PLANO, Texas — Nearly 750 people showed up to the Plano Event Center on Tuesday night for a seminar on active threat and shooter training.
That's a lot of people, but still less than half of the number of people who showed up for the seminar the first time. Lieutenant Mica Lunt with Homeland Security at the Plano Police Department told WFAA that 1,600 people showed up the first time the training was held.
"It's about 35 miles from my house one way to come. I felt it was important to be here," Josephine resident Tammie Combs said.
Another person in the audience, Shawn Wallace, teaches security as the head of security for Prestonwood Baptist Church. He told WFAA he tries to make it to these seminars because you can always learn something new.
"You never stop being a student," Wallace said.
Lunt said the seminar offers people all kinds of training tips. But the most important thing for people to remember is to know their surroundings.
"You've got to look around and have that Plan B exit strategy," Lunt said.
And in active threat situation, the Run, Fight, Hide response is the desired action. Lunt says, however, these responses have to be carried out appropriately to be effective.
"Most people poorly understand the 'hide' part of run, hide, and fight," said Lunt.
Plano Police said hiding and hoping the active threat has moved away is not doing enough. Instead, you should hide while fortifying your area, barricading a door or finding a weapon.
Especially in a shooting involving an AR-type weapon, hearing the sound of a magazine dropping and recognizing it needs reloading could give you the precious seconds to run, hide, or fight, effectively, police said.
Over the course of the two-and-a-half-hour seminar, the public was also taught the importance of using a tourniquet and controlling bleeding in a trauma situation.
"I think it's indicative of the times in which we live. People are worried," Wallace said.
If you missed Tuesday night's seminar and want to attend another one, more are planned for the future, police said.