In October 2023, a 40-year-old man armed with semi-automatic rifle opened fire inside a bowling alley and later at a nearby restaurant in the small city of Lewiston, Maine. Between the two incidents, 18 people died and 13 were injured. Disturbingly, the Lewiston shooting was one for more than 650 mass shootings in the United States in 2023, defined as a shooting event with four or more victims. With the U.S. continuing to experience hundreds of these incidents every year, police, fire, EMS, and organizations like the American Red Cross are refining how they prepare and respond to these incidents.
On today's podcast, we talk with John Montes, who led the Red Cross's response and recovery efforts in Lewiston and was also instrumental in developing NFPA 3000, the standard for Active Shooter/Hostile Response program. I talked to Montes about the complexities of the Lewiston response, what lessons were learned, and what safety agencies should be doing now to prepare for mass shooting incidents.
LINKS
Learn more about the American Red Cross
Read up on the creation of NFPA 3000, and one city's journey to implementing it.
Visit the document information page of NFPA 3000
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