The number of "active shooter" incidents in which gunmen have slain multiple victims is on the rise, an FBI agent said Tuesday.
Christopher Combs, the agent in charge of the latest carnage in Sutherland Springs, Texas — where 26 churchgoers were slain Sunday — also acknowledged the situation likely will not reverse anytime soon, suggesting Americans need to prepare themselves for the eventuality that they may one day become involved in such a massacre.
"I think everybody, no matter where you are, needs to think about this," he said. "If you're in a school, if you go to college, if you're at the movies, we should all be thinking about 'what are we gonna do if a crisis breaks out right here?'"
The FBI special agent added Americans have to learn to protect themselves.
"There are a lot of programs out there," he said. "The FBI supports programs. We teach law enforcement. There's private community programs out there.
"I think we ought to think very hard about this and make sure that we are prepared."
His remarks were posted by Mediaite.
According to FBI data released last June, "active shooter" incidents went up sharply since 2000, when only one such incident occurred; in 2015 there were 20 — a rate that woks out to about one active shooting incident every 18 days, The Washington Post reported.
With the Texas church attack, the confirmed deaths from mass shooting incidents in 2017 now stand at 114, according to a compilation by Mother Jones.
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