In seconds your world is upside down
By
Nick Ashton, Founder, CEO,
Tracometry
Group of Companies.
Each day
starts the same way for us all, we have routines, traits and basically it never
varies. Waking, bathroom, filling the
coffee pot or juicing, depending on your fitness regimen, it is all the same.
Once you
leave the supposed security of your residence, you have no idea how your life can
change. The variables are endless, the conclusion
or results can be as deadly as stamping on a spider. The Splat Factor is real as it was in Santa
Monica on Friday June 7th 2013 to anyone in that 8 Block Area.
No one
reads minds and can predict the future or how the silence of the moment can end
in tragedy. Except, there is always some
information that has been fed to friends, neighbors and co-workers of us all. Things people say, their actions and
importantly the change that happens within them, that does not stay inside. In this social mega trending world, the
information is bombarding us and we are unable to collect, analyze and act in a
time frame that is conducive to acting in a fashion to stop what is about to
occur.
Not one of
the people in that 8 block area woke up this morning thinking their lives were
to be shattered and five people would meeting their maker. After all it is Santa
Monica, California and the president is town.
What the hell can go wrong?
A man with
a semi-automatic rifle killed at least four people and wounded several others
Friday as he carried out a deadly rampage across several blocks of a normally tranquil
beachfront city before local police shot him dead in the Santa Monica College
Library.
The
violence initiated when the gunman, dressed in all black and wearing what
appeared to be a ballistic bullet resistant jacket, opened fire on a house
where the bodies of the gunman's father and brother were found, authorities
said.
As the
house burst into flames, the man wounded a woman in a car before moving toward
the campus, spraying bullets as he went. Police said he opened fire on a city
bus, a police car and other vehicles, as well as bystanders and pedestrians.
He murdered
three people on the street before shooting at an SUV leaving a campus parking
lot. That vehicle's driver was killed and two passengers were wounded as the
car crashed through a block wall.
From there,
the gunman entered the campus, shooting a woman as he made his way toward the
college's library, where students were studying for final exams.
"It
appears that those who were come across on the street were randomly chosen
victims," Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said.
"We
saw a woman get shot in the head," said administrative assistant Trena
Johnson, who looked out the window of the dean's office, where she works, when
she heard gunfire. "I haven't been able to stop shaking," she said.
You see
that lives were changed, ended and shaken.
In our daily lives it is how we handle each event, digesting the
surrounding actions of others and then, how we absorb the situations.
Life is a
circle of training and preparation for eventualities. Behind it all, is the communication factor
and through our leadership skills the reactions and actions.
Once that
call came in to the 9/11 operator, then, a sequence of actions kicked in, the
information passed down the line and in a natural way, each and every person
involved, reacted. Those in Public Safety
knew what they had to do, street level officer, supervisors, kicked in their
training, communication skills and importantly their leadership
attributes. Like clockwork the situation
turned and moved toward a conclusion.
The events
are ingrained, Jimes Gillespie, 20, told The Associated Press he was in the
library studying when he heard gunfire, and he and dozens of other students
began fleeing the three-story building.
"As I
was running down the stairs I saw one of the gunmen," said Gillespie, who
described the shooter as a white man in his 20s, wearing cornrows in his hair
and black overalls.
As he ran
across campus, he said he saw a car in front of the English building that was
riddled with bullet holes, had shattered windows and a baby's car seat in the
back.
Student
Noke Taumalolo told Fox News that he saw a female worker sorting recycling cans
lying bloody on the ground with the gunman standing over her. According to the student, the gunman was
wearing black tactical gear including a vest, SWAT-like fatigues and a riot
helmet.
In a staff
parking lot, college employee Joe Orcutt said he saw the gunman standing calmly
with his weapon, looking as though he was trying to determine which people to
shoot at.
"I
turn around and that's when he's just standing there, like he's modeling for
some ammo magazine," Orcutt said. "He was very calm just standing
there, panning around, seeing who he could shoot, one bullet at a time, like
target practice.
This is now
a vision that will take time to remove from this day that started out in a very
normal for all, expect the shooter.
Tracometry Group of
Companies knows Public
Safety like the back of its corporate hand.
Every single element of the events of the day were practiced by all and
the reactions of each law enforcement official had been tried and tested and produced
the end results of the shooter’s demise.
In the
corporate world, it is who is hired to complete the tasks at hand, the quality
of the process. Hiring people for a
company costs money, training, even more.
The investment is vast. In fact
expensive, not to be wasted!
The ongoing
work is reliant of quality communications within a team, being on the same page
brings the desired results and that occurs through leadership. This is why we are Tracometry People.
You too can
have normal days, then, in the event of abnormality, you are prepared and will
cope with all eventualities.
Think of
the incident that occurred in 8 blocks and understand why you need to be a Tracometry
Person!
WE are in the NOW and
KEEP YOU; in the KNOW…
Call: +1 (317) 426.0110
Tracometry Leadership & Communications
-TLC
Copyright
2013