For the record, I have been “in” two shootings, though not on a mass casualty scale like the parade incident. One was at a 4th of July fireworks display in Chicago over 25 years ago, and the other was a shootout between two cars on my block in Minneapolis 15-20 years ago, where both shooters succeeded and one crashed his car nearby us as he died. Though I already knew it before then, those incidents brought one thing home: there is no such thing as following a plan when bullets (and cars) are flying. All you can do is keep your head, and adapt.
In the 4th of July incident, it may have taken 10-15 or more seconds before a lot of the crowd figured it out that there were gunshots, not a bunch of stray fireworks. We were jam-packed in a city park with lots of large trees, hedges, etc. Some people started running (and tripping). Others walked urgently, since running in the dark over grass and shrubs where lots of people were packed in, really didn’t work well. I pulled my husband back behind one of the trees, and just waited and watched and listened. The shots did not continue (probably the police at the other side of the park dove in rapidly), and there was no point in being bowled over by half-panicked people. When the initial wave of running and falling was over with, and there were no more shots, we walked back out to the street that was now jam-packed with cops, along with a lot of other folks. How do you plan for that? You don’t know whether the shooter will be 20 feet away, or half a city block away. You don’t know what you’ll have to hide behind, or whether there will be a way to run safely. You don’t know whether the stampede may be more dangerous than the shooter. Hell, you don’t know whether you want to be running into a gaggle of fully activated Chicago cops. You don’t know where “a safe distance” will wind up being.
The second time was surreal. We were on the porch with a couple friends, and saw and heard the shooters just start to go at it as they passed each other at the intersection. We barely registered that they were firing before one car went screeching away and the other suddenly accelerated and crashed about half a block later. It’s not like you could plan for how to handle something like that. It’s happening so fast, the car is already crashing as you’re thinking, “Crap! I should duck behind this wall!” You don’t know if the guy who crashed is dead, or unconscious, or about to come out of the car with a gun. You’re only guessing whether you’re better protected crouching down behind the stucco porch wall, or having only air, or the glass and wood of the front door, between you and potential bullets as you’re trying to run inside and lock the door.
My point is, you have less than a split second to make a decision and do something, right or wrong. You don’t really have an idea of the level of danger, most of the time, unless you’ve just been hit or the person next to you has been hit. You know the old saying that no plan survives the first contact with the enemy, in war? It’s the same thing when you’re in a public place, and someone starts shooting. Literally all you can do is make the best guess about getting something between you and bullets, then taking stock of WTF is going on and what might get you out of harm’s way.
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