Armed assailants and “active shooters” create highly unpredictable situations. The following guidelines are based on federal training guidelines and best practices. An alternate response may be necessary depending upon the actual situation.
Notification will be interrupted blasts of tornado siren, building coordinator, campus voice mail, campus e-mail, and/or text message. A fire alarm will indicate building evacuation (example).
If used, warning sirens will consist of long, continuous wails (example*) for several minutes.
All-clear siren will consist of three short bursts of the siren (example*).
If You Are Inside a Building
And the shooter is not in your building, begin EXTERNAL LOCKDOWN procedure.
And the shooter is also inside your building, begin INTERNAL LOCKDOWN procedure.
IMMEDIATE ACTION
Close doors. Lock or barricade if possible.
Move away from windows.
HIDE: turn off computer monitors, radios, cell phones, and other audio devices. Stay quiet and
out of view.
DON'T
DO NOT answer the door.
DO
If you can, call campus police 6789 or 911.
• Give your name and location.
• Report on injuries.
• Give as much information as you can: number of shooters, physical description, type of
weapon, and where the shooter is.
Faculty and staff should make decisions about lockdown or evacuation on their own
only in life threatening situations.
• If the shooter’s location is known, consider evacuating ONLY if an exit is easily accessible,
such as a window that can be opened or broken.
• If you are confronted by a shooter, consider using active resistance: fighting back with
objects such as chairs, books, desks, etc. This is a last resort.
If You Are Outside a Building
IMMEDIATE ACTION
Proceed to the DESIGNATED SAFE PLACE at the employee's entrance of the Office of Campus Safety and Police Services located in the Ruth Lilly Student Center. This entrance will remain
accessible throughout the incident.
*These sound clips are based off work originally recorded by Mike Koenig and are used under Creative Commons license 3.0.