Then move to the roof and wait for the helicopters.
Since I would be in a room full of teenagers, have all of them call 911 while I go through the lock-down procedures we’ve practiced: door locked, light off, students away from any visibility. If we were caught in the halls, these are MY kids, and he is NOT going to hurt them if I’m still mobile. I’ll take him down with those friggin’ huge geometry books my daughter has to haul around.
See the first thing that popped into my mind when I read the OP was not just the factor of a single gunman (though the title does say “a” in it. But then again, if I were in a situation and I heard shots and all, I’d assume there were multiple, or the chance of that. And with that, I’d consider the hiding route, but I’m also thinking about escaping the building.
Hiding until he leaves is all well and nice, but as the recent events in Bombay have shown- sometimes gunfire doesn’t mean it’s going to stop right away. I’d be worried about hostage situations and things of that nature as well…
Then again, there’s plenty of places to hide in a hospital- so maybe just hiding is the best route. But I fear if a gunman found a group of people hiding, he’s going to take them hostage. Because I have no idea if a gunman is angry at a specific person (in which case, I’m kinda thankful that I’m the nice guy that talks to everyone even the lonely people as Dane Cook pointed out in one of his comedy albums), or if he’s out to cause some planned chaos and disruption via a terrorist act, or if he’s just looking to take down everything in his path.
So hiding is first option and best for the first one, but escaping is in my mind at all times, just because of the possibility of choices 2 and 3. Sure, it might SOUND like 1 gunman, but he could have buddies just waiting around the way. For that same reasoning, even exiting via standard exits- I’d be worried about that (remember the school shootings where they pulled the fire alarms and just waited outside with the rifles? That fear also strikes my mind)
It’s a lot of thoughts like those above that would be going through my head. All of it while I lay there curled up trying to be as quiet as possible.
So yeah. I think the first response did it best. Though I wouldn’t soil myself until I saw them. I’d like to think I have better control than that.
I’d rapidly move in the opposite direction from the danger while throwing pregnant women, elderly people and small children behind me.
The same plan is also in place in the event of shark, bear or zombie attack.
There is only one entrance to our suite - so I am screwed. No where to run to, baby, nowhere to hide.
I would probably look out my door, see psycho, slamdoorshutwhilevoidingbladderandbowels, block door with futon, put desk on top of futon, put whiteboard on top of that…
Huh - my office door has a lock. I never noticed that! I wonder if there is a key someplace!
I just got a great look for a fellow exec. He walked by as I was muttering to myself about the thickness of the door and what caliber it might stop.