Malls are known to be a safe place to shop but as many people have seen in Muskogee almost anyone can walk into a mall with a gun and cause terrible harm.It can happen anywhere so as a shopper security specialists want people to know how to stay safe.
A shooting inside the Promenade Mall parking garage five years ago injured the gunman’s target.
Security specialists with Citadel Intelligence says, often in cases like this, it’s the stray bullets that wound and kill the innocent.
"When gunfire erupts even when there is a specific target the bullets can go anywhere,” says Greg Douglass, Citadel Intelligence.
Like the ammunition did in Muskogee’s Arrowhead Mall over the weekend.
FOX23 did a simulation with Douglass of what you should do if someone opens fire around you.
"It's just mass chaos no one knows what is going on," says Douglass.
Douglass is also a Tulsa Police officer who says looking for the source of the gunfire could be a person’s worst mistake.
"Those who have a sense that knows what is going on they are in utter shock and disbelief they cannot believe what is unfolding before their eyes and a lot of times they will go into shock and have no movement at all," says Douglass.
The victim in this scenario, Brianna, hears a gun shot and runs right into what is called the “X”, the suspect’s line of fire.
"It's very easy for the suspect or criminal to walk right up to them and shoot them at point blank range," says Douglass.
Instead, Douglass says you should become a moving target by running away from the gunfire.
"The faster you are moving the more difficult you are going to be able to be hit with a bullet,” says Douglass.
The security specialist says in this scenario it’s about getting off the “X”.
"The greater distance you get from the point of the gun, the better chance you have at not getting struck by the gun," says Douglass.
It’s this type of “situational awareness” not paranoia but being aware of what’s around you that shoppers always need to be running through their mind.
"’If something happened right now what I do where would I go?’" says Douglass.
Greg Douglass also recommends that employees have a plan for the workplace. If they are barricaded in their office by a gunman and on the first floor, employees should have an object that can break the glass window to escape.
Promenade and Woodland Hills Mall would not release their security measures but say they are saddened by the Muskogee incident.
E-mail statement from Woodland Hills Mall:
April 12, 2010-“The management team at Woodland Hills Mall was saddened to learn of the tragic incident at Arrowhead Mall. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families in this difficult time and to our colleagues at Arrowhead Mall as well.
We do not disclose our specific security measures as this information could potentially compromise our efforts to provide a safe and secure environment.
Brian Walls
Mall Manager, Woodland Hills Mall"
