On Friday February 12, 2010, I had the pleasure of teaching PowerPhone’s Active Shooting Response (ASR) class at the Oxford, Massachusetts Police Department.  One of the students in the class asked why there have been so few females that have perpetrated these horrific crimes.  I advised her that in my experience and research, females have resorted to such violence, but it was true that the female shooter is definitely in the minority. I referred to the 2006 Postal workplace shooting in Northern California involving a former female postal worker.  This female shooter killed 5 victims during her rampage, before turning the gun and killing herself.  She had a history of violent behavior and mental illness.

Little did I know that as our class was drawing to a close, a female active shooter was taking her aim on what appeared to be “Target Specific” victims. This tragic event was taking place at the University of Alabama (Huntsville) at a faculty meeting.  According to a CNN report, the shootings occurred on Friday at approximately 4:00 PM.  In the aftermath, 3 victims were found shot to death and 3 more were wounded.  The shooter, a female faculty member, was taken into custody when police arrived at 4:01 PM without further incident.

According to an Associated Press report, the shooter had a history of previous violence and a very difficult past.  It is alleged that the violence occurred after the female faculty member was denied tenure for her teaching position.  In this particular case there appears to be little difference as to the mentality we have seen with male shooters.  As we discuss in the dispatcher training class, the shooter usually has a desire to kill as many as possible and normally has intended targets.  According to accounts by those that knew her, she had displayed predictable signs of problem behavior in her past.  She, like others that resort to such violence, was apparently upset over recent events related to a work crisis and lashed out after feeling wronged and sought revenge.  Unlike many male shooters, she did not turn aggression inward with an act of suicide after she vented physically and violently.

Discussion Issues:

• Due to this recent event, should we now consider the possibility of an increase in female active shooters?
• Are females in today’s society exposed to more traumas resulting in a desire to commit such acts of violence?
• Are more females committing suicide by more violent means today than in years past?
• Do societal role changes in the workplace, military, and law enforcement, subject females to greater situational stress levels (PTSD) than in the past?
• Are you, and your community, ready if an Active Shooter, male or female, strikes tomorrow? 

Please share your thoughts, knowledge, and experience regarding the questions above so that we may all learn more about these serious acts of violence.

PowerPhone’s Director of Training, Captain George Deuchar, has taught law enforcement dispatch training courses since 1995, and served as PowerPhone’s Director of Training since 2002.   As leader of PowerPhone’s Instructor Corps, Captain Deuchar travels extensively nationwide conducting training seminars on Suicide Intervention, Liability, Crisis Negotiations and Communications, Critical Incident Stress and Stress Management, Domestic Violence, and Active Shooting Response.  Sign up for an Active Shooter Response class in your area to ensure your agency is equipped to handle an active shooter.

George Deuchar, PowerPhone’s Director of Training, conducted two Active Shooting Response training programs for the Beaumont 9-1-1 Operations Center in May. During the programs, George emphasized the need for dispatchers to see active shootings from “the other side” by understanding what responders go through and how they prepare to handle such incidents.

Carolyn Lewis, Beaumont’s 9-1-1 Center Training/QA Supervisor, agreed. After obtaining permission from the Chief of Police, Beaumont’s dispatchers had the opportunity to suit up in gear and go through an active shooting simulation. Carolyn was kind enough to share some photos of the training with us.

Letter from Carolyn (PDF format; 125 KB)

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The first calls came less than a minute after a gunman fired a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol from the second-floor balcony down on the casino floor at about 12:43 a.m.

Callers, some of them panicked and crying, reported people scattering from the building or hiding behind slot machines and under tables.

Las Vegas resident Steven Zegrean, 53, was arrested on the scene and has been charged with 52 felony counts in connection with the incident. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Prosecutors played nine calls, one of them from hotel security. An emergency operator told one caller, “We have a lot of people calling this in right now.”

Read the full story here.

The article covers the latest law enforcement techniques for containing active shooting incidents, such as Immediate Action Rapid Deployment (IARD) and shows how these new approaches are changing the dispatcher’s role. Also covered are pre-planning for active shootings, protecting responders, pre-arrival instructions for callers in danger, and critical incident stress.

Read the full article here. (PDF file; requires Acrobat Reader)