Surviving a School Shooting

April 17, 2007 — -- Imagine what students at Virginia Tech were thinking when they heard multiple gunshots ring out. Did they fear for their lives? Did they know what to do to survive? Imagine how you would react and what you would do if you were in their place. Could you quickly come up with a plan?

Some of the students barricaded themselves in a classroom only to discover that shots were fired through the door.

Bad idea? Good idea?

Security consultant John Nicoletti said he knew the answer. "Barricading yourself in a room is the second option you have when someone might be trying to kill you," he told ABCNEWS.com. "The first option is to get out and get away."

Nicoletti, who wrote two books on students surviving violence on campus -- "Violence Goes to School" and "Violence Goes to College" -- was on the scene at the Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colo., 20 minutes after the violence began. When it was over, seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had killed 12 students and one teacher, and left 23 others wounded in the 1999 attack, before committing suicide.

Nicoletti consulted with authorities and interviewed scores of students. He then chronicled his findings and those from every school shooting in modern history and discovered that students survived when they followed several different defensive options.

"There are five options, and we have listed them in the order of success," he said. "First and foremost, you should try to get away. Those who have tried this have had the best survival rate."

It's a seemingly simple solution but not always possible. It can also lead to injuries when students jump from windows as they did at Virginia Tech and Columbine.

"The second option is to lock the door and barricade it," Nicoletti said. "Obviously, this must be a door that opens in and not out or else you've only created an obstacle. After locking or barricading the door, move away from it to avoid gunfire should the shooter fire through the door, as he apparently did at Virginia Tech. Most gunmen won't waste their time trying to get through it -- they'll simply move on to another easier target."