Back on October 12th, there was a horrible mass shooting here in Southern California in a quiet, Seal Beach hair salon. Nine people shot, eight killed. The shooter was caught soon afterwards. The event got a lot of local attention, but one story I had not heard about just came out in the news. A number of guys, ex-military and/or ex-first responders, but now all civilians, were the first ones on the scene of the bloody aftermath.

It's an interesting account of what they did and perhaps reading about what they did could be instructive for some future incident. Maybe we'll be involved in something like this in the future and suddenly remember this story. For example, announcing out loud that you were there to help so that people hiding from the gunman would show themselves, especially anyone needing medical attention.

Despite the horrible event, you feel proud of how these guys sprang to action. Then again, the article does also point out that it's not all roses and that getting involved in extreme circumstances like these takes a psychological toll, which I think is a very valuable thing to point out. Too often, we hear about the spectacular actions of folks, but never the long-term follow-up. Many of us choose to get training for first aid, CERT, firearms, etc. thinking that we can help others, but don't necessarily get taught about what happens after it's all over.

You can read about it here.