[Massachusetts-NFB] What to do if you are blind and in the midst of an active shooting event

[Helen Kobek]

Hello, folks,

As some of you know (from the news or from the complexity of getting to the
Cambridge Chapter meeting this past Monday night), a gunman opened fire on
Memorial Drive this past Monday afternoon. Roads were closed in and out of
the area. The gunman targeted cars and walkers. Two people were critically
injured. The gunman is being held.

I'm writing this because this gunfire was about a year after another
shooting on Memorial Drive, that one I was a nearby witness to, and I
witnessed people beginning to run for their lives while the shooting was
happening. As a legally blind person, it was hard to run. I was fortunate
to have two close friends with me, and I attached to one of them while we
fled, and the other called 911. Not every blind person will have a guide
right on hand. So we need to be able to function on our own in such
situations.

After the shooting I witnessed, I called the Cambridge Police to ask if
they have guidance for what to do as a blind person in the midst of a
shooting. They'd never contemplated that question, but here's what they
said:

1. Try to *discern if you are a focused target*. You might know that, if
the shooter is coming towards you and threatening you directly. I've been
told that shooters generally vocalize while moving around a targeted area.
(In the shooting I was witness to, the shooter was yelling at his targets.)
If you know or believe you are or could be a target, try to move away from
the shooter as quickly as safe. Do not run directly away, but *move/run in
a zigzag *so the shooter has trouble hitting you with gunfire. With a cane
or a guide dog, a blind person could be able to move rapidly enough if in
zigzag to evade being shot.

2.* If the shooting seems random*, and/or you do not have the ability to
move on your own with cane/dog, or no one can offer you human guide, *drop
to the ground and be as flat **as you can be.* Low, with legs together,
arms near your body. Hope that the shooter, especially if the shooting is
open air (not in a small room) doesn't notice a low-down body. This is
especially likely if the shooter is at some distance. Be face-down so
you're not as likely to try to engage with the shooter, or so that if you
are crying, the shooter won't hear you as readily. Try not to make noise.
But leave space for your nose/mouth to breath. An idea behind dropping to
get low is that even if you are not a target, you could get caught in
crossfire if you are on your feet. Getting low can be even better than
trying to scatter.

In the shooting spree this past Monday, even those on the ground would have
been targeted, He was out for blood. So moving skillfully would have been
the wise thing. But the shooter was both targeting and shooting randomly
around and in the air. In the one I witnessed, getting low would have been
wiser. Hard to know with the one this past Monday.

The Emergency Services department of Cambridge was asked a year ago, when
the shooting I witnessed took place, if there could be some sort of
training. Nothing has happened. I also asked them to give training on how
not to freeze in denial about being near a shooting. I and the folks I was
with spent too long sorting whether the popping we heard was gunfire.
Finally, after about a minute, one of us said, "We should leave." We could
have been shot during that frozen minute.

The suggestion I can add to what was suggested by officials, based on my
own freezing, is this: *Learn what gunfire sounds like*. it often does
sound like popping, like firecrarckers. After the shooting I witnessed, I
spent time on YouTube listening to different kinds of firearms being
discharged: handguns of various calibers, long guns, rifles, shotguns,
automatic weapons. I listened to firearms discharge in different settings:
outdoors, indoors, small and large spaces. I did this to educated and then
to desensitize myself, and I feel more confident now. I did this because
the main thing I needed to do in that shooting was to conclude quickly that
there was gunfire and take an action - move or drop.

These are terribly frightening things, but we can help ourselves with
know-how, and hope for the best.

Be safe, everyone....

Warmly,
Helen Kobek
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