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"On October 5, 2022, a respected professor and community leader, Dr. Thomas Meixner, was shot and killed in the John W. Harshbarger (“Harshbarger”) building by the alleged suspect (“the Subject”), a former University of Arizona graduate student. On October 24, 2022, PAX Group, LLC, (“PAX” or “PAX Group”) was retained by the University of Arizona (“University”) and began conducting an independent… (read more)

RAND researchers created this tool to advance efforts to prevent and reduce intentional, interpersonal firearm violence and public mass attacks in the United States. The goal of this tool is to provide practical strategies and guidance on deterring, mitigating, and responding to mass attacks for a variety of audiences, including public safety experts, practitioners, policymakers, community groups… (read more)

Recognized as CSHEMA's 2023 Marketing Single Media Award for a Small School, this video outlines the "Avoid, Deny, Defend" survival method, a national model that SMU has adopted to educate our campus. The tactics shown in this video are the result of in-depth, after-action lessons learned through partnerships with law enforcement agencies, individuals and institutions who have been involved in… (read more)

"There have been many active shooter incidents in the United States since Columbine, and police agencies continue to modify their policies and training to reflect the lessons that are learned from each new tragedy. This report summarizes the state of the field as of 2014. The Police Executive Research Forum conducted research on these issues and held a one-day Summit in Washington, D.C., in which… (read more)

SchoolShooters.info is a compendium of documents relating to a wide range of active shooter incidents in educational settings. The purpose of this site is to help prevent school shootings and to provide insight into the perpetrators of large-scale school violence. The information and materials on this site are relevant for professionals in education, mental health, and law enforcement, as well as… (read more)

This report analyzes mass shootings for a 15-year period (1999-2013). CRS analysis of the FBI Supplementary Homicide Reports dataset and other research indicates that offenders committed at least 317 mass shootings, murdered 1,554 victims, and non-fatally wounded another 441 victims entirely with firearms during that 15-year period. The prevalence of mass shooting incidents and victim counts… (read more)

Between January and December 2017, 28 incidents of mass attacks, during which three or more persons were harmed, were carried out in public places within the United States. These acts violated the safety of the places we work, learn, shop, relax, and otherwise conduct our day-to-day lives. The resulting loss of 147 lives and injury to nearly 700 others had a devastating impact on our nation as a… (read more)

The purpose of this on-line video library is to provide a single, easy to search source in which individuals, agencies and organizations can access Just In Time Disaster Training videos.  The videos found in this library cover disaster related mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery training for a wide variety of areas.

The goal of this document is to provide guidance and share best practices to local officials on planning, training, equipping (including personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as the stages of response and recovery. It includes recommendations on all the phases of response. Community involvement is integral in planning, mitigation, response, and recovery, but this document is specifically… (read more)

When incidents of school violence occur, they leave a profound and lasting impact on the school, the community, and our nation as a whole. Ensuring safe environments for elementary and secondary school students, educators, administrators, and others is essential. This operational guide was developed to provide fundamental direction on how to prevent incidents of targeted school violence, that is… (read more)

Following the tragic shooting at Umpqua Community College in 2015, the Oregon Campus Safety Work Group (OCSWG) was formed to identify resource needs and potential state policies that enable a coordinated strategy across the higher education system for public and private institutions; as well as analyze promising practices and protocols that can be shared across all post-secondary education… (read more)

Ensuring the continuous operation of government and the safety of the personnel and citizens who enter government facilities on a daily basis is an essential part of securing our homeland. To enhance prevention efforts in this area, the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) studied 43 attacks targeting federal government facilities and officials that occurred between 2001… (read more)

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defines an active shooter as an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area. In its definition, DHS notes that, in most cases, active shooters use firearms(s) and there is no pattern or method to their selection of victims. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has limited this definition to… (read more)

Active shooter situations are unpredictable and evolve quickly. Typically, the immediate deployment of law enforcement is required to stop the shooting and mitigate harm to victims. Because active shooter situations are often over within 10 to 15 minutes, before law enforcement arrives on the scene, individuals must be prepared both mentally and physically to deal with an active shooter situation… (read more)

The foundation of any Active Shooter/Hostile Event (ASHE) program is a comprehensive plan. A comprehensive ASHE plan provides a framework for developing and implementing specific procedures including training and exercising your capability, equipping your response elements, proactive engagement of your stakeholders, and evaluating your capabilities. A collaborative planning process involving… (read more)

Given the increasing number and consistency of active shooter incidents, thousands of first responders, including police/law enforcement, campus public safety officials, and security officers, have undertaken active shooter or active threat trainings. These trainings evolve as best practices are updated to reflect new information that emerges from incidents. Anecdotal evidence suggests that… (read more)

This publication is the product of an ongoing collaboration between the Secret Service and the Department of Education. The focus is on the use of the threat assessment process pioneered by the Secret Service as one component of the Department of Education's efforts to help schools across the nation reduce school violence and create safe climates. This guide sets forth a process for identifying,… (read more)

An extensive examination of 37 incidents of targeted school violence that occurred in the United States from December, 1974 through May, 2000.

