"Running, hiding, fighting" is now well known and put into practice when shooting at UNC Charlotte

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Wednesday that Howell, a 21-year-old environmental studies student, was a hero who "did exactly what we train," and that he "has taken the assailant of his feet ".

"You can either run away, hide and protect yourself, or you will fight the assailant," Putney said at a news conference. "Having no place to hide and hide, he made the last one, without his work, the assailant might not have been disarmed." Unfortunately, he gave his life in the process, but his sacrifice saved lives. "

Fighting an abuser is a last resort, Burba said. People in active shelling are urged to flee the danger but if they are unable to do so, they are asked to hide. This may involve locking the door of the rooms, turning off the lights to make it appear that no one is inside, and using furniture to barricade the doors, he said. declared.

Even if the door opens, stacking furniture can create obstacles for a shooter. "Even if they open the door, they now have all these obstacles," Burba said.

The UNC campus in Charlotte was locked up during the shooting, and students studying at the library recounted hearing an announcement on the intercom and people entering the building. building screaming about a gunman.

A student in a library study room told NBC affiliate WCNC on Tuesday that he was barricading himself in the room by placing a table against the door.

Eventually, a police officer entered the library and asked the students to leave "and we all grabbed our stuff and went out," she said.

Jordan Pearce, another 19-year-old student, was also in the library and caught another girl. They hid in the toilets of a man until the police arrived and escorted them.

Some students as young as Pearce are no strangers to the active training at the shooter; they grew up taking part in active shooter exercises. She said on Wednesday that she had attended high school and UNC, Charlotte, had also talked to students, telling them to run, hide or fight and stay in school. away from the windows.

But she said that her reaction "was also an instinct."

Randy Spivey, founder of the Human and Safety Protection Center, which distributes training videos to schools, including the UNC system, said the instructions are designed to make users aware of their options.

The company produced the video "Shots Fired, When Lightning Strikes" in 2007 after filming Virginia Tech, which uses the terms "go out, hide, go out". This video was used as a reference by the DHS in the guidance of the active shooter he published in 2008.

"What we do not want is that they are frozen in fear, without options, because they have no training," he said.

"Before the arrival of the first responders, these students or your children are immediate responders, and they are in what we call this extreme danger gap," before the police or other forces of the Order arrived, Spivey said. "Many times, that's what they do between 2, 5 and 10 minutes that determines the outcome."

People also need to learn the "red flags" that can offer clues that a person might become violent against others or against themselves, Spivey said.

He added that training in the recognition of signs of pre-violence behavior was particularly needed in kindergarten to grade 12 schools, and that his company had produced a video that it would provide free of charge. the disposal of schools.

"These are not just school shooters, but also some of the same indicators that a person is progressing toward violence, she is also suicidal," Spivey said.

Ken Trump, president of the National School Safety and Protective Services, which deals only with school safety and training schools before the 12th anniversary, said that, anecdotally, some of these districts have adopted the "running, hiding, fighting" system or other option-based training, but "the vast majority of our experience still does not."

"You are thinking of asking the children to make some decisive decisions and they are not developed emotionally, mentally and mentally to do it," he said, adding, "We know that traditional lockdowns work."

Safe Havens International, a non-profit group, studied option-based active shooter training in K-12 schools and simulations in a school district in the southwestern United States. "were more likely to opt for strength in a scenario involving a student with a handgun in the head.

In one out of four cases, staff members trained in options opted for throwing objects or attacking the student, and staff who had not received formal training started talking to the student and encourage him to put down his weapon. , the CEO of the group wrote in a January 2018 article in the specialized magazine Security Management.

"Colleges and higher education have many more possibilities of application in this concept [run, hide or fight] Chris Dorn, senior group analyst, said Thursday that there would be fewer areas accessible to lockdowns "and more open areas.

Terrell was arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder for attempted murder at the UNC Charlotte. Officials told WCNC that Terrell was a history scholar at school, but dropped out of school this semester.

The reason for the shooting, which occurred on the last day of classes, was not disclosed by the police. A police report indicates that the investigators do not believe that Terrell knew the people killed during the attack.