There was a previous thread on the Westage Mall incident.
I'll offer a different perspective.
This comes from someone who knows that mall very well, and has spent a lot of time in Africa. Since that attack, I have carefully gone through the (very confused) reports about the incident. I doubt we will ever capture the whole truth - Africa is just too confused.
The people who survived that attack generally fell into one of three categories:
1. A lot of people headed for the doors and got out fast. Or someone encouraged them and they left the building pretty quickly.
2. A few people who got lucky, they were more or less frozen in place, the terrorists looked right at them, but moved on - and attacked other people. There's just no rational explanation for this ... it's luck.
3. At least one person who lay on the floor of the mall and played "dead". Then he left several hours later when things got quiet.
Pick your own strategy. The most effective was to leave immediately. The biggest problem was the fear and confusion, many frightened people, and no clear idea of where the exits were.
The single best thing that bystanders did - was a few brave souls stepped back into the mall and encouraged more people to leave. Don't forget there are mothers with kids in there ... you don't have to get into a shooting war to save lives. Just open an exit door and encourage someone else to get moving.
You will notice that none of these actions involved any type of shooting by the civilians (who were unarmed anyway). Shooting terrorists in a crisis scene requires a lot of skill and experience, and can go bad even for those people with the best training. Escape is a very good alternative.
Just some thoughts.
CA R
I'll offer a different perspective.
This comes from someone who knows that mall very well, and has spent a lot of time in Africa. Since that attack, I have carefully gone through the (very confused) reports about the incident. I doubt we will ever capture the whole truth - Africa is just too confused.
The people who survived that attack generally fell into one of three categories:
1. A lot of people headed for the doors and got out fast. Or someone encouraged them and they left the building pretty quickly.
2. A few people who got lucky, they were more or less frozen in place, the terrorists looked right at them, but moved on - and attacked other people. There's just no rational explanation for this ... it's luck.
3. At least one person who lay on the floor of the mall and played "dead". Then he left several hours later when things got quiet.
Pick your own strategy. The most effective was to leave immediately. The biggest problem was the fear and confusion, many frightened people, and no clear idea of where the exits were.
The single best thing that bystanders did - was a few brave souls stepped back into the mall and encouraged more people to leave. Don't forget there are mothers with kids in there ... you don't have to get into a shooting war to save lives. Just open an exit door and encourage someone else to get moving.
You will notice that none of these actions involved any type of shooting by the civilians (who were unarmed anyway). Shooting terrorists in a crisis scene requires a lot of skill and experience, and can go bad even for those people with the best training. Escape is a very good alternative.
Just some thoughts.
CA R