. James P. O’Neill . Police Commissioner . John J. Miller . Deputy Commissioner of . Intelligence and . Counterterrorism ACTIVE SHOOTER James R. Waters RECOMMENDATIONS AND ANALYSIS Chief of Counterterrorism FOR RISK MITIGATION 2016 EDITION AS RELEASED BY THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................3 RECENT TRENDS ........................................................................................................................6 TRAINING & AWARENESS CHALLENGE RESPONSE .................................................................................... 6 THE TARGETING OF LAW ENFORCEMENT & MILITARY PERSONNEL: IMPLICATIONS FOR PRIVATE SECURITY ........ 7 ATTACKERS INSPIRED BY A RANGE OF IDEOLOGIES PROMOTING VIOLENCE ................................................... 8 SOCIAL MEDIA PROVIDES POTENTIAL INDICATORS, SUPPORTS RESPONSE .................................................... 9 THE POPULARITY OF HANDGUNS, RIFLES, AND BODY ARMOR NECESSITATES SPECIALIZED TRAINING .............. 10 BARRICADE AND HOSTAGE-TAKING REMAIN RARE OCCURRENCES IN ACTIVE SHOOTER EVENTS .................... 10 RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................................11 POLICY .......................................................................................................................................... 12 PROCEDURE ................................................................................................................................... 12 SYSTEMS ....................................................................................................................................... 13 TRAINING ...................................................................................................................................... 13 ANALYSIS OF ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS: 1966-2016 ...................................................................15 ANALYTIC METHODOLOGY .........................................................................................................20 ADDITIONAL ACTIVE SHOOTER RESOURCES ....................................................................................22 APPENDIX: COMPENDIUM OF ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS ................................................................24 BY LOCATION ................................................................................................................................. 26 OFFICE BUILDINGS ...................................................................................................................... 26 OPEN COMMERCIAL .................................................................................................................... 35 FACTORIES AND WAREHOUSES ...................................................................................................... 53 SCHOOLS ................................................................................................................................... 61 OTHER ...................................................................................................................................... 81 SELECTED INTERNATIONAL ATTACKS ................................................................................................. 104 SELECTED FOILED PLOTS (1966-2012) ............................................................................................ 126 1 | Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The 2016 Edition of the Active Shooter: Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation was prepared by the Counterterrorism Bureau of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), led by Deputy Commissioner John J. Miller and Chief James R. Waters, with significant collaboration from the Data Analytics Unit, led by Assistant Commissioner Dr. Evan Levine. The 2016 edition was overseen by Deputy Chief John O’Connell and Inspector Kevin Williams of the Counterterrorism Division and Director Meghann Teubner and Deputy Director Naureen Kabir of the Terrorism Threat Analysis Group. Authors and subject matter experts include Lieutenant Brian Eriksen, Sergeant Eddie O’Brien, Detective Raymond McPartland, Police Officer Jason Mazeski and Intelligence Research Specialists Katherine Dowling and Morgan Hitzig. Both the 2012 and 2010 Editions of Active Shooter: Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation were prepared by the Counterterrorism Bureau of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), led by former Deputy Commissioner Richard Daddario and Chief James R. Waters. The drafting of these reports was a collaborative effort. The various authors and subject-matter experts include: Sergeant Richard Alvarez, Detective John Andersen (retired), Sergeant Christopher Biddle (retired), Deputy Chief Michael Blake (retired), former Intelligence Research Specialist Thomas Brennan, Lieutenant Stephenie Clark (retired), Detective Joseph Cotter, Administrative Program Manager Ryan Merola, Director Courtney MacGregor, Detective Peter Montella (retired), Intelligence Research Specialist Peter Patton, Deputy Inspector Michael Riggio (retired), and former Intelligence Research Specialist Gregory Schwartz. In addition, former Intelligence Research Specialist Aviva Feuerstein, former Intelligence Research Specialist Nathaniel Young, Detective Raymond McPartland, and Assistant Commissioner Dr. Evan Levine made extraordinary contributions to this report; the completion of this work is due largely to their efforts. Active Shooter: Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation was printed by the NYPD Printing Section. The project was overseen by Deputy Commissioner Jessica Tisch. 2 | Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Given the tragic prevalence of active shooter incidents in recent years, NUMBER OF ACTIVE SHOOTER Americans have become INCIDENTS BY YEAR increasingly familiar with the 25 significant impact they have on communities across all 50 states. 20 Within the past four years, a number 15 of high-profile cases have 10 demonstrated that active-shooters 5 target a wide range of victims and 0 are driven by a diverse set of 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 narratives, to include personal grievances, political motivations, and the influence of international TO HIGHLIGHT THE IMPORTANCE OF ACTIVE SHOOTER PREPAREDNESS, ACCORDING TO terrorism. On June 12, 2016 the STATISTICS COMPILED BY THE NYPD, OVER 40% OF ACTIVE SHOOTER INCIDENTS ANALYZED shooting at the Pulse nightclub in OCCURRED IN BUSINESS LOCATIONS, INCLUDING OFFICE BUILDINGS, OPEN COMMERCIAL LOCATIONS, AND WAREHOUSES. Orlando, Florida—which left 49 people dead—was not only a tragic terrorist attack, but also the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, surpassing the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 that left 33 people dead. Attacks like the Orlando shooting illustrate the importance of and need for constantly-refined definitions, procedures, systems, and training designed to diminish the risks from a diverse set of active shooters motivated by a broad range of ideologies. As such, the NYPD has developed mitigation recommendations, tailored to private security personnel, based on an analysis of past active shooter attacks and a careful review of previous studies. For the private security community, our analysis shows that business locations—including office buildings, malls, nightclubs, and restaurants—are among the most frequent sites targeted by active shooters, highlighting a clear and legitimate threat. The 2016 Edition of the New York City Police Department’s (“NYPD”) Active Shooter: Recommendations and Analysis for Risk Mitigation demonstrates that during the period studied, from 1966 to 2016, 308 active shooter incidents took place in the United States, resulting in at least 930 killed and 1200 wounded. The analysis section presents descriptive statistics of all the incidents between 1966 and 2016, with details on the number of casualties, the resolution of the incidents, and a breakdown of the locations of the incidents; the analysis also describes the characteristics of each attacker, including their age, gender, and relationship to the victim(s). The report incorporates an additional 78 incidents that occurred in the four-year period since the release of the 2012 Edition. The 2012 edition contained information and analysis of active shooter incidents from 1966 to 2012. The NYPD has performed statistical analysis to identify common characteristics among active shooter attacks. Data about the attacks and attackers was collected from previous scholarship, open source government reports, and media accounts. The NYPD did not use special-access government sources to compile the cases in the Compendium; all information is open-source and publicly available. As a result, the cases included in the data set may demonstrate a sampling bias. For attacks that occurred between 2000 and 2016, the Compendium is a nearly comprehensive account of active shooter incidents—to include 3 | Page those categorized as terrorist attacks—that attracted news coverage. For attacks that occurred prior to 2000, the Compendium may not be comprehensive because the attacks pre-date widespread internet news reporting. Definition of an ‘Active Shooter’ Incident Active shooter incidents are a specific type of emergency situation necessitating preparatory response protocols by both