What should I do if I am the target of a violent attack in my workplace?
If you are at work, at a place you wouldn't ordinary think that a violent person's going to come in and start shooting the place up, you're just totally ill-prepared. You haven't prepared yourself with escape routes, you haven't prepared yourself with defensive weapons, you haven't really thought through the process and scenarios, or "What would I do?" So, you're really down to your core instincts and what your reaction's going to be just based on the moment. That's kind of a scary thing, because you may or may not do the appropriate thing. However, if you know for sure that you're the target; if I knew that I was the target and the person's coming for me, I would not just lie back and just cower in the corner of the office, because I've taken away all my options. My only option is then is that the person will be merciful, and I don't want to rely on that. So, I'm going to take a more aggressive tactic. I'm going to try to get away. I may charge the person; try to take them down, disarm them, whatever, even with the risk of taking a couple of blows or taking a couple of shots. You at least have more options that way, because if you are successful, then you won't be injured. Or, you might be injured, but not as badly as you would otherwise.
