The Swarm

Resisting an Active Killer

This article is based on the Safety Member Certification training module "Active Shooter Response" and the Church Security Guide article "Church Safety: Active Killer Response Strategies" [1[[2][3].

From the Bible -

"And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee" (Exodus 23:28)

They compassed me about like bees ... (Psalm 118:12a).

Introduction -

Have you ever been attacked by a swarm of bees, or hornets, or red ants? These attacks are understandable when we realize that they are protecting their hives. Likewise, starlings will protect their flock by swarming a perceived threat. What these small creatures lack in individual size is made up in numbers.

There is "safety in numbers" when those who have the numbers use their numerical superiority to overwhelm an attacker. This is not only true in nature, but also in military operations and in church safety & security.

In the News -

Tucson, Arizona, January 8, 2011 - At a Meet Your Representative event in front of a local supermarket, a man pulled out a pistol and began shooting. He seriously wounded his primary target, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle (Gabby) Gifford, and killed one of her staffers, a U.S. District Court judge, a nine-year-old girl, and three others. When he tried to re-load, several bystanders attacked him, knocking his magazine away then subduing him to await responding police officers [4].

Blacksburg, Virginia, April 16, 2007 - A senior at Virginia State University (Virginia Tech) who had mental issues, bought several guns. He then killed two other students in a residence building. After going to the post office to mail a package, he returned to campus and went to a classroom building. There he chained the doors shut and began stalking people. He shot persons in the hallway and in several classrooms, killing 27 students and five teachers. Some of the students fled by going out through windows. Several hid in various places. Some locked and barricaded classroom doors. In a few classrooms he just walked in and began shooting. Many hid under desks. He was not actively resisted. The attacker killed himself in one of the classrooms where he'd already killed others when police were breaking into the building [5][6][7].

Laguna Woods, California, May 15, 2022 - A visitor to the Taiwanese church had chained doors and glued locks. During an after-church dinner he opened fire with a handgun. Members of the church swarmed him. The assailant was hog-tied with an electric cord to await police. The only fatality was a doctor who tried to tackle the shooter. Five others were wounded [8].

… and Fight -

In 2012, the year following the Tucson shooting, the City of Houston, TX, produced and released "Run, Hide, Fight," a video on how to respond to an active shooter. Following its release, this video was shared on many platforms and used by many organizations, such as the Alabama Homeland Security Department. The original setting was in an office building. Since then, other versions have been released set in schools, retail stores, hospitals, and other locations [9][10].

The Virginia Tech massacre was followed by a lot of criticism of the school. Most of this focused on prevention, communication, and coordination. Also criticized was the students' response to the attack. The narrative was spread that students just sat there waiting to be shot. Actually, many ran (evacuated), and hid (locked rooms and found hiding places). However, news stories did not tell of teachers or students actively resisting the attacker. Any students who may have just sat there probably froze, not knowing what to do.

The training course "Active Shooter Response" tells how unarmed congregants can engage an active killer. Here's the instructions from the 2017 edition of the Instructor's Manual:

Turn chaos and mayhem into an advantage and try to escape the area.
Cause sensory overload and distractions by yelling.
Throw whatever is available at the intruder's face.
Find anything you have that can be used as a weapon.
Swarm the intruder. Use large numbers of people to gain control. Keep your plan simple. Swarm the intruder and control his limbs.

Making Swarming Natural -

Swarming a killer is reserved for when the intended victims cannot escape or hide effectively and find the armed intruder in their midst. But this is not the natural reaction. When a gunman comes into a room or pulls out a weapon in a crowd, the natural reaction is panic. Some try to run, even when there is no escape. Some yell and scream. Some just freeze. A few may faint. Someone in the crowd may attack the attacker, but there's no guarantee that person will be in the crowd at that time.

We have to make direct confrontation natural. The intent of the "Run, Hide, Fight" (RHF) videos is to insert the image of an effective response to an active shooter into people's minds. The newer versions cover settings other than an office building so that schools, hospitals, and other audiences can relate to the situations in their settings.

I did not find a version of RHF for places of worship, but did find "Run, hide, fight: Critical lessons to survive an active shooter," a report by WDIV in Detroit on YouTube [11]. Beginning with footage from the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, it shows how to respond to an active shooter. It has footage from members of the police force conducting a training session for a congregation. One officer said it's better for 10 to die than 200. I'll add this note: If you'll be killed anyway, go down fighting. That could save others [12].

