Are you prepared for the worst? Tactics expert shows new ways to protect yourself from an 'Active Killer'

SEATTLE -- What would you do if a killer had you in their sights -- whether it was on the street, your workplace, a school -- wherever? I talked to a tactics expert about ‘Active Killer’ training and even ways to combat terror groups like ISIS. “If someone pulls a gun out and starts shooting, here’s the question of the day, what should you do?” asks Jesus Villahermosa, owner of Crisis Reality Training in Seattle. He knows that thinking about the answer to that question now could save your life later. He served as a S.W.A.T. team member for over three decades and travels the world teaching people how to survive. He explains, “You have to remember that Active Killer training, and I call it 'active killer' because most law enforcement we would refer to as 'active shooter', but the problem with that is we’re now seeing attacks with edged weapons.”

He says that Active Killer training has evolved as the number of tragedies climb adding, “The F.B.I.’s recent study that came out his year tells us that in workplace and school shootings in America have increased 200 percent over the last seven years versus the previous six.” But with each massacre comes knowledge for others on how to increase chances of survival. “The very first thing that we know about active killers is that they are stimulated by sight and sound. And almost all of the research that comes out post investigation of these shootings, the people that witness the shooter coming down the hallway or turning the corner very stoic, didn’t say a word, flat faced, just methodical machine,” Villahermosa says. And because they respond to sight and sound, where you are in proximity to them should help determine how you respond. “Don’t wait evacuate if you’re near the shooter. In other words if I can see the shooter or hear the shooting, don’t wait get the heck out of there,” Villahermosa advises. He also says to know where the nearest exits are and take them. But what if you’re in a different part of the building and can’t see or hear the shooter, but you’ve gotten word that a killer is on the loose? Jesus says your chance of survival is very high if you can go into an office or room and lockdown. Villahermosa continues, “And the more you can lockdown behind those doors, it’s called layered lockdown, so let’s say I can lock the initial doors and then go into my office and lock that door, and in my office is a bathroom and I can lock that door, you’re good to go.” But what if you are faced with the attacker and have to fight? Villahermosa says that statistics are on your side, “In every case where a shooter has been tackled, they’ve stopped.” The F.B.I.’s study shows that 67 percent of the active shooter incidents between 2000 and 2013 ended before police arrived because the gunmen either committed suicide or was stopped by a civilian.“I am a gunmen, and I’m holding a gun, what should you control -out of from my head to my toe -what should you control? My hand, the hand with the gun. We’ve got video of four guys stopping an armed robber who attacked him in his lower body and chest and he shot one of them and wounded another because they let his arm loose,” recalls Villahermosa. Jesus points out that if you are faced with taking down a killer, acting with a group of people is the most effective way to go. And because these attacks typically happen around lots of people, we need to start thinking as a group. “Are we going to wait for a mall massacre and then do a show for citizens on how to survive a mall massacre? When we already know that ISIS has laid the template down, which they’ve done. They did the Tunisian museum attack, and they’ve done a couple more public places attack, they’ve put the edict out ‘we want you to rise up in America and we want you to shoot their malls.’ They’ve said this attack their malls because it’s large gathering areas,” Villahermosa explains. He adds that this knowledge isn’t about fear, but empowerment and knowing what to do when police aren’t there. Villahermosa says, “The first thing that people in America have got to realize is we’re not going to be everywhere. We’re just not. We can’t be. And when these individuals that commit these acts of violence, whether their ISIS or whether the aurora Colorado shooting at a theatre, they better realize that you are the true first responder.” CLICK HERE If you would like more information about the training that Crisis Reality offers.