Student response to UCLA shooting

Posted by: Mark_R

Student response to UCLA shooting - 06/02/16 05:22 PM

When faced with an active shooter and doors that could not be secured by locks, students improvised barricades, anchored outswinging doors with belts, electrical cords, and found supplies.

I brought this up as a real world example of improvising solutions during a crisis. Hopefully, the campus will learn from this and install proper hardware for a lockdown.

UCLA students forced to improvise to secure classrooms from active shooter

By belts and cords, UCLA students secured classroom doors

Quote:
"One of the students in the classroom, the most flustered one came up with the idea" of tying the door using a belt and a projector cable to a table, she said.

In some classrooms on the UCLA campus Wednesday, as students swapped texts about the shootings that ended with two men dead in a nearby building, some people confronted doors that swung out and couldn't be locked.

Students posted images of cords and belts being tied to the hinges and handles to prevent someone from getting in, prompting questions of safety and preparedness on the campus for some 43,000 students.
Posted by: dougwalkabout

Re: Student response to UCLA shooting - 06/02/16 08:11 PM

Most doors in public places are panic doors -- the open toward the exit, so that as many people can exit as quickly as possible.

I think applause is in order -- these students didn't freeze, they thought on their feet, improvised solutions with the materials at hand, and reduced their profile as targets. Bravo!
Posted by: ireckon

Re: Student response to UCLA shooting - 06/06/16 10:21 AM

Having doors that can be secured could backfire. A shooter could already be in a room and make it difficult for a would-be hero to enter and take out the murderer. I am sure a shooter is fully capable of using the lock too. The shooter(s) could then stroll around the room leisurely and slaughter people. People on the outside would listen to the gun fire and screams in horror, as they would not be able to enter the room in time to do anything about it.
Posted by: Mark_R

Re: Student response to UCLA shooting - 06/06/16 06:14 PM

Originally Posted By: ireckon
Having doors that can be secured could backfire. A shooter could already be in a room and make it difficult for a would-be hero to enter and take out the murderer. I am sure a shooter is fully capable of using the lock too.


And, the intended victims are fully capable of throwing the bolt open on the way out. Even in a worst case scenario, by the time the shooter exits the room, every other room within earshot has been locked down. The damage is largely contained to that one room.
Posted by: UncleGoo

Re: Student response to UCLA shooting - 06/08/16 01:46 AM

The best defense is a good offense.
Improvise, utilize, overcome.