Right now
Run if you can. Hide if you cannot. Fight only to save your life.
Getting away from the attacker is the priority. Leave everything, keep your hands visible, and call 911 once you are safe. The sections below take about three minutes to read. Read them now, before you ever need them.
By Dan Whelan, founder of New World Survival
Researched from government agencies, university extension services, and other published sources. See our sources
The three responses
Run. Hide. Fight. In that order.
These are the FBI's three responses to an active shooter, and the order matters. Escape beats hiding. Hiding beats fighting. You move between them as the situation changes, not because one feels braver than another.
Run
If there is a way out, take it. Picture your escape route before you move, then go. Leave your belongings behind; nothing you own is worth the seconds it costs. Help others escape if you can, but evacuate whether or not they follow. Keep your hands visible so arriving officers can see them, and stop anyone from walking into the area you just left. Do not try to move wounded people while you escape; getting out and calling 911 is how you help them. Call 911 the moment you are safe.
Source: FBI Active Shooter Event Quick Reference Guide
Hide
If you cannot get out, get out of sight. Put a solid barrier between you and the threat: a locked door is best, and furniture pushed against it is next best. Turn off the lights, close any blinds, and get low, away from the door. Silence your phone completely. Vibrate is not silent; turn it off or switch it to do not disturb. Then be still and quiet, and stay that way. Do not open the door for anyone; officers will open it themselves when they clear the building.
Source: FBI Quick Reference Guide; Ready.gov
Fight
Fight as a last resort, and only when your life is in immediate danger. If it comes to that, commit completely. Attempt to incapacitate the shooter and act with as much physical aggression as you can produce. Recruit anyone hiding with you; several people acting together are far harder to stop than one. Throw things, swing things, improvise weapons from whatever is in reach. A fire extinguisher, a chair, a pot of hot coffee. Half measures do not end the danger. Commit to your actions.
Source: FBI Quick Reference Guide; Ready.gov
When you are safe
What to tell 911
Call as soon as you are out of danger, not before. A whispered call from a hiding place can give you away; if you cannot speak safely, many areas accept text to 911. When you reach the operator, this is the information they need, in roughly this order:
Where the shooter is
Building, floor, room, or the last place you saw or heard them. Location is the single most useful thing you know.
How many shooters, and what they look like
Number of attackers and a physical description: clothing, build, direction of movement. Officers use it to tell attacker from victim.
Weapons and victims
The number and type of weapons you saw or heard, and how many people are at the location or already hurt. Estimates are fine. Say what you know and let the operator ask the rest.
Source: FBI Active Shooter Event Quick Reference Guide
When officers arrive
Empty hands, slow movements, follow instructions
The first officers through the door have one job: stop the shooter. They will move past injured people, and they do not yet know who the attacker is. Everything below exists to make one thing obvious to them: you are not a threat.
Show them empty hands
Drop whatever you are holding, bags and jackets included. Raise your hands, spread your fingers, and keep your hands visible the whole time. A phone in a raised hand can read as something else in a dark hallway; drop it.
Source: FBI Quick Reference Guide
Do not run to them
Avoid quick movements toward officers, including grabbing onto them for safety. Do not point, scream, or yell, and do not stop to ask questions while evacuating. Move in the direction they tell you, with your hands up.
Source: FBI Quick Reference Guide; Ready.gov
Expect to be held and questioned
Once you reach safety, you will likely be directed to a designated area and may be held there while officers sort out what happened. That is normal. It is how they find witnesses, not a sign you are suspected of anything. Share word with your family when you can.
Source: FBI Quick Reference Guide; Ready.gov
Helping the injured
Yourself first, then the wounded
Take care of yourself first. Then, if you are able, help the wounded get to safety and give what care you can. While you are still escaping, do not try to carry the injured; getting out and giving 911 an accurate count does more for them than stopping does.
Severe bleeding kills in minutes, and it is the one injury a bystander can reliably treat. Direct pressure on the wound, with both hands and your full weight, until someone with more training takes over. Our terrorism preparedness checklist covers the bleeding control supplies worth keeping nearby, and a free Stop the Bleed course teaches pressure, packing, and tourniquets in one evening.
Afterward, be mindful of your mental health. Reactions to an event like this arrive on their own schedule, sometimes weeks later. Getting professional help for yourself and your family is a normal part of recovery, not a failure of toughness.
Source: Ready.gov; FBI; American College of Surgeons Stop the Bleed
Before it ever happens
Three quiet habits
These events are rare, and the preparation for them is small. Nobody needs to live on alert. Three habits, built once, are the whole assignment, and they are the same habits that serve in a fire or an earthquake.
Know your two ways out
Wherever you spend time, at work, at school, and at events, identify the exits and the places you could hide. It takes ten seconds when you arrive and becomes automatic within a month. Teach it to your kids as the same game: find two ways out of every room.
Source: Ready.gov
Report what worries you
Most attackers show warning signs first: threatening messages, talk of violence, a fixation that friends and coworkers noticed and hoped would pass. Report behavior that worries you to local law enforcement, or to a school or workplace authority. Report behaviors and situations, never someone's appearance or background.
Source: Ready.gov; DHS If You See Something, Say Something
Learn bleeding control once
Ready.gov recommends lifesaving training like You Are the Help Until Help Arrives, and the American College of Surgeons runs Stop the Bleed courses nationwide. One evening of hands-on practice, and the skill transfers to car crashes, kitchen accidents, and chainsaw weekends. It is the single most useful class on this page.
Source: Ready.gov; American College of Surgeons
Keep going
Go deeper on what matters next
Terrorism Preparedness Checklist
Bleeding control, communication plans, and the full step-by-step.
Active Threats
The full guide to understanding and preparing for targeted violence.
Case Studies
What past events teach about warning signs and response.
Personal Safety
Support lines and resources for personal crises.
Sources: FBI Active Shooter Event Quick Reference Guide (last modified February 2024), Ready.gov Attacks in Public Places, DHS If You See Something, Say Something, American College of Surgeons Stop the Bleed. All safety claims verified against primary sources. Last reviewed October 25, 2026.
This guide is not professional security or emergency management advice. It is a plain-language starting point, written to be read before anything happens.