NEW YORK (ABP) — Last December, worshipers at a Colorado church lost two members to a murderous gunman. In 2006, a man entered an Oregon church and threw fuel during a Sunday service, intending to set the building ablaze. And in 2005, a man opened fire in a Wisconsin church, killing seven people and wounding four others.
In this day and age, even elementary schools are better prepared to deal with violent attacks than churches, experts say, because church-goers think it won't happen to them. But that false sense of security gives physical and psychological advantages to any would-be attacker.
There are two main reasons churches are attacked, according to Rick Schaber, risk control manager for Church Mutual Insurance Company in Merrill, Wis.
“First, worship centers are open to the public, so gaining access is extremely easy,” he said. “Second, people are passionate about their faith. When someone wants to take extreme action against their church, oftentimes it isn't difficult.”
Most risk experts say worshipers have five options when threatened by a shooter.
— Escape. Experts say the first choice for anyone in a threatening situation is to escape. Churches should develop plans that determine how people will leave the building and where they will meet afterward — keeping in mind worshipers with disabilities. Security teams should highlight escape routes and assign people to ensure everyone gets out.
In Colorado Springs, Colo., Pastor Brady Boyd lost two church members when a man with a gun entered his church. But the New Life Church security team quickly activated a crisis plan that helped people escape.
“People were ushered off the campus or taken to safe places,” Boyd said in a press conference the next day. “We had security details in each of those locations to keep people safe.”
— Lock down. “Lockdowns are designed to be exercised when the threat is outside of the building or outside a specific room,” Schaber said. “It's designed to prohibit the person from entering an area.”
For example, a safety newsletter from Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company noted, the killer on the Virginia Tech campus didn't take the time to force his way through locked doors — he looked instead for easy targets.
Ideally, all rooms on the church campus should have locks on them, and children's areas should be secured by one entrance that teachers can quickly lock, protecting everyone inside.
— Hide. If escape and lock-down are not possible, hiding under tables or chairs can reduce vertical targets for a potential killer, safety consultant John Nicoletti said in the Brotherhood Mutual letter.
— Play dead. “This is one of the more difficult options. It requires people to have already been shot, and you have to really look dead,” Nicoletti said. But at times, it has been effective.
— Confront the killer. Experts urge this tactic only as a last resort, since it is inherently risky. But resistance did stop a school shooting in Springfield, Ore., in 1998.
The question of whether church leaders or security guards should carry guns is a tricky one, Schaber admitted. Each religious organization must determine an answer for itself.
“There are risks involved” with having guns on the premises, he said. “Training is extremely important, as is the selection of the person given the responsibility of carrying a gun.
“There is a lot that can go wrong if you have armed security at a service and a threat, or perceived threat, occurs. However, that presence also might prevent a threat from ever happening.”
The bottom line? Don't rely on instinct. Church attacks are a reality in the modern world, so it pays to prepare, Boyd said: “I don't think any of us grew up in churches where that was a reality, but today it is.”
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— This story is part of a three-part series on church security.