This study aimed to further the prevention of targeted school-based attacks by exploring how students with prior knowledge of attacks made decisions regarding what steps, if any, to take after learning the information. The study also sought to identify what might be done to encourage more students to share information they learn about potential targeted school-based violence with one or more… (read more)

Options for Consideration demonstrates possible actions to take if confronted with an active shooter scenario. The video also shows how to assist authorities once law enforcement enters the scene.

Recent improvised explosive device (IED) and active shooter incidents reveal that some traditional practices of first responders need to be realigned and enhanced to improve survivability of victims and the safety of first responders caring for them. This Federal, multi-disciplinary first responder guidance translates evidence-based response strategies from the U.S. military's vast experience in… (read more)

This resource document provides several publications and web resources on a variety of security topics to include targeted attacks, managing threatening situations, creating safe school climates, security assessments, and the Roundtable presentation.

This project sought to determine the optimized message contents of imminent threat wireless emergency alert (WEA) messages delivered over mobile communication devices. This report presents findings for the first WEA messages disseminated about imminent threats (i.e., first alert messages) from two research phases with U.S. adults: (1) eight experiments, seven focus groups and 50 think-out-loud… (read more)

This is a second edition of a publication known as FEMA 428 that provides the design community and school administrators with the basic principles and techniques to design a school that is safe from potential physical attacks and, at the same time, offers an aesthetically pleasing design that is functional and meets the needs of the students, staff, administration, and general public. This… (read more)

How to respond when an active shooter is in your vicinity.

How to respond when an active shooter is in your vicinity.

An active shooter is an individual who is engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area; in most cases, active shooters use firearms(s) and there is no pattern or method to their selection of victims. This is a quick reference guide for active shooter incidents.

The American public has expressed increasing alarm over incidents of multiple casualty violence. While the law enforcement community has progressed in advancing training in the tactical response to incidents, there are significant gaps in strategies aimed at preventing multiple casualty violence. To address this need, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Law Enforcement Training… (read more)

On December 2, 2015, at 10:59 AM, the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, came under attack. Many of the lessons learned during the response to the attack tie into the principles of community policing and continue to build on the body of knowledge that exists to assist law enforcement agencies in their mission to protect and strengthen relationships with their community. This… (read more)

This report examined whether any differences exist between lone actor terrorists and mass murderers. Using a series of bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses, researchers compared demographic, psychological and offense-related behavioral variables across and between 71 lone actor terrorists and 115 solo mass murderers. The fundamental distinction between the two groups, motivation,… (read more)

This VALOR webinar was held on August 16, 2016. Participants learned about active shooter events and considerations that law enforcement officers should be aware of when responding to an active shooter event. Leading experts from the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) Program discussed: statistics of active shooter events; risks associated with response to active shooter… (read more)

This guide is the culmination of nearly two years of work following a 2015 gathering of multidisciplinary experts and the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. The purpose of this gathering was to discuss solutions to reduce attacks such as mass shootings and other forms of targeted violence including stalking, terrorism, or ambush attacks on law enforcement. This publication represents the results of… (read more)

This article offers threat assessment and management strategies to address the increased demands faced by campus law enforcement, mental health, and administration officials who assess and manage threats, perhaps several simultaneously.

This report provides an assessment of 272 incidents of violence that affected institutions of higher education (IHE) in the United States between 1909 and 2008. The report offers perspectives on key aspects of targeted violence at IHEs and provides a preliminary look at the scope of the issue. The researchers used open-source information to produce this report and as a result the observations and… (read more)

The FBI's objective for this initiative was to examine specific behaviors that may precede an attack and which might be useful in identifying, assessing, and managing those who may be on a pathway to deadly violence. By articulating the concrete, observable pre-attack behaviors of many active shooters, the FBI hopes to make these warning signs more visible and easily identifiable. This… (read more)

In 2014, the FBI initiated a study of active shooter incidents with the goal to provide federal, state, and local law enforcement with data so they can better understand how to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from these incidents. As a result, the FBI identified 160 active shooter incidents that occurred in the U.S. between 2000 and 2013. The FBI has since published… (read more)

This is an addendum to the FBI's study of active shooter incidents from 2000 to 2013. An analysis of 2014 and 2015 active shooter incidents has identified 20 incidents in each of the years. The methodology to identify incidents is the same as articulated in A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Between 2000 and 2013. To ensure consistency… (read more)

The FBI provides operational, behaviorally-based threat assessment and threat management services to help detect and prevent acts of targeted violence, helping academic, mental health, business, community, law enforcement, and government entities recognize and disrupt potential active shooters who may be on a trajectory toward violence. This web page provides access to FBI and other resources as… (read more)

The Academia & Resilience web page provides links, tools, training and resources for the higher education community including campus security, campus emergency managers, higher education faculty and administrators and college students.