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Seattle nightclub professionals pack active shooter class

More than 100 nightclub professionals quickly signed up for the City of Seattle's class.

<p>Seattle's first active shooter response training class filled up quickly.</p>

SEATTLE - It didn’t take long for nightclub professionals to sign up for the City of Seattle’s active shooter response training classes.

The class Monday afternoon quickly reached the capacity of 100 people. A different version of it schedule for Tuesday filled up too. That’s for people working in large outdoor venues.

“Having active shooter training was actually part of our work plan this year,” said Joe Mirabella, communications director for the city's Office of Economic Development. “We just decided to move it up given what happened in Florida.”

Seattle will now offer a class for the public on Wednesday. Details of that will be released soon.

Justin Savage, a bartender and bar-back at R Place, sat in a group of half a dozen co-workers hoping to take something away from the first session.

“Safety really is the first priority honestly both for our customers and for ourselves in how to act appropriately to an active shooter,” Savage said. “[The Orlando shooting] hit really close to home. R Place is Pulse to us. It almost seems like a mirror image: a lot of the same characteristics of the club, the same home environment, the same love for family. It’s just really made us really think about the situation and how we would react.”

Jeff Geoghagan, a member of the Seattle Police SWAT Team, told the group prevention should be the first thing on the list for security teams.

“I’m a big believer in the prevention and preparation aspects when it comes to dealing with an active shooter,” he said.

Geoghagan said it’s very rare to have law enforcement on scene when an active shooter event is happening so workers should remember a three step approach.

“I call it 'Avoid, Barricade and Combat,'” he said.

That’s a bit different phrasing from run, hide, fight that the federal government has used in the past, for instance. Geoghagan told KING 5:

I go with ABCs, partly because I think it’s a little easier to remember. The reason I distinguish between avoid and say run is run kind of implies a panicked reaction without giving some forethought: avoid. If I tell you to avoid on the other hand … if you know the threat or the bad guy is down there, you’re going to go in the opposite direction as opposed to running head-long into what may be danger. Barricade means to make yourself the hardest target possible. In the run, hide fight scenario they say hide. Hide is a bit of a passive response. By going into a room, barricading against that room, you’re creating a less desirable target for this person. They might come to that door, grab the door, shake it and can’t get in and go on to an easier target.

Read more from the Department of Homeland Security about preparing for an active shooter situation.

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