If There is Gunfire in Your Immediate Area

During an Active Shooter incident, your first responsibility is for your own safety. The second is responsibility for the other employees and customers in your workplace, who may not be familiar with the building and the exits to the outside. Assist those in your immediate area during any Active Shooter incident. If there is gunfire in your immediate area, you are in danger! Take the following actions, in their order, immediately. Do not delay. Because shooting incidents develop quickly, there may be no announcement over the public address system by the FLSD. In this case, take the following actions if you hear gun fire or a disturbance taking place near your establishment:

RUN
Make all effort to quickly remove yourself, employees and customers from the area of the incident.

1. Do not activate any Fire Alarms. This will cause others to possibly enter the incident location and cause further injuries through their exposure to danger.
2. If possible, immediately attempt to quickly evacuate your facility using any available exit that will take you away from the sound of the gun fire.
3. Instruct other employees and any customers on the premises to evacuate the store using whichever exit you deem most safe. Usher them out quickly.
4. If you cannot leave by the main exits, and you have a rear access door, instruct everyone to exit by that means and continue to a safe area away from the building.
5. Leave your personal belongings behind. Any delay in exiting the area may place you in harm''s way.
6. Do not take time to lock doors, as this could delay your seeking safety.
7. Evacuate regardless of whether others agree to follow you or not.
8. Do not stop and take time for photos or videos of the incident. This will delay your effort to get to a safe location. Any delay in exiting the building could result in injury, or possible death.
9. Follow any company guidelines that do not conflict with these instructions.
10. Prevent others from entering the area where the active shooter may be located.
11. Do not attempt to move wounded people.
12. Only call 911 when you are in a safe location to do so.
13. Follow the instructions of any law enforcement officers arriving on the scene.
14. Keep your hands empty and high when engaging with law enforcement.
15. Only return to the [Property Name] when instructed to do so my law enforcement, who will likely take time to ensure the entire area is safe before allowing any further access or re-access to the workplaces.

HIDE
If you cannot exit the area, everyone should seek a safe, secure place to shelter where the active shooter is not likely to find you.

1. Do not activate any Fire Alarms. This will cause others to possibly enter the incident location and cause further injuries through their exposure to danger.
2. Have everyone create distance between themselves and the assailant by having everyone seek shelter and hide at the rear of the location in an office or storeroom.
3. Make sure your sheltering location is out of view. It should be a safe area out of the line of fire.
4. Lock the door at the hiding place, or if no lock, barricade the door with furniture or heavy objects. Hide behind large items such as cabinets or desks.
5. Silence all cell phones and other mobile devices. A ringing sound could give away your location. Instruct everyone to stay off of their cellphones so as not to create noise that will identify your location.
6. Turn off the lights, especially if there are windows in the hiding area.
7. Turn off any radios or televisions located at your hiding place.
8. Everyone should remain calm and quiet.
9. If the shooter is near your area of the building, call 911 and alert police to your location. Speak as softly as possible. If you cannot speak, leave the line open so the police dispatcher may listen, and your call can be recorded.
10. Do not leave your hiding location unless law enforcement officers are present and instruct you to do so, which will be a time after the incident is finished and the building has been searched and deemed safe.

FIGHT
If you cannot evacuate or hide, and the shooter is in your immediate area and your life is in danger, as a last resort, everyone should ATTACK the shooter. Each person should act as aggressively as possible in this manner:

1. If you are with a group, everyone should begin yelling as loud as possible to create confusion.
2. Everyone should separate so as to not be clustered into a small group.
3. Everyone should throw items at the shooter, regardless of size, but the heavier the better. The shooter will be defending himself, which may give an opportunity for someone to physically engage and disable the individual.
4. Improvise furniture or other objects as weapons to use against the shooter. Throw chairs, trash cans or other similar objects if possible. Spray the individual with a fire extinguisher if one is available.
5. Commit to your actions. You life is in danger! Survive by any means necessary. Do everything possible to stop this individual from injuring you or others.
6. If you are successful in disarming the shooter, secure the weapon but do not have it in hand to present to law enforcement. They may mistake you as the shooter. Put it in a secure place and show them the location.

INCIDENT NOTIFICATION BY ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE FLSD

An incident by notification means there is an incident taking place in your building or retail area and the FLSD has activated the Active Shooter incident protocols. This means the FLSD has knowledge of an Active Shooter and the location where the incident is taking place. The FLSD will broadcast announcements that will instruct you about what is happening, where it is occurring, and what actions you should take.

When the announcements are broadcast, take the following actions:

1. Follow the instructions of the FLSD for your building, who may instruct you to Shelter-in-Place or Evacuate the building.
2. If told to evacuate, the FLSD will make an announcement that will also indicate the exits or egress locations that SHOULD NOT be used.
3. The announcement may also include information about elevators, escalators, stairways, and other exits that also SHOULD NOT be used.
4. Remain calm and follow the FLSD's instructions.
5. When instructed to immediately evacuate, direct anyone in your retail area to leave your location and point them to the exit that leads to the outside of the building.
6. Do not attempt to take personal possessions with you. This could delay your evacuation and put your life in danger by doing so.
7. Do not attempt to assist wounded people. Continue towards your exit.
8. If a specific exit route isn't designated, exit in the direction from which law enforcement is arriving. Keep your hands empty and up in the air so law enforcement does not deem objects in your hands as a weapon.
9. A cellphone in your hand may look like a weapon to law enforcement so keep mobile devices in your pocket.
10. Follow the instructions of any law enforcement officers. They will guide you in the safest direction or location.
11. Remain in your assembly area until told it is safe to return into the building, or instructed to do otherwise by law enforcement officials.