Double Naught Spy
New member
I realize that this is a controversial subject and an option nobody would feel very confident about using in a shooting situation, but I noticed that one of the participants at Giffords' event stated that is exactly what he did and it kept him safe and he participated in controlling the shooter.
At VT, playing dead was used by many of the students. Cho did reshoot several people, but others he left alone. The Luby's reshot several folks, but playing dead worked for at least one.
Anyway, the more I got into searching articles, the more surprised I was about the number of places/events where it has been used and used successfully.
From what I can glean from the information, much of it being incomplete and/or not presented in comparable manners between the articles, playing dead has its greatest advantage when the shooter basically isn't stuck or trapped with the victims. Cho seemed to reshoot many victims out of frustration of not being able to proceed to new rooms to shoot new people.
If the shooting situation is one where the shooter has free movement and wants a chance to get at others, the shooter isn't as likely to spend too much time making sure his/her victims are dead. If there are enough people present and the shooter wants to move on, then s/he isn't likely to verify that in fact everyone on the ground has actually been shot.
For example, the day trader in Georgia took somewhat linear routes through two different trading firms seeking out people and didn't spend time verifying his work. Folks in these situations sometimes were able to make good on the ploy and effected escapes, calling 911, and/or helping others.
Please note that I am not suggesting that this is a good method for self defense, that I would want to use it, or anything of that nature. I am just pointing out that it is a method that has worked at many shootings.
Okay, here are most of the links...
At the Giffords' shooting... http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=27825
NY immigration center shooting...http://articles.cnn.com/2009-04-06/...sses-immigrants-fulbright-scholar?_s=PM:CRIME
VT shooting...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1549204/I-played-dead-to-fool-gunman-says-Briton.html
http://www.roanoke.com/vtvictims/wb/113860
http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t116951.html
Columbine...
http://www.gazette.com/entertainment/columbine-52013-played-wanted.html
http://acolumbinesite.com/victim/injured2.htmlOn a related topic
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/10/heroes.arizona.shooting/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnnConsidered to be a hero for hitting the Giffords' shooter with a chair.http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/10/heroes.arizona.shooting/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn
UT sniper... http://business.highbeam.com/410545...tes-august-1-1966-charles-whitman-climbed-top
Colorado Department of Transportation...
http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellit...goBlobs&blobwhere=1251616382821&ssbinary=true
Fort Hood...
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=827960
Wisconsin Massacre...
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=827960
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29298924.html
Cross Plains murder...http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/45734927.html
Georgia daytrader spree...
http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=800
Brooklyn Bodega...
http://gothamist.com/2009/03/27/survivor_in_bodega_shooting_played.php
Hungerford Massacre...
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/michael_ryan/6.html
Pittsburgh Health Club...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/08/earlyshow/main5226816.shtml
ABB Plant...
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_fe561a72-f26d-11df-950f-0017a4a78c22.html
Home invasion...
http://www.thetandd.com/news/local/article_50fc2300-dbdc-11df-9c32-001cc4c002e0.html
Beecher/Lowelll Spree...
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/lowell/article_6d36a335-e0c4-5758-b134-b0fd828ccbe8.html
Alcatraz...
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/sfoealcb.htm
Larimer shooting...
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11007/1116132-53.stm
Triple shooting...
http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/New-details-in-triple-shooting/kbnLtkaQL0C47LwGg_tqgw.cspx
NIU...
http://www.esquire.com/features/steven-kazmierczak-0808-8
Red Lake Senior High School...
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=34450
Luby's...
http://books.google.com/books?id=zR...d=0CBwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=played dead&f=false
At VT, playing dead was used by many of the students. Cho did reshoot several people, but others he left alone. The Luby's reshot several folks, but playing dead worked for at least one.
Anyway, the more I got into searching articles, the more surprised I was about the number of places/events where it has been used and used successfully.
From what I can glean from the information, much of it being incomplete and/or not presented in comparable manners between the articles, playing dead has its greatest advantage when the shooter basically isn't stuck or trapped with the victims. Cho seemed to reshoot many victims out of frustration of not being able to proceed to new rooms to shoot new people.
If the shooting situation is one where the shooter has free movement and wants a chance to get at others, the shooter isn't as likely to spend too much time making sure his/her victims are dead. If there are enough people present and the shooter wants to move on, then s/he isn't likely to verify that in fact everyone on the ground has actually been shot.
For example, the day trader in Georgia took somewhat linear routes through two different trading firms seeking out people and didn't spend time verifying his work. Folks in these situations sometimes were able to make good on the ploy and effected escapes, calling 911, and/or helping others.
Please note that I am not suggesting that this is a good method for self defense, that I would want to use it, or anything of that nature. I am just pointing out that it is a method that has worked at many shootings.
Okay, here are most of the links...
At the Giffords' shooting... http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/latest_news.php?nid=27825
NY immigration center shooting...http://articles.cnn.com/2009-04-06/...sses-immigrants-fulbright-scholar?_s=PM:CRIME
VT shooting...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1549204/I-played-dead-to-fool-gunman-says-Briton.html
http://www.roanoke.com/vtvictims/wb/113860
http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t116951.html
Columbine...
http://www.gazette.com/entertainment/columbine-52013-played-wanted.html
http://acolumbinesite.com/victim/injured2.htmlOn a related topic
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/10/heroes.arizona.shooting/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnnConsidered to be a hero for hitting the Giffords' shooter with a chair.http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/10/heroes.arizona.shooting/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn
UT sniper... http://business.highbeam.com/410545...tes-august-1-1966-charles-whitman-climbed-top
Colorado Department of Transportation...
http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellit...goBlobs&blobwhere=1251616382821&ssbinary=true
Fort Hood...
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=827960
Wisconsin Massacre...
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=827960
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29298924.html
Cross Plains murder...http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/45734927.html
Georgia daytrader spree...
http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=800
Brooklyn Bodega...
http://gothamist.com/2009/03/27/survivor_in_bodega_shooting_played.php
Hungerford Massacre...
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/michael_ryan/6.html
Pittsburgh Health Club...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/08/earlyshow/main5226816.shtml
ABB Plant...
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_fe561a72-f26d-11df-950f-0017a4a78c22.html
Home invasion...
http://www.thetandd.com/news/local/article_50fc2300-dbdc-11df-9c32-001cc4c002e0.html
Beecher/Lowelll Spree...
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/lowell/article_6d36a335-e0c4-5758-b134-b0fd828ccbe8.html
Alcatraz...
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/sfoealcb.htm
Larimer shooting...
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11007/1116132-53.stm
Triple shooting...
http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/New-details-in-triple-shooting/kbnLtkaQL0C47LwGg_tqgw.cspx
NIU...
http://www.esquire.com/features/steven-kazmierczak-0808-8
Red Lake Senior High School...
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/news-article.aspx?storyid=34450
Luby's...
http://books.google.com/books?id=zR...d=0CBwQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=played dead&f=false