Expert: Active Shooter Situations Can Easily Confuse Police

 ========= Old Image Removed =========Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:1024;s:6:"height";i:683;s:4:"file";s:43:"2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:12:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-336x224.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:224;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-771x514.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:514;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-768x512.jpg";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:512;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:41:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-466x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:466;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-397x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:397;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:28:"ab-block-post-grid-landscape";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-600x400.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:400;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"ab-block-post-grid-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:43:"2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_imagify_optimization_level] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_imagify_data] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:2:{s:5:"stats";a:3:{s:13:"original_size";i:212166;s:14:"optimized_size";i:60568;s:7:"percent";d:71.450000000000003;}s:5:"sizes";a:10:{s:4:"full";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:71:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:97096;s:14:"optimized_size";i:12732;s:7:"percent";d:86.890000000000001;}s:9:"thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:79:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-140x140.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:4518;s:14:"optimized_size";i:2957;s:7:"percent";d:34.549999999999997;}s:6:"medium";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:79:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-336x224.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:9758;s:14:"optimized_size";i:5484;s:7:"percent";d:43.799999999999997;}s:5:"large";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:79:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-771x514.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:32619;s:14:"optimized_size";i:8279;s:7:"percent";d:74.620000000000005;}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:77:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-80x80.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:2347;s:14:"optimized_size";i:1669;s:7:"percent";d:28.890000000000001;}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:79:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-600x338.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:21437;s:14:"optimized_size";i:8280;s:7:"percent";d:61.380000000000003;}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:79:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-300x300.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:12421;s:14:"optimized_size";i:6680;s:7:"percent";d:46.219999999999999;}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:79:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-466x311.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:15584;s:14:"optimized_size";i:6536;s:7:"percent";d:58.060000000000002;}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:79:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-397x265.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:12414;s:14:"optimized_size";i:5351;s:7:"percent";d:56.899999999999999;}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:79:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2015/11/2220683741_5e6317a4be_b_handgun-125x125.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:3972;s:14:"optimized_size";i:2600;s:7:"percent";d:34.539999999999999;}}}
        )

    [_imagify_status] => Array
        (
            [0] => success
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => kcdstm
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => flickr
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

)
1616945082 
1543403563

Active shooter incidents can be difficult for police officers. Events unfold in seconds and often end tragically. In Hoover on Thanksgiving night at the Riverchase Galleria, police shot and killed 21-year-old Emantic “EJ” Bradford Jr. Initially, they said he was the gunman in a shooting that left two wounded. They then backtracked and said the real gunman is still at large. State University of New York at Oswego criminal justice professor Jaclyn Schildkraut studies active shooter situations. She spoke with WBHM’s Andrew Yeager.

Interview Highlights

How police are trained to deal with active shooters:

“There’s a lot of confusion. There’s obviously a lot of people. People running every different direction or you could have people hiding all over the place. At that point what they’re going to be listening out for is the sounds of the gunfire in determining where in the building it’s coming from so that they can get to the perpetrator as quickly as possible and neutralize whether that is killing the perpetrator, taking them into custody, either with or without wounding them, but essentially bringing the event to a close as quickly as possible.”

What’s different about the Hoover shooting:

“There sort of one three outcomes that usually happens in these cases. That is either the perpetrator’s going to commit suicide. They’re going to basically get into a shootout with the police officers and either get wounded or basically suicide by cop. Or they’re just going to give themselves up, obviously, which is the least common. So to have a situation where the shooter is unknown and has a escaped the scene is very, very rare.”

How the “good guy with a gun” factor affects active shooter incidents:

“It puts those individuals actually at danger. There’s research that shows that when a person pulls a gun in a crime scene or there is a gun present in a crime situation that the likelihood of somebody getting injured increases fourfold … When police officers are arriving on a scene, they don’t know that that individual is a good guy with a gun. All they see is a person with a gun. And so [that] increases the risk of accidental shootings in terms of that good samaritan being injured by police because in that high-stakes, high-stress situation you’re trying to shoot to kill if somebody puts up a gun at you.”

Photo by kcdsTM 

 

IVF could help her start the family she wants. Will Alabama’s personhood law derail it?

Despite a law meant to protect IVF in Alabama, patients and advocates worry the protections won’t hold — and warn of future attacks on reproductive rights.

Struggling Birmingham-Southern College says it will close at end of May

The College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to close the longtime institution, officials announced in a news release. The announcement came after legislation, aimed at securing a taxpayer-backed loan for the 168-year-old private college, had recently stalled in the Alabama Statehouse.

What happens when a rural hospital shuts its doors? Look to Pickens County

Residents in the west Alabama county warn that the lack of emergency care can have deadly consequences. It's a fate that could befall a growing number of rural communities.

What issues are driving you to the polls this year?

What issues are top of mind as you head to the polls this year? What do you want the candidates to be talking about?

Q&A: A bad deal made Jackson’s water problems worse. It wasn’t the only Mississippi city harmed

Reporter Sarah Fowler talks about her investigation that found at least eight Mississippi cities were harmed by deals over faulty smart water meters.

Anti-DEI bill becomes law as lawmakers return for the second half of the session

Alabama lawmakers returned from spring break this week to take on several priorities for the Republican majority. Chief among them was a bill that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools, universities and government offices.

More Emantic Bradford Jr. Coverage