PORT NECHES — Employees with the city of Port Neches are learning what steps they can take if they ever find themselves in an active shooter situation.

Port Neches Police Chief Paul Lemoine gave the Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events presentation to several employee groups recently in council chambers at city hall.

Library employees Chelsea Moore, Shelby Hutcheson, Deanna Sullivan and Christy Comstock and library director Mark Durham were among the first group of employees to attend the training.

“This is very good information,” Moore said. “I’m very anxious about these things and this brings it to the forefront and helps.”

Hutcheson found the information helpful in knowing what to do in case she ever found herself in this situation.

Durham also found the training informative.

“The idea that you don’t just sit back and be a victim,” Durham said. “You don’t just hide and let actions go on around you.”

“Avoid. Deny. Defend,” Lemoine said of three ways to stay safe during a deadly encounter.

“Avoid” refers to avoiding the shooter and being aware of your surroundings. Leave as soon as possible, know your exits, consider secondary exits and call 911 when you get to safety.

“There are no rules when things like this happens,” Lemoine said.

“Deny” means denying the shooter access to you. You may do this by hiding in a room, locking the door and turning the lights out.

If the door opens away from you then you can use a strap or a belt to keep the door from being opened. Barricading the door is another option.

“Playing dead is not effective,” Lemoine told the group after watching a video from the deadly 2007 Virginia Tech shooting. The shooter in this event later went back to shoot those he had missed.

“Defend” means to defend yourself. Lemoine presented information about police Lt. Brian Murphy who was shot 15 times in the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting in August 2012. He was the first to respond to the incident and lived to tell about it.

“I’m not going out in a parking lot. I’m not going out like this. I’m not gonna let my wife down. I’m not gonna let my daughter down, and I’m not letting my step-kids down,” Murphy was quoted in the training video.

Lemoine, who is certified through the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training, said Walmart has a training video done through ALERRT with much of the same information. In their training video, employees who had hid in a warehouse were able to overtake a shooter and get his weapon away from him until police arrived.

The city of Houston also has a video on its website “Run. Hide. Fight,” which is basically the same tactics. “Run. Hide. Fight” was developed by the Department of Homeland Security to train civilians on how to respond to an active shooter event. “Avoid, Deny, Defend” was developed by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) program at Texas State University to provide law enforcement with a model response program they can deliver to civilians in their community.

When law enforcement arrives they will find a chaotic scene.

“Police will have tunnel vision so listen to what they say. Get on the ground or get your hands up,” he said, stressing the importance of a ‘palms up’ position. “Their priority is to stop the killing.”