The scenario is you are at a shopping mall with your immediate family, spouse and children. You are about thirty yards (90 feet) from an entrance looking at a kiosk to find the stores you want and plan a route, when you hear gun shots. You peer around the kiosk and see a man with an SKS, wearing chest gear that appears to be loaded with ammo, and a handgun on his belt. He can't see you because of the kiosk. He is taking aim and shooting at any one that he can see. He is over fifty yards (150 feet) away from you and your family. The gunman is moving while he shoots.

What do you do?

What do you take into consideration before you decide, and why do you take the action you choose?

THERE ARE NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWERS. This is just a table top exercise to have a plan for the worst case scenario.

I'm going to make a moderator's call on this and say it doesn't fit the mission of Equipped to Survive. Bring it over to the Zombie Squad forum and I'll play along there.

-Blast

Okay, after deep discussions with assorted law enforcement officials I'm unlocking this thread but with a major limit: no Rambo fantasies.

If you start talking about 50-yard headshots with a Keltec PF-9 then I'm going to single you out for special notice. On the other hand if you point out good barriers, little-known features, or other realistic ways to get out of the situation then major kudos to you! Extra points for how to have your CCW out without getting shot by the police or other CCW holder.

-Blast

[Unhelpful stuff deleted]

Observe for patterns and timing. Using cover, not concealment, evacuate towards the door. If need be, make myself a decoy so the rest of my people can get out, but I'd really rather not be a hero.

+1

NightHiker's solution seems the most reasonable. Vacate the area ASAP.

Sue

Or be proactive and don't go into the mall. We are so close to a huge mall that is two stories tall and 1/4 mile from end to end and have lived here three years and have been in that mall maybe three times.

I think it's an incredible "luxury" that we know who and where this shooter is. Most folks involved in such situations are victims of the fog of war, which makes the situation far more difficult to deal with.

Normally, I think we'd have to deal with questions like: What's going on? Who's doing the shooting? I wonder if that's the police shooting? Where exactly is the shooting happening--I can't see anything? I don't hear any shooting--will I run into the shooter on my way to an exit?

Given the scenario outlined, and with a clear path to an exit, is there any sane option other than to immediately grab the family and sprint out of there back the way we came? No thinking, no analyzing the tactical situation, no counting rounds waiting for a reload, just ACT! Nothing short of rounds knicking the finely polished marble floor around my feet as I'm running away are going to steer me off my straight beeline for the exit.

Of course, I'm open to hearing other ideas and I don't mean to shut down further discussion by sounding so sure, but to me, the choice is pretty black and white given the facts presented.

Let's not underestimate the power of an overwhelming, loud, horrifying, life-and-death situation to paralyze you into freezing up and thereby opening yourself up to becoming fish-in-a-barrel shooting victim #8 for this guy. Except for folks with actual training in such situations who have some idea of how they react in such situations, I think your average civilian needs to mentally rehearse just getting out of Dodge when the hot lead starts whizzing around so that when the S hits the F, your mental rehearsing kicks in.

I think Sanford Strong and his book Strong on Defense is a good primer on how to deal with violent situations in daily life that doesn't really have anything to do with weapons or gadgets or techniques or heroics. It's just about surviving a violent situation, period.

If you're carrying such that its easily concealed (i.e. Glock 26 or Kel-Tec) it will also fit under a hat. For me, it would be remove hat, remove CCW from normal carry location, put hat over hand holding CCW, & leave the area ASAP using any available cover or concealment.