It takes more than a video to make RHF a natural response. It takes training. Stories are told of children who learned how to respond to an active shooter. Besides running and hiding, they also learn how to harass an assailant and swarm him. They've been seen acting it out at home. These children's classes had been trained at schools where shooter drills were added to fire and tornado drills.

A whole-church active shooter drill should include more than evacuation and lockdowns. Confronting a shooter (or stabber/slasher) should be practiced too. Have someone armed with mock weapons enter a classroom, activity room, or the sanctuary. Those who are closest mob the assailant while others shout and throw things. Practice tying up an attacker with whatever is available, including neckties or electric cords. Repeat the exercise with people in different places in the room. This conditions church members to not be passive in an attack, but to resist.

Training Note -

More than online classes, training for church safety & security includes drills. This creates conditioned thinking and muscle memory. Go ahead and get your Safety Member Certification, but also act out what you learn in drills. This includes mental scenario rehearsal to help you decide the course of action to take in an incident. As you walk through the church think, "If a shooter comes in over there, what do I do?"

Looking Forward:

Still in the works is an update of the training module "Active Shooter Response." Called "Violent Intruder Response," it incorporates items in the "Standard Response Protocol" (STP) by the "I Love U Guys" Foundation. Most of the versions created for schools and hospitals are derived from STP. Kris's version will be tailored for churches with safety teams and include roles for ushers, greeters, and other church workers.[13.]

Conclusion -

Bees are hard-wired to swarm an attacker. That is a response we can learn and teach to others.

References -

1. Kris Moloney, "Safety Member Certification," Sheepdog Church Security, Revised 2025 [https://sheepdog-church-security.thinkific.com/courses/safety-member-certification-2025].
2. Kris Moloney, Church Security Guide, Sheepdog Church Security, 2023 [https://sheepdog-church-security.thinkific.com/pages/security-articles?c=church-security-guide].
3. Kris Moloney, "Church Safety: Active Killer Response Strategies," Church Security Guide, Sheepdog Church Security, 2023 [https://sheepdog-church-security.thinkific.com/pages/security-articles?p=church-safety-active-killer-response-strategies].
4. "2011 Tucson shooting," Wikipedia, last edited June 16, 2025 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Tucson_shooting].
5. "Virginia Tech shooting," Wikipedia, Last edited June 16, 2025 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_shooting].
6. By ABC News, "April 16 marks a decade since second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history," April 13, 2017 [https://abcnews.go.com/US/room-211-massacre-virginia-tech-remembered-10-years/story?id=46701034].
7. Thomas Kapsidelis, "Virginia Tech Shootings," Encyclopedia Virginia, December 7, 2020 [https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/virginia-tech-shootings].
8. By Staff and wire reports, "Laguna Woods Church Shooting Leaves 1 Dead, 5 Hurt," NBC Los Angeles, May 15, 2022, Updated on May 16, 2022 [https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/multiple-people-hit-in-shooting-at-laguna-woods-church-suspected-shooter-in-custody/2893860/].
9. Melissa Correa, "'Run. Hide. Fight.': This is what to do in an active shooter situation," KHOU, August 5, 2019 [https://www.khou.com/article/news/this-is-what-to-do-in-an-active-shooter-situation/285-f1fc4fd2-47ff-4fcc-8548-4bf566ede526].
10. "RUN HIDE FIGHT," Posted by Alabama Homeland Security Department, November 5, 2012 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ESNae7OoyM].
11. Rachel M. Moloney, "Immediate Response Tactics | Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting," Lesson Learned, Articles, Sheepdog Church Security, November 13, 2024 [https://sheepdog-church-security.thinkific.com/pages/security-articles?p=immediate-response-tactics-tree-of-life-synagogue-shooting].
12. News Staff, "Run, hide, fight: Critical lessons to survive an active shooter," WDIV Local 4, February 16, 2018 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVocAguwkYI].
13. "Standard Response Protocol," the "I Love U Guys" Foundation, Copyright 2020 [https://iloveuguys.org/The-Standard-Response-Protocol.html].