Burr shoots Hamilton, Audience Panics, Three Injured

By reports of other incidents similar to this, someone takes to a mic and manages the crowd. Whether that's telling them what happened and assuring no need to take other action, or direct an orderly egress, as actor Eddie Foy did at the Iriquois Theatre, without mic and amplification.

Now the Life Safety Code requires there be an asdigned crowd manager and a written plan. Don't know if that code is adopted in the jurisdiction, and will be interesting to see if there is any regulatory aftermath.

It would be hard to prevent whatever the audience members ailment or health event was, so just have to plan. Whether the event and planned shooting on stage could have been anticipated, not sure.
 
Sounds like they played the annoucment and FOH forgot to put it through the monitors. Or the audience just didn’t listen and blamed the theatre for their own stupidity.

I would say continuously play the recording and maybe have the SM get on the VOG as well rotating in recorded and real voices to calmly get people in check.
@Amiers Two queries: Does your voice of God system cover your entire facility; auditorium seating, stage, wings, dressing rooms, lobby and patrons' washrooms? Is your voice of God system capable of the necessary levels, articulation and clarity to be clearly heard and understood over the din of an audience, performers and crew in full bore panic??
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard
 
@Amiers Two queries: Does your voice of God system cover your entire facility; auditorium seating, stage, wings, dressing rooms, lobby and patrons' washrooms? Is your voice of God system capable of the necessary levels, articulation and clarity to be clearly heard and understood over the din of an audience, performers and crew in full bore panic??
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard

The current theatre I’m working in does yes. Personally I find it rather annoying cause our SM will vog then raido then com 30 15 10 5min calls.
 
“May I have your attention please. This performance, which runs about 2-1/2 hrs with intermission, contains a scene that most of you will not recall from your American History class in high school, where Aaron Burr shoots Alexander Hamilton. In fact most of you have no idea what this musical is about but be aware there will be gunshots heard, they are part of the play and please do not panic or become otherwise concerned. Thank You”.
 
There's a comment about the AED triggering an alarm. I know that's a pretty standard feature, however I'd argue that in a large assembly space that's not a good thing.

It also makes me think having a building wide paging system is far more important from a life safety standpoint. Especially one with a certain level of automation, that's able to override house systems (or really, use them).
 
I guess I got questions to ask when I goto work now on Tuesday. If our AED system is a mass alarm or just a contained alarm at the AED station. Or if it pings the local FD and EMT.
 
I've never figured out why our AED's have alarms. Ours also send a trigger to our campus wide dispatch that shows an alarm. After reading this I'd like to see those alarms disabled.... might ask around at work about making that happen.

On both my stages I have a very large megaphone for this exact purpose. Yes, we can use a god mic but I'd in the event of whatever I can grab that thing and be out onstage telling the audience and our ushers what to do... Ignore the alarm... get out.... whatever.
 
My other background is in Emergency Medical Services. The audible alarm on the AED serves both as an alert mechanism for event staff and also a theft deterrent. These expensive and very portable devices are typically in a cabinet in a public area. They have to be easily found and accessed--but that makes them a potential target to grow legs. Also, If the security /safety person(s) is not near the device and an emergency occurs, this insures they are quickly notified an emergency exists.
 
I could understand theft alarm. But why not put a magnetic switc or a push button on the bottom somewhere to prevent alarm while opening.

Million dollar idea.
 
So if I understand correctly:
1. Gunshot
2. Loud bang triggers woman's heart attack
3. People see woman keel over or start making distress noise and assume she's been shot
4. People panic about a potential mass shooter and start to run
5. Someone grabs AED to aid woman, triggering alarm
6. Someone pulls a fire alarm at some point.
7. Because fire alarm is sounding, everybody exits building.

Sounds like this could have been contained until the guy flipped the fire alarm. Hard to say, not enough info about the timeline...
 
Typically ushers are not present and closely observing the audience. It is somewhat an intrusion to the play/musical when you see them parked on the walls on the side aisle. They might and should be in the rear of the auditorium so that a patron can find them in need.

The house managers might not stay in the theater during a performance, so might not observe a problem. The SM isn’t going to be aware of a patron heart attacking.

Thus I think this got out of control in like seconds, and I’m not sure who or how they would prevent it.

Maybe a dedicated response security team on site, with at least one member always observing and not via a camera system, but actually standing at the rear of the orchestra or someplace, and that’s going to cost a bundle,
 
The AED's I am familiar with have an alarm on the wall box door. They are loud, loud to the point of painful if you are close by. They are not connected to the fire alarm, nor do they signal anyone outside the building. It serves as a theft deterrent and a means to get the attention of additional help for the medical emergency. The box alarm can be disabled by removing batteries.
 
After reading this I'd like to see those alarms disabled
I hope your referring to your audible alarms and not your campus dispatch alarm.
Any situation requiring an AED sure as heck requires an emergency response, but not necessarily a fire alarm level evacuation alarm. If you are zapping someone back to life, you better have first responders on their way. That being said, I certainly hope the alarm signal they send to campus dispatch indicates that it's a medical emergency and not something more sinister.
 
My Red Cross first aid training suggests getting someone to find and bring the first aid kit and/or AED for almost any situation. That doesn't mean it's going to be used, just that it's immediately available if needed. I'm torn regarding the local alarm and the summoning emergency personnel. As someone responding to the situation, I'd err on the side of caution and call 911. But as a business, I understand that a number of false alarms can get you reprimanded or punished. I wouldn't want opening the cabinet to have the AED in a standby to cause more issues. Though at that level, I suppose the management that installed the thing can take responsibility for any issues.
 
Maybe I wasn't clear in my earlier post. Opening the box door does not call anyone. It is nothing more than a local buzzer.

To put it another way, it can only summon attention within audible range of the buzzer. Getting help assumes the person hearing it recognizes what the noise means.
 
I hope your referring to your audible alarms and not your campus dispatch alarm.
Any situation requiring an AED sure as heck requires an emergency response, but not necessarily a fire alarm level evacuation alarm. If you are zapping someone back to life, you better have first responders on their way. That being said, I certainly hope the alarm signal they send to campus dispatch indicates that it's a medical emergency and not something more sinister.

The complex I work on is the NYS Capital plaza. Due to the nature of the complex and the size we have a 24/7 staffed State Police barracks onsite. You call 911 at our place and it hits the call center on the complex, not standard dispatch... we also have "red phones" everywhere that direct dial them. Every alarm in my building hits that. We also have an EMT on staff that is the building whenever patrons are in the building so we are covered there as well. Also, the state police always have one trooper on the complex that is a trained EMT. The wired thing about our building though is there is not a single fire pull station in any public area, the only ones are SL/SR in my larger theater.

My biggest fear in life is having to evacuate my building. The stage level is 80' above "outside", the back of the house is 100'. We have 10 stairwells that are fully concrete, double back on themselves, and are extremely closefisted. My fear always is that a general evac starts for a false alarm and people get injured in the stairwells.

I'm very cautious with audible alarms... and thats what I'd like to see disabled. The "open" signal sent back to the dispatch should remain.
 

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