SJSO to hold ‘active shooter seminar’ July 7

St. Johns County Sherriff David B. Shoar talks to a group of about 20 members of the community who turned out for the first in a series of Active Shooting Incident Seminars to be held throughout the county.

Carrie Resch

Sgt. Jim Priester, Deputy Mark M. Smith and Sgt. Brian Canova.

Carrie Resch

Posted Thursday, May 26, 2016 12:00 am

Seminar Takeaways

The average shooting incident lasts 12 minutes. The average response time for law enforcement to arrive on scene is three minutes.

Exercise your thoughts. Imagine “what if” scenarios and discuss with family and friends.

People have a tendency to become desensitized in work or home environments or in large crowds. Always be alert, aware and understating of your always evolving circumstances, and learn to trust your instincts.

40 percent of active shooting incidents happen in businesses.

The most common weapon active shooters use is a pistol.

When calling 911, provide: the location of active shooter, number of active shooters, physical description, type and number of weapons and number of potential victims. Be calm and be as specific as possible.

Carrie Resch

Update: The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office active shooter training seminar scheduled for July 7 has been canceled. Visit www.sjso.org for an announcement regarding when and where the next seminar will be held.

The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office will hold a free, active shooter training seminar at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 7 at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.

The seminar will provide St. Johns County residents and visitors with tips on what to do in the event they encounter an active shooting situation. In addition, the sheriff’s office has made an active shooter response flyer available on its website at http://www.sjso.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/active-shooter-poster.pdf.

This will be the third active shooter seminar the sheriff’s office has offered in recent months. The first session, held May 23 at Valley Ridge Academy in Nocatee, occurred just a few weeks before the June 12 shooting in Orlando, in which 49 people were killed.