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Active shooter response: 10 building search tips

The following tactical imperatives are for solo officers or a hastily assembled team

Wilber Mora, Orlando Salvat, Vincent Torres

Police officers need to learn and practice the most effective ways to maneuver inside structures as individuals and small teams when responding to an active shooter incident.

Wilfredo Lee/AP

Recently, I was fortunate to attend the “Patrol Response to Active Shooters” course taught by R.K. Miller and his highly professional cadre at National Training Concepts (NTC). Drawing from their extensive experience as police officers, tactical team leaders, and instructors, the NTC team led us through the complexities of responding to an “active shooter” call as an individual patrol officer or a hastily assembled team of officers.

The syllabus was wide-ranging and extensive and included classroom briefs, practical exercises, live fire training, and scenario work. One of the central themes of this course was to expose officers to the skills and tactics necessary to locate and neutralize the active shooter threat, particularly in buildings. Students were taught the most effective ways to maneuver inside structures as individuals and small teams, while they dynamically cleared the environment in search of the shooter(s).

10 building search tips for active shooter response

Here are 10 key building search tips that I took away from this outstanding training:

1. Muzzle awareness is vital

When you’re moving around in heavily occupied buildings with narrow hallways, restrictive portals, and small rooms, it’s imperative that you keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction so that you don’t endanger innocents and team members. This requires strict discipline in both training and real operations.

2. Read the angles

Every doorway and corner in a building divides the terrain into sectors — some visible, and some hidden. You have to “read” the angles and ensure that you don’t prematurely expose yourself to an enemy in hiding, while simultaneously monitoring the outer edges of what you can see for clues to his whereabouts.

3. Watch your “six”

Check and monitor the area to your rear to ensure that you don’t get ambushed from behind. In buildings with interconnected rooms and hallways, it can be easy for a foe to maneuver behind you. It can also be easy to overlook a hidden enemy during a hasty search and leapfrog beyond his position. Assign a rear guard if you have enough personnel.

4. Briefly delay after the command of execution

As the point man, when you get the double-tap or squeeze signal that initiates a team entry into a building or room, delay long enough for the man who gave the signal to get his support hand back on his weapon before you spring into action. You want him ready to go behind you when you cross that threshold.

5. Hesitate momentarily after opening a door

If you’re going to enter a room, hesitate for a brief moment after opening the door. An ensconced enemy might launch his ambush as soon as he sees the door swing open, so don’t rush into the “fatal funnel.” A stream of frightened victims may flee out the door, or launch their own attack, fearing the shooter has found them. A slight hesitation may help you avoid injury, collision, or fratricide, and buy valuable time to “read” the room, and process what you’ve seen and heard before entry.

Equip yourself with cutting-edge tactics, psychological insight and decisive strategies to effectively neutralize threats and protect lives during an active shooter response

6. Remember that “the point man is never wrong”

If you’re making a room entry as a team, the members behind the point man have to “read” his actions and adapt. You may have planned for him to buttonhook to the left on entry, but if he goes to the right, then you need to adapt and change your actions accordingly. Maybe he saw something upon entry that made him change his plan, like an obstacle or a glimpse of the suspect. If he deviates from the plan, treat it like a valuable clue and back his play.

7. Check behind the door

It’s an easy place for a bad guy to hide, and it’s one of the last places you might think to look. When making a dynamic entry, make sure the door is opened forcefully enough to swing through a full arc, to help clear this area. Beware: A door-closing device may prevent a full swing of the door. Check this area just like you would any other part of the room.

8. Announce your exit

If you’re exiting a cleared room, announce your exit clearly so that you aren’t targeted by other friendlies. A loud verbal announcement (i.e., “Wood coming out!”), followed by an open hand wave that extends slightly out into the hallway for all to see, is a good way to announce your exit and avoid a blue-on-blue shooting. This applies even if you made a solo entry into the building because you don’t know who else entered while you were clearing the room.

9. Square up to the enemy

Take advantage of your body armor’s protective capabilities by squaring up to a hallway or a doorway that you are about to enter. You might present a larger target, but any rounds that are fired at you stand a better chance of being stopped by your vest if they hit the front (especially if you have a trauma plate) instead of leaking through gaps in the side.

10. Don’t be a groundhog

If you go low in a fight (you kneel or squat to seek cover, reload, or clear a malfunction) don’t pop up to a standing position without first checking your environment, especially your “six.” You might just stand up in the line of your teammates’ fire and take a not-so-friendly bullet in the back of the head. Scan first before you stick your head out of the hole!

We must energize and educate the public on how they can prevent these shootings by watching for certain common behaviors these killers exhibit

Conclusion

There was so much more to learn and experience in this valuable course. Getting to work under the watchful eyes of veteran instructors with hundreds of missions and multiple decades’ worth of experience under their belts was invaluable and highly educational. To learn more about the various courses offered by R.K. Miller and his team at National Training Concepts, please see the NTC website.

Most of all, be safe out there and take care of each other.

This article, originally published on April 07, 2016, has been updated with additional resources.

Mike Wood is the son of a 30-year California Highway Patrolman and the author of “Newhall Shooting: A Tactical Analysis,” the highly-acclaimed study of the 1970 California Highway Patrol gunfight in Newhall, California. Mike is an Honor Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, a graduate of the US Army Airborne School, and a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel with over 26 years of service. He’s a National Rifle Association (NRA) Law Enforcement Division-certified firearms instructor, senior editor at RevolverGuy.com, and has been a featured guest on the Excellence In Training Academy and American Warrior Society podcasts, as well as several radio and television programs. He’s grateful for the opportunity to serve and learn from the men and women of law enforcement.