“Unless you have been shot at, and I have, you do not know how you will react or what to do unless you have specific training.”
As we are learning more about the tragic shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival and the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas that has left 59 dead and over 500 wounded, I have been watching the videos that have been pouring in of the actual shooting itself. Some of the things that I have seen are disturbing to say the least. My heart goes out to all of those that were there and the families of the injured or killed.
We know these things are going to happen. We are a free nation and to be truly free we take on some risks. One of those that we must be aware of is that our freedom makes the US and its people targets, either from outside terrorist groups or lone gunmen with grudges.
First, a concert where you have thousands of people packed into a small area, as any large gathering of people, should be considered a target for an active shooter. If you are attending such an event, plan accordingly. Do you know where the nearest exits are? Where is the nearest spot with cover or concealment where you can flee to if needed? Should you be in the middle of the crowd or near the outside edge? Personally, I would choose a place where I can be close to something that I can get my family under or behind that will stop bullets or at least block the view of the shooter.
I saw on the videos a lot of people simply laying or crouching down and not moving, not from being shot, but from fear or panic. What I would like to know is why people were not fleeing the area? Why were they not seeking cover or concealment?
I do not know the answer, and understand I do not “blame” anyone for their actions. Unless you have been shot at, and I have, you do not know how you will react or what to do unless you have specific training in that. But if we are to learn from this and maybe learn how to mitigate the amount of damage that occurs during tragedies like this, we need to know why people reacted the way they did.
This type of incident is impossible to defend against. You cannot prevent it. The shooter was not down on the concert grounds or near it. He was up on the 32nd floor of a hotel nearby, simply spraying bullets into the crowd, trying to kill and hurt as many people as he could. He was shooting at people from almost 1200 feet away. The shooter was not shooting at particular targets, you can’t do that with an automatic weapon fired at that distance.
It is incumbent on all of us to do our parts to lessen the chances of this happening in the future, and to make security of our large venues more secure.
The suspect, who was killed, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, was a resident of Mesquite, Nevada. Paddock took his own life as police SWAT teams breached his room at Mandalay Bay.
On a more positive note and one of the many reasons why this country is the finest in the world is that following this massacre, ordinary people did what they could to help others who were hurt. Selfless actions to help their fellow citizens. That’s what this country is about.
So as we learn more, and as we dissect this shooting and the shooter’s motives, let us concentrate on those things we can do to make this country better and safer for all.
