What would you do?

Last Monday, I covered the Ross Township shooting soon after it happened. Media from New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia descended on the area and the story hit CNN and Fox that evening. For those who haven't heard, a man who had been in conflict with the township for a number of years over his property was finally forced to give it up and he thought he had nothing else to live for. He shot his way into the supervisor's meeting killing three men and i...njuring several others. One of those he killed shielded a woman from getting shot. One person who ran away kept a kid from coming in to the building to get his dad. The newspaper reporter who was there ran away also and hid behind his car. It was his first ever assignment being a new hire for the local paper. A township official tackled the gunman and a resident helped to keep him down immediately after. When I heard all of this, I thought, what would I have done? There are consequences for any action you take. There is no wrong way to respond in a case like this, especially if you survive. But what are you prepared to do? In the case of Dave Fleetwood, whose life was all about helping others, he instinctively sacrificed himself to shield that woman. Bernie Kozen took a great risk by tackling the gunman because he could've been shot also. Instead the gun was angled toward the gunman who accidentally shot himself in the leg.
Some of you may know this about me already: wherever I go, I almost always assess the layout of the place I enter and quickly create options for myself in case of an emergency. I'm not being paranoid, I'm just being safety conscious. It's an awareness habit I've developed over the years and I hope you start to develop it too. As you do so, continue to ask yourself what you would do in a case like this and settle it in your heart. And if you have some training under your belt, even better! It's not a guarantee, but it increases the odds of you surviving. Your instinctive response will save your life and the lives of others, or if you choose, give up your life protecting another.