Local authorities react to California shooting

Every city in the nation is full of potential soft targets, and experts say there is no way to know which one could become a target at any time.

ABC 17 News reached out to Cole County Sheriff Greg White to find out how you can stay safe during your everyday life.

“If you see something, say something. If something just looks wrong, if it looks out of order, you know, gut feelings are pretty good,” said White.

White said they would rather respond to a dozen false alarms than miss the real thing.

Wednesday was the real thing for San Bernardino, California as police were called to an active shooter situation with multiple gunmen.

White told ABC 17 this is something his department trains for all the time, training they hope they never have to use.

“The methodology we use is very simple, we’re going to go to it, we’re going to go directly to it, and we’re going to resolve it and we’re going to do it with the greatest immediacy we can.”

White said situational awareness is key because we no longer live in a society where we can walk through the day asleep.

He says with situations like Wednesday, you have to use basic survival skills of run-hide-fight.

“If everything else is going sideways and they’re going to come for you, last ditch effort you can either be a sheep and put your head down, or you can resist, you can run, hide, fight, very simple procedure.”

In these situations, he said it’s so important to know to remain calm; just know authorities are trained, and that they’re coming.

Your job is to evacuate, lockdown, and as a last ditch effort, resist with whatever you have.