In the case of an office invasion, Davis said most involve a single shooter who originally planned to target a single person. However, in some cases the victims were chosen at random.
Davis recently held a training session for employees at St. Leonard's Franciscan Living Community, a retirement facility with multiple buildings on a 240-acre campus in Centerville. He told employees that they are ultimately responsible for their own safety.
"Best case scenario, law enforcement is two and a half to three minutes away. For those two and a half, three minutes you have to survive," Davis said. Much like other training programs around the country, Davis promotes the "Run, Hide, Fight" philosophy. Workers are told that if they are faced with an emergency they should run to safety if they can, hide if they must and as a last resort, attack the intruder head-on.
In the training session, Dawn Arrowood, a St. Leonard's employee from Dayton sat and listened intently. She even participated in one of the class exercises, playing the part of an office worker who, along with others, instructed to launch a surprise attack on a would-be gunman who entered their office.
The gunman's pistol was plastic and the worker's weapons were nothing more than pool noodles, but the concept is much the same as if it were a real attack.
"You really need to commit to your actions and need to act aggressively because you are literally fighting for your life at that point," Davis said.
When the pretend gunman entered the room, the crowd holding foam weapons launched its assault. Davis said even if the response serves only as a distraction, it may halt the attacker long enough for others to run to safety.
While training is on the rise, new technology is coming on line for schools, college campuses and businesses to keep people safe in an emergency. "Siteguard" is a computer system that uses sensors throughout a facility to detect gunshots, pinpoint their location, track movement of the shooter and help workers determine their best escape route. It was developed by a team of computer and security experts at Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle.
Ed Jopeck, a former Security Analyst with the CIA who now works for Battelle, said sensors placed throughout a facility detect when and where a shot is fired. "We are trying to make active shooter situation as survivable as possible," Jopeck said.
In a demonstration at Battelle's West Jefferson, Ohio research facility, Jopeck showed the I-Team how the Siteguard system detects a gunshot and instantly notifies police, on-site security and even employees via cell-phone texts. It came when a staff member fired a handgun with blanks in a nearby office. Immediately, the system's computer screen lit up, showing the exact location of the shooter. Subsequent shots allowed the system to track the gunman's movements throughout the building, giving employees the best escape route to safety.
"Now every time he fires that weapon he gives away his position, both to the police and people in the building, and if they have been trained in something like a "Run, Hide, Fight" scenario, they are all his enemies because they know where he is and he doesn't know where they are," Jopeck said.
Battelle's "Siteguard" has been available for about a year but it moved to the market quietly. One client, a central Ohio school district said the system holds great potential. Future upgrades could allow security forces to track the shooter using existing security cameras and even use the building's public address system to confront the shooter by voice before first responders arrive.
Craig Hoschouer, a security consultant and president of PLE Group of Centerville, said he has also seen a growing interest among local companies trying to improve security and guard against an active shooter making his way into the workplace.
"You have to take a look at what the targets are and what the threat is," said Hoschouer. He urges employees to become more familiar with their surroundings at work, the potential escape routes and to think in advance about how they would react to an emergency.
"You need to know instantly what you are going to do," said Hoschouer He said odds are most people will never experience an active shooter in their workplace, at a school or shopping mall. But he still urges caution and education.
Federal authorities, including the FBI, said recently the US has averaged 17 deadly shooting attacks a year, with about half of them happening in the workplace.
About the Author